How to be seen as a Brilliant and Bold Leader [Become a great Communicator] 

How to be seen as a Brilliant and Bold Leader [Become a great Communicator] 

Oct 12, 2022 | Report Reviews, Resources

Resources_Swae_Harvard_Business_review_Approaches to Solving Problems in the Workplace

How to be seen as a Brilliant and Bold Leader

[Become a great Communicator] 

1 June 2022 4 min Read

Swae_Harvard_Business_review_How to Be Seen as a Brilliant and Bold Leader [Become a Great Communicator].png

This is a recap of Harvard Business Review @HarvardBiz ’s Good Leadership is About Communicating Why, by Nancy Duarte @nancyduarte.

Becoming a bold leader means that communication should be your top priority. More than that, extremely clear communication should be what you’re consistently striving for, because everyone works better when there are no questions left on the table.

“ Leaders explain the ‘what’ of their insights and the ‘how’ of applying the findings. This is how most leaders approach their talks, especially professionals who are deep subject matter experts. They focus on the content they want to share. Many leaders don’t even consider the why from the audience perspective because it seems so self-evident to them, they think it’s obvious to everyone.”

Nancy Duarte @nancyduarte.

MORE KNOWLEDGE  |  LESS TIME

The Two Minute Takeaway

KEY TAKEAWAY 1

Get to the crux of the “why” to whatever you’re communicating.

The what and the how are often easily transcribed into emails, memos, chats, speeches, etc., but rarely is the why extremely clear. You can ask yourself “what” questions to get to the why more easily:

A. What is at stake if we do or do not do this?

B. What will the future look like if we get this done? What would the state of the human condition be if we did or didn’t do this?

C. Have someone else ask you “so what” until you can’t answer it anymore. That’ll get you to the root of “why.”

KEY TAKEAWAY 2

Think about what action you’re asking your audience to take, and then follow it with “because.”

Here are some samples:

A. We need to integrate this faster into our system because…

B. If we don’t do this, then X will happen because…

C. If we do this now then we won’t hit problems X or Y because…

KEY TAKEAWAY 3

Share ideas you abandoned and why.

If you show you’ve explored varying options and why they aren’t the best routes to take, it’ll help convince others and get everyone on the same wavelength of thinking that you’re on.

People cannot read minds so the whole truth has to get out and onto “paper” so that everyone can see the line of thinking.

Why This Matters

Sharing the ‘Why’ around decisions that have been made, why a pathway chosen, explaining full concepts when problem-solving or coming up with ideas are all incredibly essential the good leader’s toolbox. This will show that you care for others by getting everyone onto the same page.

This is how people become inspired and motivated and how you can become a more efficacious leader and clear communicator (two vital foundations to bold leadership).

How to be seen as a Brilliant and Bold Leader

In today’s ever-evolving remote/hybrid working environments, things are shifting more and more and clear communication could not be more important. In these environments, what leadership skills do you need most?

Communication is at the tippy top of this report that displays votes of the most important skills needed for all management positions (from The Skills Every Leader Needs by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman).

The way you inspire and motivate others is through communication, and the way that communication gets even better is when it’s backed by high integrity and honesty.

As we all know, data never lies!

Here’s a great chart to show you what skills should be polished to move you into that bold leader quadrant:

Resources_Swae_Harvard_Business_review_How to Be Seen as a Brilliant and Bold Leader [Become a Great Communicator]-

Using Missions & Proposals, Swae helps our clients be bold leaders by

  • getting to the crux of what problems the organization needs solving,
  • lets everyone propose actionable ideas complete with justification (‘the because’)
  • and gives a transparent archive of ideas that were abandoned so everyone can understand why and start a cycle of continuous improvement. 

This Article refences Harvard Business Review @HarvardBiz ’s Good Leadership is About Communicating Why, by Nancy Duarte @nancyduarte.

Swae is helping organizations across the world to solve today’s problems and create tomorrow’s strategy. From Start-ups to Charities, and Enterprises to DAOs, our clients find that their greatest resource is their people, and Swae is proven to help get the best from the untapped potential within their workforce.

Find your next winning ideas using Swae

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Tips on how to make Remote Work work for you [It’s here to stay] 

Tips on how to make Remote Work work for you [It’s here to stay] 

May 4, 2022 | Report Reviews, Resources

Resources_Swae_Harvard_Business_review_Approaches to Solving Problems in the Workplace

Tips on how to make Remote Work, work for you

It’s Here to Stay

4 May 2022 4 min Read

Resources_Swae_Harvard_Business_review_Approaches to Solving Problems in the Workplace

This is a recap of Harvard Business Review’s  @HarvardBiz “The Realities of Remote Work” (download the full PDF at the bottom of this article) by Laura Amico. 

For some great tips for remote work, within this recap (and the full article) there are some essential questions that you should be asking your now to help them get more adapted to the hybrid work environment.  

Asking these questions and getting in front of potential issues is the best way to handle all of this, and we’ve included an extra chart below for some important information about companies offering hybrid work models. This could help your people adjust further, and if your organization can understand that there are some concerns to address then it can combat larger issues that could potentially hit you down the road. 

There are two critical questions that you can ask of your people, and it may behove you to also make an ask for ideas and solutions to help solve the issues that could arise (this is what Swae is meant for!).  

“ How has the pandemic changed how you think about work-from-home opportunities? Have your work-life boundaries shifted in ways that you are happy (or unhappy) with? Does “always on” mean that you are more productive?”

Laura Amico @HiLauraAmico

MORE KNOWLEDGE  |  LESS TIME

The Two Minute Takeaway

KEY TAKEAWAY 1

The pressure is building

Some of us have had remote work situations for a long time so there was no shifts or changes needed; however, that is certainly not the case in many offices around the globe.  
 
The pressure is building as managers are beginning to feel a lot more pressure to respond instantaneously, which causes more stress.

Source, HBR

There’s also a work-life balance issue that needs to be addressed ahead of the curve so that the pressure doesn’t cause more harm as it builds.

People aren’t leaving their computer screens (you can see that chart in the full PDF that you can download below), which is also a concern for the health of an employee.

(Being on a computer 24 x 7 is NOT good for anyone, but we don’t have to tell anyone that, right?!)

KEY TAKEAWAY 2

Trusting how much work is getting done in-office versus at home

This is a chart that reveals what managers think about in-office workers versus remote workers and how they’re performing. What’s interesting is that the response to this particular question came back with 50% of managers that disagreed that the performance of remote workers was lower than those in the office, and 50% agreed. So, this is a vital mission and questions to also ask your managers so that you can get a taste of how this is going by departments or teams.

Source, HBR

Why This Matters

Remote work is here to stay, so the more tips for remote work that leaders can receive, the better, because of lot of these issues are new to many. Again, not everyone has had remote work environments/hybrid models in place before 2020. There is going to be a split of how people operate in these remote/hybrid models. Some people can adapt easily and find it more rewarding, and then there will be those that have serious issues separating “being at home” and having to actually DO work at home (emphasis on the fact that they aren’t doing work hardly at all). Asking questions like the ones shown here in these charts could help you get you ahead of the game when it comes to dealing with issues arising now (versus later). And, this is a time to look to your people to get more ideas as to how to ensure your employees don’t overdo it and end up working way too long not getting proper rest or time away from the computer/phone/whatever other device.

Here’s some extra research (not provided in the PDF) if you’re curious…

Are you working for a company that’s thinking about getting rid of the hybrid (remote + in-office) work model?

Harvard Business Review did some research around this topic (you can see this in the chart here below) as to what it would mean if a company did NOT offer a hybrid work model now and the numbers are staggering.

If you’ve thought about cutting that hybrid model out, think again! Companies that cut out the hybrid model could lose more than 40% of their employees (this study asked over 10K people in the U.S. which is a pretty good sample set).

Download the HBR Report

Download Report

This recap references the Harvard Business Review article by Laura Amico @HiLauraAmico.

Swae is helping organizations across the world to solve today’s problems and create tomorrow’s strategy. From Start-ups to Charities, and Enterprises to DAOs, our clients find that their greatest resource is their people, and Swae is proven to help get the best from the untapped potential within their workforce.

We’d love the chance to show you how Swae can help you find your next winning ideas…

Ready to learn how Swae can help your organization?

Schedule a Demo now
FIND OUT MORE >

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Approaches to Solving Problems in the Workplace [Harvard Business Review Recap]

Approaches to Solving Problems in the Workplace [Harvard Business Review Recap]

Apr 27, 2022 | Report Reviews, Resources

Resources_Swae_Harvard_Business_review_Approaches to Solving Problems in the Workplace

Approaches to Solving Problems in the Workplace

27 April 2022 4 min Read

Resources_Swae_Harvard_Business_review_Approaches to Solving Problems in the Workplace

This is a recap of Harvard Business Review’s  @HarvardBiz How to Solve Problems by Laura Amico @HiLauraAmico.

“You’d think that many brains working together would mean better solutions, but the reality is that too often problem-solving teams fall victim to inefficiency, conflict, and cautious conclusions.”

Laura Amico @HiLauraAmico

Watch this video recap, or read the full article below.

MORE KNOWLEDGE  |  LESS TIME

The Two Minute Takeaway

KEY TAKEAWAY 1

Approaches to solving problems: there are 5 stages to problem-solving according to this research:

Source, HBR: Why Groups Struggle to Solve Problems Together

The individual that needs to solve a problem will automatically (and intuitively) move through these five steps easily, whereas in a group problem-solving session, leadership/managers or the employees that are leading the session must stop and ensure that everyone is in sync and know which stage they’re at. Being “in sync is how group problem-solving sessions can succeed. While this will slow down the problem-solving process, it’s a requirement for group problem-solving. In step one, if the problem is not properly defined and understood across the board, and if people aren’t in sync on each step, this can inevitably lead to frustration and disengagement. In fact, the “define the problem” stage is one the most critical steps to lay out clearly and concisely. So, the more organized the leader/manager/employee that’s running the problem-solving group, the better.

KEY TAKEAWAY 2

There’s another batch of research (here) also from HBR regarding the top traits of the best problem-solving teams in workplaces. This research states that highly effective teams that solve problems the right way has a pair of common features: the teams are cognitively diverse and psychologically safe (to note, these are two of the core fundamentals as to what Swae brings to the table!).

Source, HBR

What’s essential to understand is that it’s best to fully map out the problem-solving approach that you’re taking. This will make sure you consistently use everyone’s time wisely (including your own) and allow you to come back to the “what works” time and time again. From this place, you can iterate off of that list, and continuously build the go-to document for your group’s problem-solving best practices (becoming a template to make this process much easier).

Some common approaches to building your group problem-solving best practices list:

  • Think about the last problem you had to solve as a team and map out what you remember about each step you’ve used in the problem-solving process.
  • Answer these questions after each group problem-solving session: Were you all on the same page at each stage? If not, why? How could you ensure people are in sync as you move through each phase of the problem-solving process? What would you do differently? Take copious notes to ensure you’re tracking against these things so you can make sure you do better each time.
  • Take the chart above (how to solve problems) and ask each person where they felt that they ranked. Log what behaviors could be adopted across the group that would help more and more people move into the top-right quadrant.

Why This Matters

Leadership and managers in companies across the board can solve problems faster with groups that have more cognitive diversity (as you gain a lot more perspective), and the engagement and outcomes are far better in environments where people feel psychologically safe to voice their opinions, thoughts and provide ideas/solutions.

Toxic cultures permeate many corporate workplaces where people don’t feel safe speaking up and this has a negative effect on the entire culture and the way people operate day to day. (You can see more on this subject in this research recap here.)

Solving problems is a vital part of any role, even in junior positions, because one person’s decision can affect the entire whole in any workplace (regardless of size or business category). All it takes is one person to make one really bad decision, right?!

Summary and Next Steps

It’s important for companies to realize that group problem-solving is best when there are more people involved. Approaches to solving problems are best when they include teams that have more cognitive diversity and when they ensure that people feel psychologically safe allowing them to speak up. And, if there is a more formalized process (using the five steps above as a framework) then there is a greater chance that everyone is on the same page to get to problem-solving faster, and with far better outcomes. In short, being in sync, staying organized, and creating environments where everyone is engaged is a win-win for all.

Read the full HBR Article

Open Report

This recap references the Harvard Business Review article How to Solve Problems

https://hbr.org/2019/11/why-groups-struggle-to-solve-problems-together

by Laura Amico @HiLauraAmico.

Swae is helping organizations across the world to solve today’s problems and create tomorrow’s strategy. From Start-ups to Charities, and Enterprises to DAOs, our clients find that their greatest resource is their people, and Swae is proven to help get the best from the untapped potential within their workforce.

We’d love the chance to show you how Swae can help you find your next winning ideas…

Ready to learn how Swae can help your organization?

Schedule a Demo now
FIND OUT MORE >

BOOK A DEMO >

ASK A QUESTION >
More to explore…
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