18
Jun
Leadership methods of the past just aren’t cutting it anymore. Only one-third of employees are engaged. What’s worse is actively disengaged people, who are deflating your engaged workers, cost the US up to $550 billion annually. What’s the solution?
Leadership expert and author, Mark C. Crowley, thinks he has the answer.
Join us on June 25 for a Twitter chat where we’ll start with an interview with Mark discussing how to fix our leadership dilemma. Mark will be the guest for our first #MiChat on Thursday, June 25th at 1 PM EST.
Leadership that Engages Through Human Connection
Crowley aims to change leadership worldwide. A former SVP/National Manager for Investment Product Sales, Crowley led a team that broke a 25 year-old record. What made Crowley’s teams so successful?
After a year of reflection on his experience, he had the answer. Heart. Leadership through the human connection drives success. Crowley nurtured the emotions of his employees through honoring their accomplishments. Could this work for others?
The Science
Crowley met with cardiologist, Dr. Mimi Guarneri, whose research confirmed exactly what he’d realized. The heart is a key player in human motivation. In his book Lead from the Heart: Transformational Leadership for the 21st Century he quotes Dr. Rollin McCraty, head researcher at HeartMath, who states “the heart has a mind that some might call the spirit, the higher self, intuition or the small voice within…”
Gaurneri explains that two researchers, Dr. John and Beatrice Lacey, discovered that the heart has “… its own nervous system, decision making powers and connections to the brain. They found that the heart actually talks with the brain, communicating in ways that affect how we perceive and react to the world.” So for those of us who’ve felt that our mind says one thing and our heart says the other, there’s a reason for this. What does this mean for talent management?
Heart in Leadership
Too many of the wrong people are being put into management positions, because they stayed at a company for long enough to be promoted, have the practical experience required or the raise they want is connected to managing.
Gallup has found that good managers drive their employees, hold workers accountable, build trust, make informed choices and are assertive. All of these talents require an emotional intelligence that very few people bring to a management role. In addition, even if they have this emotional intelligence it tends to be frowned upon in the workplace.
Companies embracing managers with these talents are achieving great success. Organizations with high levels of engagement reached 27 percent more profits, 50 percent more sales, 50 percent more consumer loyalty, and a 38 percent increase productivity. One specific organization who is leveraging this leadership style is Google, whose treatment of its employees contributed to a 1300 percent stock increase in one decade of being publicly traded.
The Take Away
From a young age we’ve been raised to crave praise, support and love from our leaders, whether they be a parent, teacher or peer. Just as temperament is unchanging and unable to be shut off, our desire for emotional fulfillment doesn’t just go away. While we may get this at home, we often times get very little of it at work. This emotional currency is lacking in the business world.
As Crowley found through his personal experience and cardiologists have discovered over time, heart intelligence exists. The small voice within knows when it is being ignored or under engaged. Until it receives this attention, it’s certain that our employees will remain unengaged or actively disengaged. Leadership attentive to the human connection is what drives engagement.
About #MiChat
#MiChat is a Twitter chat for talent management professionals to discuss topics that affect them and their employees. It begins with a 20 minute interview between Kristen Harcourt and our guest and then moves over to Twitter under the hashtag “#MiChat”.
About Mark
Mark is a leadership expert and consultant. Mark authored Lead From The Heart: Transformational Leadership For The 21st Century with the aim of impacting workplace leadership and management to support the development of employees on a human level. Follow him on Twitter with @MarkCCrowley
