Leadership Development
Developing trusted and relationally competent leaders
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Driving engagement for increased performance and top talent retention
C-Suite are highly accomplished, intelligent, experienced, skilled, and respected individuals in functional areas. It is not unusual for leaders of such high calibre to encounter friction within their team. Alignment in vision is a challenge when there are different agendas and objectives.
When egos clash, and leaders behave in a territorial manner, they can become guarded, affecting their ability and willingness to communicate with one another. This closed behavior breeds mistrust.
For the organisation to move forward, these unhealthy C-Suite dynamics need to be addressed. Companies today cannot afford to have leaders who have strong self-interest and a C-Suite team that is not collaborating synergistically.
The Straits Times recently featured an article identifying self-awareness as a key trait lacking in CEOs who were recently forced to relinquish their leadership positions (Elon Musk who stepped down as Chairman of Tesla and Travis Kalanick, former CEO of Uber).
“There is a strong positive correlation between self-awareness of leaders, their authentic behaviours and, consequently, their leadership effectiveness”, Straits Times says.
The Straits Times highlights self-awareness as the “meta-skill of the 21st century”, according to leadership coach Dr Tasha Ulrich. “The qualities most critical for success in today's world—things like emotional intelligence, empathy, influence, persuasion, communication and collaboration—all stem from self-awareness. It is what makes us great team players, superior leaders and great relationship builders”.
To become cohesive and trusted team, C-Suite leaders need self-awareness, emotional intelligence and relational competencies.
A study featured at Harvard Business Review found that according to leaders around the world, the highest ranking traits of effective leaders are attributes that create a safe and trusting environment. To successfully drive engagement, lead and manage change, and have effective C-Suite teams, leaders need people skills—relational competencies.
Our Perspective
What Relational Leadership can do for your organisation
Leadership is a key contributing factor to engagement. Leaders need to take the initiative in building engagement. This is important because organisations with high engagement tend to be more profitable and are able to retain their top talent better.
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How can apathy and inertia be remedied?The redefining of traditional work norms and expectations is causing people to evaluate their work life. If their purpose at work is not compelling, they lose motivation, productivity drops and they are likely to walk out the door. Organisations must know their purpose and what they stand for. They must then have the culture and leadership to follow through, starting at the top. The leaders will set the tone and will need the competencies to draw out the “whys” of their people to create alignment and engagement. This requires trusted and relationally competent leaders. Learn more about how leaders can build trust to find alignment in this masterclass: The Emergent Leadership Imperative.
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How can leaders spark and sustain innovation for growth?To survive and grow, organisations need to innovate continuously. For many, this requires a culture renovation. Culture needs to enable out-of-the-box thinking and application. It should empower everyone in the organisation to contribute their thoughts and ideas. For this to happen, there needs to be trust. With trust embedded in the culture, employees are emotionally safe and have the autonomy to own their innovative thinking and pursue ideas that challenge the status quo. Ignite Innovation for Business Survival and Growth [E-Book] Commissioned by DesignSingapore Council, we studied the cultures of leading organisations in Singapore and uncovered how they have cultivated an innovative Design-Led Culture. The insights from the year-long qualitative study are distilled into 22 principles to help businesses flourish as they evolve and design cutting-edge relevant products and solutions. Download the playbook here.
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How can engagement and a sense of belonging be nurtured in a digital workforce?In Singapore, EngageRocket reports that engagement levels dropped 14% in 2021. Mass resignation is happening. The main reasons: they don’t feel valued by their organisation and managers, and they don’t feel a sense of belonging (McKinsey, 2021). A more human and relational leadership is what the people and culture needs. Click here to learn more about Relational Leadership: The Emergent Leadership Imperative here. Technology is a great enabler and can be used to foster engagement, connection and culture alignment. Click here to learn more about how ROHEI helps organisations build engagement through technology.
3 things a leader cannot fail to do in building engagement:
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Ensure that employees feel respected and valued
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Create an atmosphere of trust
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Achieve alignment in expectations and objectives
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How can apathy and inertia be remedied?The redefining of traditional work norms and expectations is causing people to evaluate their work life. If their purpose at work is not compelling, they lose motivation, productivity drops and they are likely to walk out the door. Organisations must know their purpose and what they stand for. They must then have the culture and leadership to follow through, starting at the top. The leaders will set the tone and will need the competencies to draw out the “whys” of their people to create alignment and engagement. This requires trusted and relationally competent leaders. Learn more about how leaders can build trust to find alignment in this masterclass: The Emergent Leadership Imperative.
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How can leaders spark and sustain innovation for growth?To survive and grow, organisations need to innovate continuously. For many, this requires a culture renovation. Culture needs to enable out-of-the-box thinking and application. It should empower everyone in the organisation to contribute their thoughts and ideas. For this to happen, there needs to be trust. With trust embedded in the culture, employees are emotionally safe and have the autonomy to own their innovative thinking and pursue ideas that challenge the status quo. Ignite Innovation for Business Survival and Growth [E-Book] Commissioned by DesignSingapore Council, we studied the cultures of leading organisations in Singapore and uncovered how they have cultivated an innovative Design-Led Culture. The insights from the year-long qualitative study are distilled into 22 principles to help businesses flourish as they evolve and design cutting-edge relevant products and solutions. Download the playbook here.
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How can engagement and a sense of belonging be nurtured in a digital workforce?In Singapore, EngageRocket reports that engagement levels dropped 14% in 2021. Mass resignation is happening. The main reasons: they don’t feel valued by their organisation and managers, and they don’t feel a sense of belonging (McKinsey, 2021). A more human and relational leadership is what the people and culture needs. Click here to learn more about Relational Leadership: The Emergent Leadership Imperative here. Technology is a great enabler and can be used to foster engagement, connection and culture alignment. Click here to learn more about how ROHEI helps organisations build engagement through technology.
According to Gallup, managers account for up to 70% of the variance in employee engagement scores. When employees are disengaged and turnover among top performers is high, it has to do with leadership.
Leaders need relational traits such as humility and the ability to motivate and inspire, in order to drive engagement and retain key talent.
A disrupted economy puts an organisation’s leadership to the test. It’s not an exaggeration to say that leaders make or break the change initiative.
Harvard Business Review goes so far as to say that “Transformation journeys run out of steam when companies neglect leadership development.” Organisations need the stability good leadership brings, especially in this time of inevitable and rapid change.
Leaders must be able to to recognise and respond to the thoughts and emotions of their employees in order to gain their trust and lead them effectively through change.
During transformation projects, the focus tends to be on updating business processes, operational efficiency, and smooth integration of new technologies. However, the key to success of organisational change is people, and focus needs to shift to the people aspect of the transformation.
Employees experience anxiety, uncertainty, and discomfort in times of change. That is why organisational resistance to change is a major barrier to transformation efforts. Leaders need to engage and align people to get buy-in, but this is hindered by low trust and safety. Without trust and safety, staff are risk-averse, unwilling to try new things.
Leaders must be able to to recognise and respond to the thoughts and emotions of their employees in order to gain their trust and lead them effectively through change.
Leadership needs to be cohesive and stable to enable a high performing organisation. To steward an organisation well, the top echelons need to be trusted, nimble, inclusive, consultative, able to communicate a clear vision, and influence and manage multiple stakeholders.
The C-Suite must model the type of leadership a company desires. If they are not leading effectively, the organisation will stagnate or even decline over time.
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How can apathy and inertia be remedied?The redefining of traditional work norms and expectations is causing people to evaluate their work life. If their purpose at work is not compelling, they lose motivation, productivity drops and they are likely to walk out the door. Organisations must know their purpose and what they stand for. They must then have the culture and leadership to follow through, starting at the top. The leaders will set the tone and will need the competencies to draw out the “whys” of their people to create alignment and engagement. This requires trusted and relationally competent leaders. Learn more about how leaders can build trust to find alignment in this masterclass: The Emergent Leadership Imperative.
-
How can leaders spark and sustain innovation for growth?To survive and grow, organisations need to innovate continuously. For many, this requires a culture renovation. Culture needs to enable out-of-the-box thinking and application. It should empower everyone in the organisation to contribute their thoughts and ideas. For this to happen, there needs to be trust. With trust embedded in the culture, employees are emotionally safe and have the autonomy to own their innovative thinking and pursue ideas that challenge the status quo. Ignite Innovation for Business Survival and Growth [E-Book] Commissioned by DesignSingapore Council, we studied the cultures of leading organisations in Singapore and uncovered how they have cultivated an innovative Design-Led Culture. The insights from the year-long qualitative study are distilled into 22 principles to help businesses flourish as they evolve and design cutting-edge relevant products and solutions. Download the playbook here.
-
How can engagement and a sense of belonging be nurtured in a digital workforce?In Singapore, EngageRocket reports that engagement levels dropped 14% in 2021. Mass resignation is happening. The main reasons: they don’t feel valued by their organisation and managers, and they don’t feel a sense of belonging (McKinsey, 2021). A more human and relational leadership is what the people and culture needs. Click here to learn more about Relational Leadership: The Emergent Leadership Imperative here. Technology is a great enabler and can be used to foster engagement, connection and culture alignment. Click here to learn more about how ROHEI helps organisations build engagement through technology.