San Francisco Bay Area Executive Coaching

Hiring Top Talent

Get the Right People on Your Talent Bus

As a leader, how do you get the right people on your bus?

While the U.S. unemployment rate declined to 3.9% in December 2021, many managers and leaders feel an increasing urgency to fill open positions. And it’s understandable: short-staffed teams are at greater risk for disengagement, errors, and burnout. So, it’s not uncommon to see new-hire incentives including signing bonuses, flex work schedules, and childcare grants.

Unfortunately, filling open positions with the wrong person can make matters worse. When this topic comes up with leaders and managers, I hear about the impact to efficiency and productivity, client trust, and the triple-bottom line.

Instead of hiring the wrong person, great leaders improve their recruitment efforts, discernment in talent selection, and development (and support) of their existing talent pool.

The Pressure to Hire

Even in the best of times, getting the right people on the bus is a persistent challenge for leaders and managers. After all, talent is a critical driver of corporate performance. Consider the factors that greatly influenced the past two decades:

• The irreversible shift from the Industrial Age to the Information Age: an average of 1.9 million new knowledge workers was needed every year.
• Intensifying demand for top-performing managers
• Drop in the number of workers ages 20-54: in the U.S., this was 10 million fewer than anticipated from 2000 – 2020.
• Ability to search for and find other positions (switching from company to company)
• Ongoing earnings inequality

As a result, managers often feel pressured to hire, even if it is not the right fit. This contributes to hiring mistakes, attrition, and increased expenses. It also impacts the organization’s potential managerial and leadership talent pool. Leaders and managers need to get the right people on the bus from the start.

Avoid These Hiring Mistakes

As a leader, what is your strategy to fill open positions during an “employee market”? How do you avoid hiring mistakes?

This is a frequent topic of discussion right now, especially as it falls upon new managers to fill other open—and often critical—positions. But let me ask: What is the hiring success rate for your managers? How did they manage bad decisions? What about you?

When an organization succumbs to the pressure of filling management positions with a poor fit, everyone suffers. Finding the right manager is critical. It requires enough time and energy; it requires a reliable process.

The Process Problem

The biggest hiring mistake is failing to establish a reliable hiring process.

Even in the best of times, managers report that the hiring process is time consuming and often frustrating. This leads to a negative bias, and an increased risk of impulsive hiring. Eager, energetic, and articulate candidates become more attractive when hiring decisions rely too heavily on interview impressions and intuition.

Consider the 85 years of data collected and analyzed by Frank L. Schmidt and John E. Hunter. Their research reveals that employment interviews are only 57% accurate when it comes to getting the right people on the bus. This is only slightly better than a coin toss.

Instead, great leaders develop a process tailored for their organization and culture. They commonly assess candidates on intelligence, work sample (results portfolio or work sample test), integrity test (conscientiousness), and structured interviews.

More than ever it is important to assess candidates for motivation and attitude, emotional intelligence, and the ability to manage stress. Work habits, leadership and team skills, ability to learn and adapt, and many other intangibles contribute to performance and success.

However, before testing and interviewing can take place, it is critical to understand the real performance requirements. What does the job entail? Why did the last person leave?

Selecting the wrong candidate will inevitably create more issues. This is the time to review, and if necessary, update job descriptions. It’s important to know what you are looking for.

The Best Job Descriptions

The best job descriptions reflect what needs to get done today, and in the near future. Savvy leaders and managers also focus on the behavior and traits necessary to achieve desired results. They consider how the role:

1. Solves current and future anticipated business challenges/needs.
2. Impacts (affects/interacts/collaborates) other teams, departments, lines of business.
3. Benefits from specific competencies and traits.

For example, a combination of four key traits has the greatest impact on workplace teams, according to a recent article in Harvard Business Review. These include:

1. Reliability: Flexibility only goes so far if an employee is unreliable. The job description may indicate the ability to manage unexpected events.
2. Readiness: Prior training and experience may indicate job-readiness, but not always. A growth mindset may be just as important.
3. Attitude: Those who practice positivity at work are more efficient, productive, and supportive of team members. Attitudes are contagious.
4. Communication: Whether the position is face-to-face, virtual, or both, the ability to communicate is important. Look for clarity, coherence, and comprehension.

Performance & Outcome Job Descriptions

If the past two years has taught us anything, it’s the importance of flexibility and adaptability. Almost every manager and employee can share a story about going above and beyond a title, role, or expected tasks. Skills and abilities have been tested, strengthened, and expanded.

However, what got us here may not get us there. If a job description indicates required education and/or years of experience rather than a measurable objective, it is outdated. Sure, experience and skills are important. But an outcome-oriented job description is a better predictor of future performance. For example, “reduce operating expenses by 9% within the first six months” emphasizes performance and potential and provides measurable objectives.

Talent Attraction and Management

Even in the best of times, the majority of businesses do not prioritize talent management. As a result, attrition rates rise and performance suffers. Talent management is, and will continue to be, a major competitive advantage in the coming years. That’s why high-performing companies have a talent mindset: they believe in the importance of talent and take action to strengthen their talent pool.

Talented, high performers may expect top-pay and perks, but they need to believe in and feel passionate about what they are doing. They are looking for a way to create something of value, meaning, and often scale. Over the past two decades, creative freedom was a priority for many; today it is the balance of freedom and safety. Attracting top talent requires the right messaging.

One way to evaluate this is to review your Employee Value Proposition (EVP). Is it a real summary of your employee experience as a part of your organization? Does it truly reflect the culture, values, work satisfaction, leadership, compensation, and more? How do you know this?

Employee Survey

Now may be the time to conduct a formal survey and ask your employees how closely your EVP reflects their experience. In addition, ask what they value. You can offer options and/or write in answers, and ask them to rank in importance.

For example, top performing managers often report that they value:

• Exciting work
• A value-drive culture
• Great leaders in a great company
• Incentives and rewards
• Opportunities for growth, development, and advancement
• The ability (and support) to meet personal and family commitments.

Finally, ask what they would change. How could their work experience improve? What about the organization?

Keep your survey as short and simple as possible, and start with why: how you will use the information to improve their work experience. Follow-up with the results of your survey and any action (next steps) you will take.

Talent management is about attracting, hiring, and retaining the best people and making this a high priority.

Retain Top Talent

Managers must keep their team members actively engaged. They must monitor tasks, conditions, and outcomes and their relationship to roles, responsibilities, and strengths. Providing optimal working conditions becomes a more crucial responsibility.

To support your employees and keep them engaged:

• Communicate: Provide status updates and opportunities for real-time dialog. While email, text, and meetings are important, make time to connect in one-on-one conversations. All serve to strengthen interpersonal bonds.
• Consider support strategies: Help people “play” at work, develop strengths to achieve mastery of their work, and ways to reward their efforts and results.
• Re-examine roles and responsibilities: Consider if/how to create new/different/temp/AI positions), or hire for a different position.

Retention and engagement often go hand-in-hand. To help people engage, evaluate the alignment of their strengths and tasks. Do they enjoy their work? Is it too easy, or too difficult? Why? As a manager, what are you doing to address this?

Every employee should feel recognized and valued for what they do. While they may learn from their mistakes, they grow even more when their successes are noticed and praised. Recognize achievements, efforts, and attitudes. Praise the small wins, and the big victories follow.

Many factors cause disengagement, but the most prevalent is feeling overwhelmed—physically, mentally, or emotionally. You see, our level of engagement depends on how we feel: optimistic, grateful, autonomous, able, hopeful, supported. We need to feel true appreciation.

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist & Executive Coach
Trusted Leadership Advisor
Emotional intelligence and Mindful Leadership Consultant
San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond!

www.workingresources.com

[email protected]

415-546-1252

Top 5 Clifton Strengths – Maximizer, Learner, Ideation, Strategic, Individualization 

VIA Character Strengths – Love of Learning, Social Intelligence, Bravery, Gratitude, Appreciation of Beauty&Excellence



I coach emotionally intelligent and mindful leaders to cultivate trust and full engagement in a purpose-driven culture who produce results.

Pause, Breathe, Be Present, Love, Open to Possibility, Cultivate a Meaningful Life
Live Deeply Into Your Magnificence and Our Shared Humanity in the Present Moment

Emotionally Intelligent Leaders - Apologize When Appropriate

Mindful Leaders Humbly Apologize

When an apology is in order, how do leaders in your organization apologize?

We can’t help but notice when it goes poorly. Sometimes, it’s a matter of people (or a person) not ready or able to forgive. And that’s understandable, especially when there is no attempt at restorative justice.

Other times, apologies go sideways when egos get in the way. At best, it falls short as a polished explanation; the apology is an attempt to justify the behavior. This often results in the erosion of trust.

Great leaders—whether they are seasoned executives or untitled leaders—know how to humbly apologize. They understand that mistakes happen and that they are not infallible. Real leaders hold themselves accountable and make amends.

The Humble Apology

A person offering a humble apology acknowledges an offense has occurred, seeks to understand the harm that has been caused, and identifies how it will correct the mistake and avoid making the same mistake in the future.

Unfortunately, even seasoned executives can get this wrong. The fear of losing credibility stops them from doing the very thing that will actually help restore their credibility: an admission of wrong-doing. The irony is that in doing so, they can begin to move on and repair trust.

What’s Your Motivation?

As Joseph Grenny, author of Crucial Conversations (McGraw-Hill Education; 3rd edition, 2021) sees it, an apology is motivated by either restoring integrity or restoring trust. In the 2016 Harvard Business Review article Grenny shares how trust is lost when our abilities and/or motives fail to meet the expectations of others. This can actually create more than one problem:

1. Relationship problem: When a leader falls short, they must address what they did and how it affects others, including trust in the leaders’ competence and motives.
2. Integrity problem: When a leader falls short, they must address who they aspire to be.

Understanding Trust

At the core of leadership apologies—whether it is on behalf of the organization or in behalf of the leader—is trust. But here’s the thing: when leaders offer a humble apology, their motivation is not about acquiring trust, it’s about personal change. Great leaders build trust from the inside out.

In the recently published book, The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It (Public Affairs 2021), authors Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta examine the how and why others—clients, employees, or any stakeholder—make the decision to trust. They begin by defining trust.

The Complexities of Trust

• Trust is a relationship with three components: the person extending trust, the person receiving trust, and the expected action.
• Trust occurs in degrees. In our disappointment (or hurt, or anger) it’s easy to forget that trust in not an all or nothing proposition; trust is a spectrum.
• Trust can be regained. Trust must be earned, typically by listening and responding appropriately.

The Elements of Trustworthy Leadership

• Competence: While this includes managing uncertainty and navigating external circumstances to reach goals and objectives, more important is keeping promises and commitments.
• Motives: how do you serve the interests of others? How do you balance this with self-interests?
• Means: how do you reach or exceed your goals? Trustworthy leadership demonstrates fairness with information, distribution, procedures, and relationships.
• Accountability: As a leader, how do you demonstrate responsibility for your decisions and actions?

The Public Apology

Unfortunately, persons in power often struggle with apologizing. The fear of admitting wrong-doing is often driven by fear of failure, losing esteem, or making matters worse.

Harvard Business Review (2019) published an article that suggests that “sometimes apologizing is not the best strategy.” Based on their analysis of research conducted by several universities, authors Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta define two categories of mistakes:

1. Incompetence (i.e. failure of product or service reliability)
2. Integrity (i.e. failure in acting fairly or responsibly)

These categories and definitions differ from that of Granny, which may explain their analysis: when mistakes result from incompetence, apologies are effective. When mistakes occur as a result of integrity problems, apologies are not effective. They explain that when a leader or organization really did act with integrity, denial is a better strategy.

The Elements of a Public Apology

Genuine public apologies are based on three elements:

1. Identify what happened and what is happening. Understand what went wrong. If issuing a statement, be factual and disclose errors.
2. Focus on the person(s) harmed. When making a public apology, make it timely (ASAP) and include details about those affected. The only “I” or “we” statement made should be followed by an expression of sorrow.
3. Concrete action. Reparations, in the form of change and/or compensation, may be in order. Share what action you will take in the future to prevent further harm.

How Real Leaders Apologize

A real apology is offered in a real-time conversation with the person harmed. Ideally, this is in-person, virtually, or if this is impossible for the person harmed, a phone call. The conversation should occur ASAP, and include four key elements:

1. Acknowledgement of harm done. Ask questions to understand their perspective. Don’t argue, explain, or rationalize.
2. Acknowledgement of their feelings and values. Again, ask questions to affirm and encourage them to talk about what is important to them. What do they need?
3. An expression of empathy. Without humbly stating the impact of your error—how it has affected them—your apology becomes a hollow justification of yourself or your actions.
4. Acknowledgement of what you will do. Don’t rush to this conclusion. If you will be making your apology public, as the person harmed how they feel about this. Do you have their permission to reveal details about them?

A follow-up letter, email, or direct message/text to the person harmed may be in order. Refrain from using social media to communicate, unless it is part of your public apology. Reiterate a summary of the four key elements to hold yourself accountable.

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist & Executive Coach
Trusted Leadership Advisor
Emotional intelligence and Mindful Leadership Consultant
San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond!
www.workingresources.com
[email protected]
415-546-1252

Top 5 Clifton Strengths – Maximizer, Learner, Ideation, Strategic, Individualization 
VIA Character Strengths – Love of Learning, Social Intelligence, Bravery, Gratitude, Appreciation of Beauty&Excellence



I coach emotionally intelligent and mindful leaders to cultivate trust and full engagement in a purpose-driven culture who produce results.

Pause, Breathe, Be Present, Love, Open to Possibility, Cultivate a Meaningful Life
Live Deeply Into Your Magnificence and Our Shared Humanity in the Present Moment

Real Leadership: Real Apology

Real Leadership: Real Apology

When an apology is in order, how do leaders in your organization apologize?

We can’t help but notice when it goes poorly. Sometimes, it’s a matter of people (or a person) not ready or able to forgive. And that’s understandable, especially when there is no attempt at restorative justice.

Other times, apologies go sideways when egos get in the way. At best, it falls short as a polished explanation; the apology is an attempt to justify the behavior. This often results in the erosion of trust.

Great leaders—whether they are seasoned executives or untitled leaders—know how to humbly apologize. They understand that mistakes happen and that they are not infallible. Real leaders hold themselves accountable and make amends.

The Humble Apology

A person offering a humble apology acknowledges an offense has occurred, seeks to understand the harm that has been caused, and identifies how it will correct the mistake and avoid making the same mistake in the future.

Whether you’re a popular and highly influential leader apologizing in a very public way or seeking forgiveness in a private setting, apologies can be tricky. The person(s) harmed certainly doesn’t want to hear about you: your “why.” They don’t want to hear your assumptions about their feelings, either. They want you to ask, and listen.

Even seasoned executives can get this wrong. The fear of losing credibility stops them from doing the very thing that will actually help restore their credibility: an admission of wrong-doing. The irony is that in doing so, they can begin to move on and repair trust.

What’s Your Motivation?

It’s not uncommon to see people stumble when they offer an apology. What’s worse is an apology that horribly backfires, often seen in today’s headlines and social media. When it happens, motivation is suspect.

As Joseph Grenny, author of Crucial Conversations (McGraw-Hill Education; 3rd edition, 2021) sees it, an apology is motivated by either restoring integrity or restoring trust. “If your goal is to simply restore trust, your motive is manipulative,” writes Grenny.

In the 2016 Harvard Business Review article Grenny shares his understanding of how trust is lost when our abilities and/or motives fail to meet the expectations of others. Simply put, the conclusion is that the leader isn’t competent and/or concerned about us. This can actually create more than one problem:

1. Relationship problem: When a leader falls short, they must address what they did and how it affects others, including trust in the leaders’ competence and motives.
2. Integrity problem: When a leader falls short, they must address who they aspire to be. What do you feel and think about your actions? How do they align with your values? How will you hold yourself accountable? Do you deserve to be trusted?

“The best apology is a glimpse into your own accountability. It affords others an intimate and sincere view of your internal moral conversation—how you respond to their feelings and how you judge your own actions. At its best, an apology is the fruit of personal change, not a tool for interpersonal persuasion.” – Joseph Grenny

Understanding Trust

At the core of leadership apologies—whether it is on behalf of the organization or in behalf of the leader—is trust. But here’s the thing: when leaders offer a humble apology, their motivation is not about acquiring trust, it’s about personal change.

To be sure, trust is critical to the success of any organization or leader. But manipulating others to gain their trust or forgiveness is not how real leaders apologize. They build trust from the inside out. What do I mean?

When a leader is genuine and authentic in walking their talk—their good intentions align with their values, how they treat others, and personal accountability—trust emerges.

In the recently published book, The Power of Trust: How Companies Build It, Lose It, Regain It (Public Affairs 2021), authors Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta examine the how and why others—clients, employees, or any stakeholder—make the decision to trust. They begin by defining trust.

The Complexities of Trust

• Trust is a relationship with three components: the person extending trust, the person receiving trust, and the expected action.
• Trust occurs in degrees. When someone or something does not meet our expectations, it is easy to lose trust. In our disappointment (or hurt, or anger) it’s easy to forget that trust in not an all or nothing proposition; trust is a spectrum.
• Trust can be regained. Of course, this requires time, effort, and change. Trust must be earned, typically by listening and responding appropriately. Motives, actions, and impact must be examined. Fairness (or justice) may require greater generosity. Humble leaders who understand the complexities of trust also understand the opportunities and benefits from real apologies.

The Elements of Trustworthy Leadership

• Competence: As a leader, how do you demonstrate your ability to meet expectations? While this includes managing uncertainty and navigating external circumstances to reach goals and objectives, more important is keeping promises and commitments.
• Motives: As a leader, how do you serve the interests of those you lead? What about investors, clients, or any other stakeholder (the world at large)? How do you balance this with self-interests?
• Means: As a leader, how do you reach or exceed your goals? Trustworthy leadership demonstrates fairness with information, distribution, procedures, and relationships.
• Accountability: As a leader, how do you demonstrate responsibility for your decisions and actions? What action do you take to identify and understand your impact(s)? What action do you take in response to unintended impact?

The Public Apology

When was the last time someone apologized to you? Did they make it a public apology?

Unfortunately, persons in power often struggle with apologizing. The fear of admitting wrong-doing is often driven by fear of failure, losing esteem, or making matters worse. Sure, no one is perfect. But when someone has been offended or harmed, is an apology always necessary? How do you determine if it should be made public?

Harvard Business Review (2019) published an article that suggests that “sometimes apologizing is not the best strategy.” Based on their analysis of research conducted by several universities, authors Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta define two categories of mistakes:

1. Incompetence (i.e. failure of product or service reliability)
2. Integrity (i.e. failure in acting fairly or responsibly)

These categories and definitions differ from that of Granny, which may explain their analysis: when mistakes result from incompetence, apologies are effective. When mistakes occur as a result of integrity problems, apologies are not effective. They explain that when a leader or organization really did act with integrity, denial is a better strategy.

The Elements of a Public Apology

Genuine public apologies are based on three elements:

1. Identify what happened and what is happening. Understand what went wrong. This will require open discussion with the person(s) harmed, prior to issuing the public apology. Ask what they need, and offer your apology for the harm. Be prepared and willing to provide details of the decision and/or actions that led to the mistake, but seek to understand, rather than be understood. If issuing a statement, be factual. Disclose errors.
2. Focus on the person(s) harmed. When making a public apology, make it timely (ASAP) and include details about those affected. The only “I” or “we” statement made should be followed by an expression of sorrow.
3. Concrete action. Even the most carefully crafted apologies will not remedy harm if there is no accountability. Reparations, in the form of change and/or compensation, may be in order. Share what action you will take in the future to prevent further harm.

How Real Leaders Apologize

It can be maddening to witness a poor apology. What may have begun with good intentions can quickly derail when the person apologizing begins with an explanation, moves on to justifying their behavior or actions, and ends up in a heated argument. We seem to see this happen more and more frequently, especially with public apologies.

When private apologies go poorly, the person harmed may be left wondering “what just happened?” Their confusion can fuel anger and resentment. Real leaders can avoid making matters worse with a real, humble apology.

The Elements of a Real Apology

A real apology is offered in a real-time conversation with the person harmed. Ideally, this is in-person, virtually, or if this is impossible for the person harmed, a phone call. The conversation should occur ASAP, and include four key elements:

1. Acknowledgement of harm done. Ask questions to understand their perspective. Don’t argue, explain, or rationalize.
2. Acknowledgement of their feelings and values. Again, ask questions to affirm and encourage them to talk about what is important to them. What do they need?
3. An expression of empathy. Without humbly stating the impact of your error—how it has affected them—your apology becomes a hollow justification of yourself or your actions.
4. Acknowledgement of what you will do. Don’t rush to this conclusion. If you will be making your apology public, as the person harmed how they feel about this. Do you have their permission to reveal details about them?

A follow-up letter, email, or direct message/text to the person harmed may be in order. Refrain from using social media to communicate, unless it is part of your public apology. Reiterate a summary of the four key elements to hold yourself accountable.

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist & Executive Coach
Trusted Leadership Advisor
Emotional intelligence and Mindful Leadership Consultant
San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond!
www.workingresources.com
[email protected]
415-546-1252

Top 5 Clifton Strengths – Maximizer, Learner, Ideation, Strategic, Individualization 
VIA Character Strengths – Love of Learning, Social Intelligence, Bravery, Gratitude, Appreciation of Beauty&Excellence



I coach emotionally intelligent and mindful leaders to cultivate trust and full engagement in a purpose-driven culture who produce results.

Pause, Breathe, Be Present, Love, Open to Possibility, Cultivate a Meaningful Life
Live Deeply Into Your Magnificence and Our Shared Humanity in the Present Moment

Designing You Career: You Are in Charge

No one manages your career but you and you must rely on yourself as your own guide, even if you are fortunate enough to have a trusted mentor.

Most professionals have already moved between a few organizations by the time they reach mid-career points. This may be due to company upheavals, downsizing, or mergers and acquisitions. With each change comes reflection on the next strategy required to sustain a long and successful career.

Complicating anyone’s career landscape is the fact that people change jobs and organizations more frequently than in the past. Executive turnover is at an all-time high. According to an international study conducted on 484 corporations by Drake Beam Morin, a management consultancy firm, 58 percent of large and medium-size companies changed CEOs between the years 1998 and 2001. The median tenure of CEOs is now 2.75 years, down a year from 1999. Only 12 percent of CEOs have held their position for 10 years or longer.

Low-performing companies have nearly twice the number of turnovers among top-performing employees as high-performing companies, according to the consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide.

Career choices are no longer simple, and career paths seem to be varied and unpredictable. There are many forks in the road, and one wrong turn can mean years of waiting for the next opportunity to come along.

The fact is that if you are an ambitious executive you are most likely going to move through more jobs within a decade as compared to an executive thirty years ago.

The average professional with 35 years of work experience has worked for over six different companies throughout his or her career. However, those with only ten years of experience have on average been employed in four companies already. This will continue to occur as companies are increasingly rigorous about cost management and efficiency measures.

There is no safety net. Your individual career is becoming as complex as the business environment. While companies are becoming more sophisticated and creative in their quest to attract and retain talent, issues of incentives, compensation and opportunities also become increasingly complex.

Career success is not achieved easily as it requires investment of time, effort, focus, emotional intelligence and some personal sacrifices. Those attaining the highest levels of professional success report being more satisfied with their jobs, their lifestyle, their compensation, and the balance in their lives.

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist & Executive Coach
Trusted Leadership Advisor
Emotional intelligence and Mindful Leadership Consultant
San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond!

www.workingresources.com

[email protected]
415-546-1252

Top 5 Clifton Strengths – Maximizer, Learner, Ideation, Strategic, Individualization
VIA Character Strengths – Love of Learning, Social Intelligence, Bravery, Gratitude, Appreciation of Beauty&Excellence



I coach emotionally intelligent and mindful leaders to cultivate trust and full engagement in a purpose-driven culture who produce results.

Secrets of Successful Careers:
Finding Your Core Purpose & Strengths

Why are some people promoted to positions that bring out the best in them, while their peers, who are equally talented, get left behind in positions that do not allow them to flourish? Are there secrets to a rewarding and satisfying career in the corporate world?

According to Gallup research, only twenty percent of people are working in jobs that provide them the opportunity to excel in what they do best.

Since we spend so many of our waking hours working, shouldn’t we try to make that time rewarding and fulfilling? Unfortunately, many of us feel trapped in mediocre careers and place the blame on poor company leadership and lack of opportunities. In these situations, daily work becomes a grind when we cannot apply our strengths into our work.

Do we then change jobs or move on to another company? Why change seats on board the Titanic? The key to career fulfillment and success lies within you. It is up to you to find out where your passion lies and how you can become successful no matter where you are.

In spite of having a degree of success at your job, even at the executive level, there may be times when you may experience dissatisfaction or emptiness. This happens when you come to a mid-career point, a life transition or crisis, or when a promotion does not materialize. You begin to ask yourself if there truly is meaning in the work that you do.

Earlier in your career life, career choices were probably easier to make as it was clearer which options were advantageous. At that point in time, you probably plotted your ascent up the corporate ladder and went after career enhancing goals.

However, by the time you reach mid-career, the ladder has moved quite a bit. With flatter organizational structuring, it can be challenging to know how to make the right career moves.
Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist & Executive Coach
Trusted Leadership Advisor
Emotional intelligence and Mindful Leadership Consultant
San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond!

www.workingresources.com

[email protected]
415-546-1252

I coach emotionally intelligent and mindful leaders to cultivate trust and full engagement in a purpose-driven culture who produce results.

Jump-start Your Leadership and Team Performance

Executives, leaders, and managers are facing tough decisions as we return to work. Newly appointed and seasoned leaders must assess their teams, find the gaps, and fill open positions. Adding to the complexity is the critical task of identifying those who would be better served in a different capacity, often times outside the team or organization. This requires an intricate balance of confidence and humility, as well as skillful communication.

The first few weeks are crucial to build trust, learn, and evaluate, even if you are not new to your role. You see, the pandemic has changed us: we’ve adapted and grown, our perspectives have been altered, and for some, our values have shifted.

In a recent Pew Research survey of Americans regarding their experience with the pandemic, almost 90% of the 9,220 who responded reported at least one negative change and 73% have experienced an “unexpected upside.”

According to Pew, “Most have experienced these negative impacts and silver linings simultaneously: Two-thirds (67%) of Americans mentioned at least one negative and at least one positive change since the pandemic began.”

When analyzing the data, they found that Americans were affected in a variety of different ways, both positive and negative, and there was no “typical experience.”

As we return to work, we are returning as a new team. We are new leaders, managers, employees, and teams. By asking the right probing questions and actively listening you can jump-start your leadership and team performance.

Beyond “The Great Resignation”

Typically, after spending an average of four years in their position, 25% of managers change jobs. High potential leaders and executives make a change every 30-36 months. However, according to research by Microsoft, 41% of the entire workforce has or may make a change this year. This includes the 4 million Americans who left their positions in April of 2021 in “The Great Resignation.” With many companies returning to the office in October, it is critical that managers, leaders, and executives assess their teams.

New leadership—managers new to their position—will likely find they’ve got the right people on the bus. However, they may inherit people who are not pulling their own weight, including people who are burned out. Rather than shaking the trees (and losing some good leaves with the bad apples), mindfully gather information to make your evaluations.

Ongoing uncertainty and change impacts team dynamics and habitual ways of working. Managers need to be able to determine temporary inefficiencies from ineffective (or poor) assignments.

Evaluation Criteria

While first impressions are important, they are not enough to effectively evaluate your team members. Other factors should be considered and weighted appropriately. For example, after spending time with each individual, assess for:

• Core competencies: The employee has the technical skills and experience required for the job.
• Discernment: The employee demonstrates good judgment under pressure and/or with supporting the greater good.
• Energy: The employee is engaged and contributes appropriate energy for the role and tasks.
• Focus: The employee is able to prioritize essential tasks, manage distractions, and complete assignments.
• Relationships: The employee maintains healthy relationships with colleagues and is supportive of co-workers and team decisions.
• Trust: The employee is honest, consistent, and reliable, demonstrating authenticity and trustworthiness.

Consider ranking each category commensurate with the position, and using a scale to determine areas of strength and weakness. Of course, adequate time and the right questions are critical for a fair and accurate evaluation.

Meaningful Questions and Answers

Meaningful conversations are a collaboration. They require a blend of spontaneity—being present in the moment and allowing the conversation to unfold—and preparation—asking meaningful questions.

To prepare for individual meetings, create a list of standard questions that you will ask every employee. These might include:

1. How would you describe our existing organizational and team strategy? What are your thoughts about it?
2. What are our largest short- and long-term team challenges?
3. Where are our greatest opportunities?
4. Which/what resources could we leverage more effectively?
5. How can we improve the way the team works together?
6. If you could give me any advice regarding my position, what would it be?
7. What should I pay attention to?
8. What can I do to help you?

While the questions should be open and may result in lengthy answers, ensure you are able to capture verbal and non-verbal responses, including feelings, thoughts, and emotions. More is often revealed by what a person doesn’t say, or their tone. Pay attention to non-verbal clues:

• What is unsaid?
• Are they open, volunteering information, or wait until asked specifics?
• Is there equal focus on strengths and weakness?
• Do they take responsibility when appropriate, or blame others?
• Are excuses made (for self or others)?
• How consistent is body language with words?
• Which topics evoke an increase of energy?
• When observing the individual interacting informally with others, how do they appear? (Cordial, reserved, judgmental, competitive, etc.)

Evaluate Judgment

It can be challenging to assess an employee’s ability to make decisions and judgments. This is especially true for managers new to their role who have not been able to observe the employee’s ability to make sound predictions and develop good strategies for avoiding problems. One method to evaluate judgment is to ask questions about areas outside of the work place. This could include sports, hobbies, or other areas of interest.

For example, asking about predictions regarding their favorite team and how they came to their conclusion can reveal how readily they commit to predicting an outcome, or if they are more risk averse. Moreover, it reveals their rationale and capability to exercise expert judgment in areas other than work. Be sure to identify an area or topic where they have a level of passion: someone who finds passion in a private domain is likely to do so in a chosen business field as well.

Assess Your Team

It is essential to understand how the existing team functions. A thorough assessment requires an evaluation of team coherence. How similar/dissimilar are shared experiences?

An initial study of data, reports from meetings, and any climate surveys is helpful. However, group dynamics observed in first meetings are revealing indicators. This is also true for teams who are returning to the office environment post-pandemic.

Observe how they interact in your presence, and roles people take. Have they shifted? If you are new to your leadership position, notice who speaks easily, who is more reserved, and if there appear to be alliances. Note that non-verbal clues appear each time someone speaks during the meeting.

Team Restructuring

If you determine that team restructuring is required to jump-start your team performance, you’ll need to make key decisions about your team members. You will need to identify:

• Who will remain in their current role?
• Who is better fit for a different position?
• Who will you retain and develop?
• Who do you need to observe for a longer period of time?
• Who will you need to replace ASAP?
• Who will need to be replaced within a year or two?

Even when poor performance is well documented, letting someone go can be difficult, time consuming, and costly. Great managers and leaders consider alternatives such as a move to another position within the team or organization that is a better fit for their skills. To keep your team functioning, you may need to keep an underperformer in their position while searching for a replacement. Of course, safety is first. Keep an eye on their performance, but be respectful.

As a leader, it is your responsibility to create a safe space. Your employees will feel safe when they believe that:
• They are respected as human beings; there is, or could be, mutual respect for the other.
• There is regard for their goals; there is, or could be, mutual purpose.

Clarity is critical. It requires self-awareness, attentiveness, objectivity, and compassion. Even in situations when we don’t know the employee well, we send a message about our level of respect and regard. Always treat people with dignity and respect.

Avoid Common Mistakes

New leaders and managers often stumble in their attempts to jump-start their team performance. One of the most common mistakes is to prolong the transitioning period. Hesitancy about letting people go, especially when positions remain open, can feel risky. But failing to act decisively and quickly can lead to derailment.

Other common mistakes managers and leaders make include:

• Inadequate personnel plan. Within your first 90-days, personnel decisions should be made and communicated to key stakeholders, including your boss and HR.
• Ongoing team dysfunction. If you have inherited dysfunctional teams or processes, correct problems and develop options right away. Sometimes, this may require temporary solutions, including temporary staff and resources.
• Lack of clarity, purpose, and focus. Your leadership and team must be aligned and clear about organizational mission, goals, and values.
• Loss of good people. To retain your best employees, look for ways to recognize their efforts and capabilities. Express gratitude and share all victories—even the small wins.
• Poorly timed team building. Ensure you have the right people on the bus before you begin team building exercises.
• Rushing to decisions. When it comes to making implementation decisions, wait until core members of your team are in place and include them in the decision-making process. This can jump-start change management.
• Going it alone. Great leaders are often seen as independent, trail-blazing mavericks. But the truth is that the greatest rely on experts who can offer sage advice. A qualified business coach and your HR department can help you chart a strategy and navigate the legal, emotional, and company policy complications of restructuring your team.

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist & Executive Coach
Trusted Leadership Advisor
Emotional intelligence and Mindful Leadership Consultant
San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond!

www.workingresources.com

[email protected]
415-546-1252

I coach emotionally intelligent and mindful leaders to cultivate trust and full engagement in a purpose-driven culture who produce results.

10 Areas Ripe for Innovation

10 Areas Ripe for Innovation

We tend to think of new technology as the space where game-changing innovations occur, but fertile new ideas may reside elsewhere. The Doblin Group, a Chicago think tank, has identified 10 areas where innovation can deliver competitive advantages:

1. The business model: how a company makes money
2. Networking: including organizational structure, value chain, partnerships
3. Enabling processes: the capabilities a company buys from others
4. Core processes: proprietary methods that add value
5. Product performance: including features and functionality
6. Product systems: extended systems that support the product
7. Service: how a company treats customers
8. Channels: how companies connect offerings to customers
9. Branding: how a company builds its reputation
10. Customer experience: including the touchpoints where customers encounter the brand

Think of problems as opportunities to find worthy and inspiring solutions. In Metaskills: 5 Talents for the Robotic Age, business adviser Marty Neumeier encourages leaders to use the following questions as inspiration points:

• What’s the “either/or” that’s obscuring innovation opportunities?
• In which areas do the usual methods no longer achieve predicted results?
• What’s the “can’t-do” that you can turn into a “can-do”?
• Which problems are so big that they can no longer be seen?
• Which categories or sectors exhibit the most uneven rates of change?
• In which area is there a great deal of interest, but very few solutions?
• Where can you find too little or too much order?
• Which of your talents can be upscaled in some surprising way?
• Where can your passion take you?

Most of us are ill prepared to meet these challenges, which are coming faster than we think. Armed with knowledge, those who are future smart can take action to reinvent themselves, their businesses and their world.

Transformational leaders can create a full engagement culture driven by purpose and passion by working with an executive coach and culture change expert. The investment is well worth the reward: your ability to influence the future, your career and your personal-development capabilities.

Are you working in a company where executive coaches provide leadership development to help leaders put positive leadership into action? Does your organization provide executive coaching for leaders who need to build a company culture built on trust? Transformational leaders tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to create a more fulfilling future.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I a transformational leader who inspires individuals and organizations to achieve their highest potential, flourish at work, experience elevating energy and achieve levels of effectiveness difficult to attain otherwise?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching to help leaders create a culture where respect and trust flourish.

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-I, CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help leaders nurture mindful conversations in the workplace. You can become an inspiring leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

Working Resources is a San Francisco Bay Area Executive Coaching Firm Helping Innovative Companies and Law Firms Assess, Select, Coach, Engage and Retain Emotionally Intelligent Leaders; Executive Coaching; Leadership Development; Performance-Based Interviewing; Competency Modeling; Succession Management; Culture Change; Career Coaching and Leadership Retreats

...About Dr. Maynard Brusman

Dr. Maynard Brusman

Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach|
Trusted Advisor to Executive Leadership Teams
Mindfulness & Emotional Intelligence Workplace Expert

Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist and executive coach. He is the president of Working Resources, a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm. We specialize in helping San Francisco Bay Area companies select and develop emotionally intelligent leaders.  Maynard is a highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader. He facilitates leadership retreats in Northern California and Costa Rica. The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) awarded Dr. Maynard Brusman "Board Approved" designations in the specialties of Executive Coaching and Leadership Development.

“Maynard Brusman is one of the foremost coaches in the United States. He utilizes a wide variety of assessments in his work with senior executives and upper level managers, and is adept at helping his clients both develop higher levels of emotional intelligence and achieve breakthrough business results. As a senior leader in the executive coaching field, Dr. Brusman brings an exceptional level of wisdom, energy, and creativity to his work.” — Jeffrey E. Auerbach, Ph.D., President, College of Executive Coaching

For more information, please go to http://www.workingresources.com, write to [email protected], or call 415-546-1252.

Are you an executive leader who wants to be more effective at work and get better results?

Did you know that research has demonstrated, that the most effective leaders model high emotional intelligence, and that EQ can be learned? It takes self-awareness, empathy, and compassion to become a more emotionally intelligent leader. 

Emotionally intelligent and mindful leaders inspire people to become fully engaged with the vision and mission of their company. Mindful leadership starts from within.

I am a consulting psychologist and executive coach. I believe coaching is a collaborative process of providing people with the resources and opportunities they need to self manage, develop change resiliency and become more effective. Utilizing instrumented assessments - clients set clear goals, make optimal use of their strengths, and take action to create desired changes aligned with personal values.

I have been chosen as an expert to appear on radio and TV, MSNBC, CBS Health Watch and in the San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Time and Fast Company.

Over the past thirty-five years, I have coached hundreds of leaders to improve their leadership effectiveness.

After only 6 months, one executive coaching client reported greater productivity, more stress resiliency, and helping her company improve revenues by 20%. While this may depend on many factors most of my clients report similar satisfaction in their EQ leadership competence leading to better business results.

You can choose to work with a highly seasoned executive coach to help facilitate your leadership development and executive presence awakening what’s possible.

For more information, please go to http://www.workingresources.com, write to [email protected], or call 415-546-1252.

Subscribe to Working Resources Newsletter: http://www.workingresources.com

Visit Maynard's Blog: http://www.workingresourcesblog.com
 
Connect with me on these Social Media sites.

http://twitter.com/drbrusman
http://www.facebook.com/maynardbrusman
http://www.linkedin.com/in/maynardbrusman
http://www.youtube.com/user/drmaynardbrusman
http://google.com/+maynardbrusman

 

 

 

The Future of Work: 5 Skills for the Robotic Age

The Future of Work:
5 Skills for the Robotic Age

The challenges of 21st-century work—rapid innovation, unrelenting change and unprecedented uncertainty—have created a stress pandemic.

Depending on your disposition, you may view the future as ripe for a spectacular explosion of creativity or poised on the brink of self-destruction. Either way, there’s no going back.

The tools and skills we’ve developed over the last century inadequately address imminent challenges. We’re caught between two paradigms: a collapsing industrial platform and an uncertain new one.

“Information Age” insufficiently captures the spirit of where we’re headed. We will be forced to interpret unprecedented information streams and navigate vast knowledge networks to solve new problems.

Too Much Information

The world’s ability to store, communicate and compute information has grown at least 23% annually since 1986. Digital information increases tenfold every 5 years.

Amazon seeks to make every book ever printed available in any language in less than 60 seconds. Google’s mission is to organize all of the world’s information and make it universally accessible.

But we’re not yet ready to deal with these interconnected, nonlinear and amorphous challenges. Our skills remain too basic. We must break free of static, linear thinking and move toward dynamic, holistic information processing.

Man vs. Machine

Our educational system has taught us to copy, memorize, obey and keep score—skills we now ask machines to handle. Computers have taken over many of our jobs.

In February 2011, the IBM computer “Watson“ trounced two Jeopardy! champions over a 3-day competition. Watson’s cognitive-reasoning skills were far superior, with access to 200 million pages of structured and unstructured content (4 terabytes of disk storage, including the full text of Wikipedia).

Even before Alex Trebek finished reading a clue, Watson’s 2,880 parallel processor cores began to divvy up the workload. At 33 billion operations per second, they could search 500 gigabytes of data (roughly 1 million books) in the blink of an eye. Watson could also hit the buzzer in less than 8 milliseconds.

During the 3 seconds Watson took to deliver a correct response, various algorithms worked across multiple processors to return hundreds of hypothetical answers. Watson was programmed to hit the buzzer only after reaching a 50% confidence level. By the end of the game, Watson had surpassed previous champions’ winnings by almost 200%, easily becoming the first nonhuman Jeopardy! champion.

In February 2013, IBM announced that Watson’s first commercial software application would be used for utilization management decisions at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Ninety percent of nurses who use Watson now follow its guidance.

This is an example of how robots, machines and computers will ultimately take our jobs. We must harness our creative energy in new ways to stay ahead of the “robot curve.”

Creative Destruction

In 1942, economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the term creative destruction to describe the continual process of economic and technological innovation. Modern-day examples include:

• Telephone replaces telegraph
• Automobile replaces horse-drawn carriage
• Digital camera replaces film
• Smartphone replaces cell phone

The need for efficient transportation and communication will persist while their delivery systems will always change.

“Help! A Robot Ate My Job!”

If you haven’t yet heard this complaint, you will. Today’s widespread unemployment is not a jobs crisis; it’s a talent crisis. Technology is taking every job that doesn’t require a high degree of creativity, humanity or leadership.

In times of rapid change, success favors those who can make big leaps of imagination, courage and effort. Innovation and creative destruction are rampant in the first two decades of the 21st century. The call for new ways to work will become even more pressing.

10 Areas Ripe for Innovation

We tend to think of new technology as the space where game-changing innovations occur, but fertile new ideas may reside elsewhere. The Doblin Group, a Chicago think tank, has identified 10 areas where innovation can deliver competitive advantages:

1. The business model: how a company makes money
2. Networking: including organizational structure, value chain, partnerships
3. Enabling processes: the capabilities a company buys from others
4. Core processes: proprietary methods that add value
5. Product performance: including features and functionality
6. Product systems: extended systems that support the product
7. Service: how a company treats customers
8. Channels: how companies connect offerings to customers
9. Branding: how a company builds its reputation
10. Customer experience: including the touchpoints where customers encounter the brand

Think of problems as opportunities to find worthy and inspiring solutions. In Metaskills: 5 Talents for the Robotic Age, business adviser Marty Neumeier encourages leaders to use the following questions as inspiration points:

• What’s the “either/or” that’s obscuring innovation opportunities?
• In which areas do the usual methods no longer achieve predicted results?
• What’s the “can’t-do” that you can turn into a “can-do”?
• Which problems are so big that they can no longer be seen?
• Which categories or sectors exhibit the most uneven rates of change?
• In which area is there a great deal of interest, but very few solutions?
• Where can you find too little or too much order?
• Which of your talents can be upscaled in some surprising way?
• Where can your passion take you?

5 Skills for the Robotic Age

We need to stay on top of the robot curve—the constant waterfall of obsolescence and opportunity fed by competition and innovation.

Neumeier presents five metaskills that—so far—robots cannot handle:

1. Feeling encompasses intuition, empathy and social intelligence. Humans draw on emotion for intuition, aesthetics and empathy—skills that are becoming more vital as we enter the robotic age.
2. Seeing is the ability to think whole thoughts (also known as “system thinking”). We understand parts of a system when we appreciate their relationship to each other, rather than in isolation. Before tinkering with a system, we need to ask:
   1. What will happen if I do nothing?
   2. What may be improved?
   3. What may be diminished?
   4. What will be replaced?
   5. Will it expand future options?
   6. What are the ethical considerations?
   7. Will it simplify or complicate the system?
   8. Are my basic assumptions correct?
   9. What has to be true to make this possible?
   10. Are events likely to unfold this way?
   11. If so, will the system really react this way?
   12. What are the factors behind the events?
   13. What are the long-term costs and benefits?
3. Dreaming requires you to apply your imagination—one of the brain’s more mysterious capabilities. Innovators transform their dreams into practical solutions. You dream by disassociating your thoughts from all that is linear and the logical. Like most things, dreaming improves with practice. Unfortunately, it’s never taught in business schools—a gross omission that discourages innovation.
4. Making involves mastering the design process, including skills for devising prototypes. Creativity is nothing without craft. The act of making something turns imagination into brilliant products, services and successful businesses. Think of it this way:
5. In design, sketching is the mother of invention.
6. In science, it’s the experiment.
7. In business, it’s the whiteboard diagram.
8. In writing, it’s the rough draft.
9. In acting, it’s the run-through.
10. In inventing, it’s the prototype.
11. In jazz, it’s jamming.

You must constantly push yourself beyond your limits and pay attention to the tasks that trip you up. In design circles, this is known as fast failing. Successive drawings and models are designed to illuminate the problem and, in the process, spark intuition among collaborators. It will be interesting to see how 3D printing will be used to enhance the design process. Unfortunately, too many organizations value process and standardization at the risk of suppressing surprising results.

5. Learning is an ongoing process. We must continually master skills to adapt. We then apply our newfound knowledge in innovative ways. Learning is enhanced through good moods, action and emotional experiences. We become masterful through deliberate practice.

These five metaskills can keep you two or three steps ahead of the machines, algorithms and outsourcing forces of the robot curve. They’ll also bring you greater creativity, a higher purpose and a deeper sense of fulfillment.

So far, the human brain has many advantages over machines, but the gap is closing. You’ll need to routinely upgrade your skills to remain essential.

Will You Be “Future Smart”?

Game-changing trends will continue to affect business, technology, the workforce, the economy, security and the environment. We’re well aware of many of them: climate change, energy demand and population growth. We can only guess at others.

Thriving in this future requires you to become predictive, adaptive and agile—what global futurist James Canton, PhD, calls Future Smart. Exponential new technologies will emerge in digital money, mobile commerce and big data. An explosive new middle class of more than 1 billion consumers will enter the marketplace. We can look forward to:

• Regenerative medicine that extends our life span and rebuilds our bodies
• Robots and drones that drive our cars, teach our kids and fight our wars
• Smart machines that design, manage and service 40% of all global businesses—energy, commerce, finance and manufacturing—without humans
• Always-connected digital consumers who challenge every business to change its strategy
• Climate-change wars that redefine security and resources

Most of us are ill prepared to meet these challenges, which are coming faster than we think. Armed with knowledge, those who are future smart can take action to reinvent themselves, their businesses and their world.

Transformational leaders can create a full engagement culture driven by purpose and passion by working with an executive coach and culture change expert. The investment is well worth the reward: your ability to influence the future, your career and your personal-development capabilities.

Are you working in a company where executive coaches provide leadership development to help leaders put positive leadership into action? Does your organization provide executive coaching for leaders who need to build a company culture built on trust? Transformational leaders tap into their emotional intelligence and social intelligence skills to create a more fulfilling future.

One of the most powerful questions you can ask yourself is “Am I a transformational leader who inspires individuals and organizations to achieve their highest potential, flourish at work, experience elevating energy and achieve levels of effectiveness difficult to attain otherwise?” Emotionally intelligent and socially intelligent organizations provide executive coaching to help leaders create a culture where respect and trust flourish.

Working with a seasoned executive coach and leadership consultant trained in emotional intelligence and incorporating assessments such as the Bar-On EQ-I, CPI 260 and Denison Culture Survey can help leaders nurture mindful conversations in the workplace. You can become an inspiring leader who models emotional intelligence and social intelligence, and who inspires people to become fully engaged with the vision, mission and strategy of your company or law firm.

Working Resources is a San Francisco Bay Area Executive Coaching Firm Helping Innovative Companies and Law Firms Assess, Select, Coach, Engage and Retain Emotionally Intelligent Leaders; Executive Coaching; Leadership Development; Performance-Based Interviewing; Competency Modeling; Succession Management; Culture Change; Career Coaching and Leadership Retreats

...About Dr. Maynard Brusman

Dr. Maynard Brusman

Consulting Psychologist and Executive Coach|
Trusted Advisor to Executive Leadership Teams
Mindfulness & Emotional Intelligence Workplace Expert

Dr. Maynard Brusman is a consulting psychologist and executive coach. He is the president of Working Resources, a leadership consulting and executive coaching firm. We specialize in helping San Francisco Bay Area companies select and develop emotionally intelligent leaders.  Maynard is a highly sought-after speaker and workshop leader. He facilitates leadership retreats in Northern California and Costa Rica. The Society for Advancement of Consulting (SAC) awarded Dr. Maynard Brusman "Board Approved" designations in the specialties of Executive Coaching and Leadership Development.

“Maynard Brusman is one of the foremost coaches in the United States. He utilizes a wide variety of assessments in his work with senior executives and upper level managers, and is adept at helping his clients both develop higher levels of emotional intelligence and achieve breakthrough business results. As a senior leader in the executive coaching field, Dr. Brusman brings an exceptional level of wisdom, energy, and creativity to his work.” — Jeffrey E. Auerbach, Ph.D., President, College of Executive Coaching

For more information, please go to http://www.workingresources.com, write to [email protected], or call 415-546-1252.

Are you an executive leader who wants to be more effective at work and get better results?

Did you know that research has demonstrated, that the most effective leaders model high emotional intelligence, and that EQ can be learned? It takes self-awareness, empathy, and compassion to become a more emotionally intelligent leader. 

Emotionally intelligent and mindful leaders inspire people to become fully engaged with the vision and mission of their company. Mindful leadership starts from within.

I am a consulting psychologist and executive coach. I believe coaching is a collaborative process of providing people with the resources and opportunities they need to self manage, develop change resiliency and become more effective. Utilizing instrumented assessments - clients set clear goals, make optimal use of their strengths, and take action to create desired changes aligned with personal values.

I have been chosen as an expert to appear on radio and TV, MSNBC, CBS Health Watch and in the San Francisco Chronicle, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Time and Fast Company.

Over the past thirty-five years, I have coached hundreds of leaders to improve their leadership effectiveness.

After only 6 months, one executive coaching client reported greater productivity, more stress resiliency, and helping her company improve revenues by 20%. While this may depend on many factors most of my clients report similar satisfaction in their EQ leadership competence leading to better business results.

You can choose to work with a highly seasoned executive coach to help facilitate your leadership development and executive presence awakening what’s possible.

For more information, please go to http://www.workingresources.com, write to [email protected], or call 415-546-1252.

Subscribe to Working Resources Newsletter: http://www.workingresources.com

Visit Maynard's Blog: http://www.workingresourcesblog.com
 
Connect with me on these Social Media sites.

http://twitter.com/drbrusman
http://www.facebook.com/maynardbrusman
http://www.linkedin.com/in/maynardbrusman
http://www.youtube.com/user/drmaynardbrusman
http://google.com/+maynardbrusman

 

 

 

What is Trauma?

What is Trauma?

Although trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are frequently used interchangeably, they are different.

According to the American Psychological Association, trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event. It is time-based, can be experience more than once by an individual, and there are multiple types of trauma:

• Physical or psychological
• A one-time event

• Historical – this type of trauma is often associated with racial and ethnic population groups in the United States who have suffered major intergenerational losses and assaults on their culture and well-being
• Traumatic grief/separation/forced displacement
• Natural disasters
• Witnessing any of the above traumatic events

Responses to trauma can be expressed through emotions and/or behavior, and can impede an individual’s ability to function.

Dr. Maynard Brusman
Consulting Psychologist & Executive Coach

Trusted Leadership Advisor
Emotional intelligence and Mindful Leadership Consultant
San Francisco Bay Area and Beyond!
www.workingresources.com

[email protected]

415-546-1252

I coach emotionally intelligent and mindful leaders to cultivate trust and full engagement in a purpose-driven culture who produce results.

Pause, Breathe, Be Present, Love, Open to Possibility, Cultivate a Meaningful Life
Live Deeply Into Your Magnificence and Our Shared Humanity in the Present Moment

Leadership, Trauma, and Recovery

Leadership, Trauma, and Recovery

The way we live and work has changed dramatically the past year, upending our routines, our identities, and for many, our sense of security. The trauma of job insecurity, health insecurity, major intergenerational loss, and culture assaults leave us reeling and impact our productivity. Leaders are concerned about their employee’s well-being and safety.

Traditionally, when employees share or demonstrate a need for assistance, we rely on our human resources department (or representative) to step in.

However, leaders and managers who are able to work with HR and their employees through trauma recovery are of greater help to those they lead—and their entire organization.

The Catalyst for Change

It’s no wonder that reports of anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are on the rise. Experiencing violence (as a victim or witness), a serious illness, or the death of a loved one can trigger post-traumatic stress. Unfortunately, fear, misunderstanding, and lack of trust prevent many employees from seeking assistance or even reporting events.

Trauma can impact anyone. Great leaders recognize this. They understand that how we manage trauma can define our life.

The best leaders I know share openly about their own struggles, how they manage uncertainty, and are able to engage others to share their story. Why?

We know that negative experiences can be a catalyst for positive change. It might be a new understanding about a personal strength, the impetus to explore new possibilities, the desire to improve relationships, a sense of awe for life, and/or a spiritual renewal.

Individual wellbeing matters in every organization, small or large. When leaders and managers are equipped to treat everyone with care and compassion, employees experience less absenteeism and burnout and more job satisfaction.

In Posttraumatic Growth: Theory, Research, and Applications, (Routledge, 2018), authors Richard G. Tedeschi, Jane Shakespeare-Finch, Kanako Taku, and Lawrence G. Calhoun share their research on trauma and how leaders can help traumatized people recover. According to Tedeschi, “…despite the misery resulting from the coronavirus outbreak, many of us can expect to develop in beneficial ways in its aftermath.”

What is Trauma?

Although trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are frequently used interchangeably, they are different.

According to the American Psychological Association, trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event. It is time-based, can be experience more than once by an individual, and there are multiple types of trauma:

• Physical or psychological
• A one-time event

• Historical – this type of trauma is often associated with racial and ethnic population groups in the United States who have suffered major intergenerational losses and assaults on their culture and well-being
• Traumatic grief/separation/forced displacement
• Natural disasters
• Witnessing any of the above traumatic events

Responses to trauma can be expressed through emotions and/or behavior, and can impede an individual’s ability to function.

What is PTSD?

PTSD is a longer-term condition that can develop as a result of trauma, however, not all traumatic events lead to PTSD. Re-experience of the event can occur through flashbacks, dreams, and thoughts. Common signs and symptoms of PTSD include:

• Avoidance of people, places, or memories of the event
• Difficulty sleeping
• Being easily startled
• Feelings of guilt or blame for the event
• Outbursts of anger
• Constant state of agitation/arousal (not triggered by traumatic event reminder)
• Event memory lapse
• Negative thinking about self/world
• Loss of interest in pleasure, family, or friends

According to the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health, PTSD symptoms can begin as early as three months post trauma or years after, occur for more than a month, and interfere with work, relationships, and daily tasks.

A diagnosis of PTSD can be done by a trained medical professional, but leaders who have a greater understanding of the condition can aid in the recovery process.

What Leaders Need to Know about PTG

In one study of 10,000+ trauma survivors, researchers found that trauma survivors (those who have experienced serious injury, combat, or the loss of a loved one) experienced increase in their well-being through post traumatic growth (PTG). They reported a greater sense of purpose, stronger social connections, and/or deeper spirituality.

Great leaders care about the physical, psychological, and emotional health of those they lead. They are interested in the science of trauma, and the insights it can offer in our recovery from the pandemic, racial violence, and even economic uncertainty. As a result, they help others affirm their individual values and strengthen community.

What Is Post-Traumatic Growth?

Post-traumatic growth occurs through the struggle with adversity and results in a transformative, positive change. You see, part of our struggle is our quest to make meaning from the trauma. Based on the research published by Lawrence G. Calhoun and Richard G. Tedeschi in The Handbook of Posttraumatic Growth (Routledge, 2014), people who make meaning out of trauma:

• Increase their sense of personal strength and ability to prevail
• Improve their relationships and sense of belonging
• Experience greater compassion
• Deepen their sense of purpose and appreciation for life

Research also reveals the benefits of small support groups. These offer the opportunity to share our stories, an invaluable tool in PTG.

PTG at Work: What Managers Need to Know

Make no mistake: trauma can happen to anyone, and it does. Great managers and team leaders understand this, and take it to heart. Instead of ignoring a traumatic event, referring their employees to HR and avoiding involvement, or expecting employees to “get over it,” great leaders and managers engage in conversations. They provide a psychologically safe-space where employees can share their stories, restore their well-being, and re-affirm their sense of purpose. How?

Group Storytelling for PTG

A simple, yet effective storytelling exercise was published not long ago in Harvard Business Review. Through key questions, managers and team leaders can help employees validate an experience and move forward constructively. Below are five questions, tailored to pandemic recovery:

1. What is your greatest loss as a result of the pandemic?
2. What is your greatest gain as a result of the pandemic?
3. What self-discoveries have you, or are you making as a result of the pandemic?
4. How can you apply your discoveries going forward? What would it look like?
5. What can you use to prompt you to apply your discovery? Specifically, what two words or phrase?

Of course, you can adjust the questions for any event. It may be helpful to remind your team to refrain from cross talk (don’t interrupt or comment on what someone else has said), as well as keeping what is shared confidential. You see, listening as “attentive companions” creates and holds a safe space for one another. When we use storytelling based on these questions, we express authenticity, vulnerability, and trust: for and in others.

Your Trauma Recovery:
What Employees Need to Know

As many of us return to pre-pandemic routines, trauma and trauma recovery are frequent topics of discussion. For some, the challenges have brought a new appreciation (and recognition) of personal strengths. They are exploring new possibilities personally and professionally.

If you’re not there yet, know you are not alone. Help is available. While post-traumatic growth (PTG) may happen naturally, there are steps you can take to facilitate the process.

Five Ways to Facilitate Growth after Trauma

A traumatic event is often shocking, scary, and sometimes, dangerous. It disrupts our beliefs and challenges our assumptions. Trauma can produce anxiety and repetitive thoughts.

1.     Educate: A traumatic event is often shocking, scary, and sometimes, dangerous. It disrupts our beliefs and challenges our assumptions. Trauma can produce anxiety and repetitive thoughts. It can also be a catalyst of positive change. Consider where you might find positive impacts.

2.     Regulate emotions: Notice feelings as they occur. Give them space “to be” (without becoming hooked) by breathing through them. Then, determine what thoughts preceded negative feelings. Replace negative thinking with a focus on past successes, best-case scenarios, and resources and preparation. Physical exercise can also help to regulate emotions.

3.     Share your story: Talk about your experience: past and present. Share the effects and your struggles with a trusted friend, colleague, or mentor.

4.     Create an authentic narrative: Accept the past and imagine a better future. In what ways are you changing or have you grown? Where are new possibilities and opportunities?

5.     Be of service: Sometimes, we just need to get out of our own head. Helping others can renew our energy and help us find meaning.

While this list might sound too simplistic, naïve, or optimistic, know that it is based on years of scientific research published in Posttraumatic Growth: Theory, Research, and Applications, (Tedeschi et al., Routledge, 2018). So, please, be patient with yourself. When you are ready, the effort is worth it: you are worth it. And you don’t have to do it alone. If you need help, ask your manager, a trusted mentor, or a qualified professional. If I can be assistance, please let me know.