Leading vs Controlling, Understanding Issue Selling, Time Vs Energy

Hi! You're here because you're a business owner or senior corporate professional who manages people, and you value the harmony between performance and wellbeing at work.

In our world, that means building alignment within yourself, alignment within your team, and alignment within your organisation. All for the purpose of reducing stress, communicating better, and working better as a team.

If that's you, you're in the right place.

Here you'll learn more about the thinking and tools for presence, influence and impact so that you and your team can become more conscious, self-aware leaders.

We approach this through 3 lenses.

Presence (Emotional Intelligence and Self-Awareness for greater emotional resilience and clarity of thought)

Influence (Advanced Communication and Behaviour for more predictable interactions and outcomes)

Impact (Strategic Thinking for a direct path to results)

Let's jump in.

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Enjoy 1 leadership insight, 1 management insight, as well as 1 performance tip.?

1. Leading vs Controlling

Leading and controlling are two distinct approaches to management that can have different impacts on the workplace and employees.

Remember these are not a dichotomy so a manager might tick boxes under both approaches.

Since you only consciously change what you’re aware of, review these lists and self reflect.?

Leading:

• Focuses on inspiring and motivating others towards a shared goal
• Empowers team members to take ownership of their work
• Communicates through the lens of trust, collaboration, and respect

Examples of leading behaviour:

• Encouraging team members to share their ideas and perspectives
• Setting clear goals and expectations, and empowering employees to achieve them in their own way
• Celebrating team achievements and recognizing individual contributions

Short Term Impact:

• Increased motivation and engagement among employees, improved communication and collaboration, and a more positive workplace culture.

Long-term impact:?

• Improved employee retention, increased innovation and creativity, and improved organisational performance and productivity.

Controlling:

• Plays the authority card and makes one-sided decisions - their own.
• Monitors and directs every aspect of an employee's work
• Responds and communicates through fear, stress, and anxiety

Examples of controlling behaviour:

• Criticising or reprimanding employees for minor mistakes
• Imposing strict rules and policies that limit autonomy and creativity because they focus too much on the ‘how’
• Withholding opportunities for growth and advancement as a means of exerting control and safety for themselves

Short-term impact:

• Fear, anxiety, and low morale among employees, increased turnover and absenteeism, and reduced productivity.

Long-term impact:?

• High employee turnover, reduced creativity and innovation, increased costs associated with recruiting and training new employees, and a negative impact on organisational culture and reputation.

2. Understanding Issue Selling

Identifying the need for change within an organisation is crucial for success. And who better to gather that valuable intelligence than the managers in the middle ranks, who have direct contact with customers, suppliers, and colleagues?

However, fear of negative consequences and compliance with a top-down culture often prevent these managers from voicing their ideas and concerns. And even when they do, it can be a struggle to persuade those at the top.

This is where the concept of "issue selling" comes in.?

Issue selling is essentially the act of persuading decision makers to take action on a particular issue or idea. In order to successfully sell an issue, you need to be able to communicate the importance of the issue in a way that resonates with decision makers.

There are several tactics that can be effective in issue selling.?

Tailor your pitch - to the goals, values, and knowledge of the decision makers you're trying to persuade. This means doing your homework and understanding what's important to the people you're trying to influence.

Frame the issue - in a way that shows how it supports a strategic goal. Decision makers are often focused on achieving specific outcomes, so if you can demonstrate how your issue aligns with those outcomes, you're more likely to get their attention.

Manage emotions - This means being aware of your own emotions and reactions, as well as those of the decision makers you're trying to persuade. If you can stay calm and focused, you're more likely to be persuasive.

Timing is critical - You need to be aware of what decision makers are focused on at any given time and make sure your pitch is aligned with their priorities. This might mean waiting for the right moment to bring up your issue.

Involve others - If you can get other people in your organisation to support your issue, decision makers are more likely to take notice. This means building alliances and coalitions with colleagues who share your perspective.

It's also important to adhere to organisational norms when it comes to how leaders prefer to receive information. Some decision makers prefer data-driven presentations, while others respond better to personal anecdotes. Understanding these preferences can help you make your case more effectively.

Suggest solutions or propose ways to find them -? Decision makers are often focused on solving problems, so if you can offer concrete suggestions for how to address the issue you're selling, you're more likely to be successful.

Issue selling is an ongoing process that requires patience, persistence, and a willingness to adapt your approach as needed. But if you can master the tactics associated with effective issue selling, you can make a real difference in your organisation.

3. Time Vs Energy

Are you feeling drained and unproductive at work? Are you tired of feeling depleted and exhausted after long work hours? Do you wish you had the energy and motivation to bring your best self to work every day? Then it’s useful to look at the difference between time and energy.

Time is a finite resource. Energy is a different story.

In physics, energy is defined as the capacity to work. And as human beings, we have four main areas of energy: our body, emotions, mind, and spirit.?

But how do we expand and renew our energy consistently? By establishing specific rituals and behaviours that are intentionally practised and precisely scheduled.

The Energy Project, founded by Schwartz, offers an approach to build energy through rituals.?

For example;

• Taking intermittent breaks to align with your body's ultradian rhythms can restore physical energy, while?
• Reframing negative events through a hopeful lens can defuse draining emotions.?
• Limiting technology distractions can increase mental energy, and?
• Participating in meaningful activities can boost spiritual energy.

By doing so, we can make these habits automatic and recharge ourselves regularly, regardless of the circumstances we're facing. And this isn't just good for us as individuals; it's also beneficial for our organisations.

At Wells Fargo Bank, a group of employees went through a pilot energy management program, and the results were astounding. They outperformed the control group in financial metrics and reported improvements in customer relationships, engagement with work, and personal satisfaction.

Review your day and analyse where you may be paying a cost for your energy depleting habits.

To your success,

Peter.

Principal Executive Coach

Hanna Consulting

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P.S. Whenever you’re ready... here are 3 ways I can help you scale up the presence and influence of yourself and your team ??

1. Executive Presence and Emotional Intelligence

Once crucial business skills are mastered, many leaders find that the biggest catalyst to improving their leadership effectiveness lies in cultivating emotional maturity and a deeper understanding of how they are bringing themselves to their role as leaders.

We call this, The Inner Game.

Just DM me "Level Up" and if you're a good fit, we'll find the area of growth that will give you greatest performance leverage.

2. New Managers, the 90 day Emotional Intelligence uplift program designed for you

New Managers - step up into leadership without the role strain.

Transitioning from an individual contributor to leading a team brings about a mix of emotions.

Excitement, pride, anxiety, stress, and loneliness.

At times it feels like emotional whiplash.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Become conscious of what's creating this, develop clarity, build confidence, and get back in control.

Just DM me with the word "Accelerate"... let me know what's happening and what you'd like to work on together and I'll take care of the rest.

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3. Increase your team's impact with influence skills.

Your team is highly skilled - but are they being effective?

Talent is necessary for any high performing team, but...

...their talent is capped by their ability to influence others to get things done.

If they’re meeting others and they cannot build alignment to get things done:

+ Work takes more time

+ More effort

+ More escalations

+ and eventually you find yourselves in firefighting mode.

Their experience is under utilised and you might be missing out on results.

The Influence Pattern? will give your team an edge:

+ To build trust

+ Get buy-in

+ Motivate others

+ Be more directional

+ And get better results overall.

Talent alone is limited.

Talent + Influence is Power.

If you want your team to communicate and influence like the pros, then this workshop is for you.

Interactive one day workshop. Great as an offsite. Train now for 2023.

Just DM me 'influence' and I'll take care of the rest.

#leadershipdevelopment #communication #executivecoaching