Unfortunately, it is not unusual to see people in management positions that are clueless about how to deal with the dysfunctional situations and behaviours — the “people issues,” that occur daily and could consume upwards of 80 percent of a workday. And, again unfortunately, it is not uncommon to see ineffective and dysfunctional behaviours in managers themselves, particularly during times of chaos and crisis which are often just a typical occurrence in today’s complex and ambiguous work environments.
This lack of formal leadership development was fine prior to the dawn of the knowledge economy. But in today’s organizations where our front line workers are now highly educated, and more times than not, professionals in their own right, a lack at management level of the necessary emotional and behavioural intelligence can spell performance disaster and loss of high performing employees.
Fortunately, most organizations in today’s knowledge economy recognize the connection between employee behaviour and organizational success and the need for emotional and behavioural intelligence in leaders at all levels. Effective leadership development is hands-on practice, and cannot be lecture oriented or discussion based alone. Coaching is a logical adjunct to the academic element of the learning environment. Learned concepts can be practiced, applied to actual situations, and repeated until mastered. Feedback on performance is imperative for continued growth and performance outcomes. Performance indicators always provide the answer to the return on investment for training and development at the end of the day.
For performance excellence in today’s work environments it is crucial that mid-level and front-line leaders understand the impact of the behaviour element of performance and how to deal with the lack thereof. Developing the skill of Positive Presence within themselves and within the people with whom they work, will drive the necessary positive human energy needed for performance driven behaviours.
CORPORATE HARMONY is grateful to Dr. Michael E. Frisina for his contributions to this entry.
Catherine is the President and CEO of CORPORATE HARMONY, providing virtual solutions for leadership development and organizational culture change. Her leadership and coaching experience as a Project Manager in an ever-changing, fast moving technological organization with unrelenting demands drove her to the realization that a positive mindset and strength-building behaviors are essential for today’s complex and chaotic organizational systems. CORPORATE HARMONY’s virtual platform of programs, coaching and performance measurement, is an innovative online technology of tested proprietary content. The world-class content of CORPORATE HARMONY’s Positive Presence Program develops the skill of ‘Positive Presence’ and the necessary ‘Positive Presence Behaviour Competencies’ for maintaining a positive and energized mindset and increased performance in today’s complex work environment, and leading to a culture of collaboration and connection. Catherine’s vision for Corporate Harmony is to bring the skill of “Positive Presence” to the corporate world as it becomes more complex, ambiguous and chaotic. Catherine is uniquely positioned to impact organizations’ productivity and long term success, with her powerful vision of eliminating bad stress from every workplace around the globe, bringing purpose into the people equation to promote healthy, productive and meaningful work cultures and turn the tide on the neglect of mental health on a global scale. Catherine is author of the book: “CORPORATE HARMONY – The Performance Link for Today’s Modern Organization” Catherine can be reached at: Catherine.Osborne@corporateharmony.ca or go to ‘contact us’ on our website www.corporateharmony.ca. Catherine is available for consultation, and can be reached by 519-695-3407.