Did you know that 93% of CEOs don’t know their ‘why’? In these times of change, many businesses have taken the opportunity to reflect, reposition and realign themselves, but what about the people who run businesses, and their employees?
Executive coach, author and Vistage speaker, Carole Gaskell, believes that without knowing what motivates and energises you as a leader, you’ll limit your growth, strength, and, crucially, your ability to work ‘smarter’.
Carole's recent Vistage webinar discussed helping people to find their ‘why’ enabling them to empower change and unlock potential within senior teams and beyond. As Carole says, ‘If everyone’s aligned and energised, people are much more likely to achieve things: smarter, better, faster. This will help you accelerate through the chaos more easily.’’
Here’s a taste of what Carole covered in the webinar....
Click here to view Carole's webinar now.
Working smarter is about maximising your output in the most resourceful, time-efficient way, as Carole explains. ‘Smarter really means achieving more with less. It’s about reaching a flow state - rather than being busy fools, so to speak. Most people are doing too much which isn’t healthy, long-term.’
One of the principles at the heart of Carole’s framework is the idea of full-brain leadership, which is all about ‘aligning your intellectual intelligence with your emotions, and intuitive intelligence’. As she says, “People are much more likely to achieve more, and get things done in a smarter way when they’re working with their head, heart, and gut all aligned. Achieving this internal alignment all starts with finding your ‘why’.”
While the idea of finding your ‘why’ might sound like something nebulous or intangibly soft, Carole explains how it’s possible to ‘put numbers on the soft stuff’: “A simple way into this is using motivational maps which measure what gives people energy. You actually get scores, ratings, satisfaction scores, overall motivation scores. You can see how motivated everyone is across the whole organisation, which allows you to see the hotbeds of energy - and equally where people are less energised. Knowing everyone’s motivators keeps teams connected and keeps your culture alive at this critical time.”
Communication has always been a fundamental of good leadership. However, in the current climate it’s become more important than ever before. With so many people working remotely, and so many internal and external changes happening, Carole believes better communication is vital.
‘With all the changes happening, communication is key - and it needs to be holistic - verbal and written. I have a model introduced in the webinar: it’s called Vital, because right now communication is vital. It’s all about how we can step change our people and empower our people by having these vital conversations.’
Everyone speaks about businesses becoming more agile, but what about developing personal or ‘neuro-agility’? Neuro-agility is about using your brain to become more adaptable and agile as an individual.
‘We can work a lot more quickly if we understand the seven aspects of our neurological design”, Carole explains, “If people are aware of how their brains are wired, they can use this to their advantage - they can use their brains more effectively. They can also begin to understand how their colleagues might be different from them.”
In addition to these seven neurological aspects, Carole’s framework includes a focussed look at six key drivers which have an impact on our brain’s performance. These drivers affect how quickly we work and how adaptable we are. Carole believes one of the most fundamental drivers in terms of business leadership is Brain Fitness; she explains why:
“I use a profiling tool that measures people’s neuro-agility, so they get scores on how flexibly they’re using their brain against these key drivers. Most people are not as brain-fit as they could be; they tend to be homo-lateral, meaning they rely solely on the dominant parts of their brain, rather than using the other areas of their brain. That’s why I include simple techniques on how to become more bilateral and improve brain flexibility.”
While the current climate has been challenging for all businesses, it’s also provided an unprecedented opportunity for evaluation, change and growth. Carole Gaskell believes that the ability to improve performance, motivate your teams and achieve new growth all lie within you, the leader - it’s simply a case of awakening them: “I want to give people the right tools and techniques that will leverage and unlock their true potential”.
Thanks to Carole for taking the time to speak to us. View the webinar here now.
Image: public domain