Module 2 Am I a Resonant Leader?

Read Chapter 2 of the workbook “Becoming a Resonant Leader."

Complete the exercise titled, “Am I a Resonant Leader?” on page 42.

After completing the exercise, you will now have likely discovered that many people operate on poor assumptions on what great leadership is. You now realize that emotions matter and are contagious. From your work assignment, you have a greater self-awareness of your status as a resonant leader.  Resonant leaders need to be highly self-aware, manage themselves in stressful and complex environments, empathize with others, and lead others to get the job done. Based on your outputs from the workbook exercise, describe what surprises you discovered about yourself as a resonant leader. Cite examples where you feel you fell short.

Am I a Resonant Leader?

Exercise:

1) Am I inspirational? How do I inspire people?

2) Do I create an overall positive emotional tone that is characterized by hope? How?

3) Am I in touch with others? Do I really know what is in others' hearts and on their minds? How do I show this?

4) Do I regularly experience and demonstrate compassion? How?

5) Am I authentic and in tune with myself, others, and the environment? How can people see this in me?

    Working through this exercise helped raise my own self-awareness and realize that I have some shortcomings in terms of resonance as a leader. While I feel that I can say that I am inspirational, positive, hopeful, in touch with others, compassionate, and authentic, the question is if these are actually the case. When I look more intently in the mirror, I can better understand that in many cases I am not all that positive and inspirational, but I do feel that I am in touch with others and compassionate. For the most part, I feel like I am authentic but I am not always in tune with myself to the level that I need to be. 

    A big issue I have is trying to lower myself beneath the 'pedestal' of a leadership position in a belief that I will be more down to earth. However, this presents issues where I am sometimes not taken so seriously. McKee et al. (2008) emphasize the importance of leaders owning their power because "failure to own our power in a balanced way and to recognize the impact we have on people's actions, perceptions, and emotions can cause us to be far less effective leaders (p. 14). Moreover, leaders who are confident but balanced in their power and recognize that 'with great power, comes great responsibility' can better impact "people's actions, perceptions, and emotions" (McKee et al., 2008, p. 17). Essentially, being too humble is an issue of mine and I need to embrace my power and my role in efforts toward becoming more resonant.

   Another issue I have is that I often wear my negative emotions on my sleeve. While this is not necessarily a bad trait, it is one that requires attending to and controlling. According to McKee et al. (2008), "mood matters. When people are fearful, anxious, or angry, they shut down. When they are generally optimistic, energized, and excited, they think more clearly and creatively, have more resilience, and simply perform better" (p. 32). In order for me to get the most out of my team, I have to recognize that how I present myself matters. It is perfectly okay to feel frustrated, upset, or anxious, but a resonant leader understands to control them and not let them affect the team. 

    For example, in one of my positions I had a co-worker who was at the same level as me, a Branch Chief. There were two branches which grew to be more divided by the day where the people on one branch would get angry and annoyed at those in the other branch when it came down to work; there was bickering over who was responsible for what and each branch causing delays in work. This frustration bubbled up to me and my co-worker (also a young leader), and we eventually got into an argument in public (i.e., those we were the leaders for could hear and see us). Over the course of the argument, we started raising our voices to the point where we started to yell at each other over the quibbles and quarrels of our branches. After the argument and we cooled down, our supervisor pulled us into an empty conference room to discuss our behavior and explained that it was unacceptable to have this argument out in the open. We came to the understanding that it is inevitable that disagreements happen, but that shouting matches and negative emotions spread to those around us (i.e., it is vital to control emotions because they are contagious). 

    Lee et al. (2015) examine how the attitudes of leaders affect leadership perceptions in their research. Their research homes in on the ideas that the perception of leaders are a "property of both the follower and the leader" which has a direct impact on "information processing, persistence, and behavior" (i.e., performance increases or decreases depending on the perception of a leader which is directly a consequence of the leader's attitudes) (Lee et al., 2015). In essence, the attitudes of those who a leader leads is reflected in how leaders carry themselves. Regarding my example, the argument I had drastically affected the performance and behaviors of those on my team, and they lost a lot of respect for me. It took a long time to recover from that mistake, but it was still never forgotten. I learned that I need to present a more positive outlook and attitude, but I am still working on that to this day. 

    In addition, Gottfredson (2021) writes that a leaders mindset can define how successful they are with the following as indicators of effective leadership: growth and fixed mindsets, learning and performance mindsets, deliberate and implemental mindsets, and promotion and prevention mindsets. Essentially, this article articulates that leaders who have a more optimistic, progressive, and deliberate tend to experience better results, particularly because they are in tune with the people around them (Gottfredson, 2021). This represents an example of how assurance in one's self lends itself toward inspiration for others and substantiates the claims of Lee et al. in terms of attitude research.

   In many cases, I do feel that I can build strong connections with others, but I need to work on building more self-assurance. In the Internet Technology and Cybersecurity career field, I often feel inadequate because I am not as technically intelligent as many of those whom I lead. I need to shake this mindset and not worry about being the smartest person in the room and instead focus on building my emotional intelligence (i.e., my EQ). According to McKee et al. (2008), most people do not intend to "harm...the people who depend on them" - unfortunately, leaders fall into traps that can be categorized into three common myths: smart is good enough, your mood does not matter, and great leaders thrive on constant pressure. While intelligence and technical knowledge can get leaders far, the best and most effective leaders leverage "emotional and social intelligence" to get the most out of those around them (McKee et al., 2008, p. 24).

    By working to build "emotional self-awareness," understanding myself, and building relationships with people outside of my team, I can become a more resonant leader. Moreover, I must also still ensure to hold my team accountable and not be overly nice; "leaders...use the whole spectrum of emotions to challenge people, generate excitement, and hold people accountable. These leaders are not always nice, but they always create an environment in which people are optimistic about the future and will stretch to get there" (McKee et al., 2008, p. 35). 

    So, the short answer is 'no, I am not all that resonant.' I am a good leader but have room for improvement. Ultimately, I know that I am fairly good at building emotional connections with others and being mostly authentic, but I need to work on understanding myself, controlling my emotions, and bringing energy and positivity in order to inspire others. If I can accomplish these, then I can be even more in tune with those around me which will up my resonance as a leader even more.

-Chad R.

References:

Gottfredson, R. (2021, September 13). To be a great leader, you need the right mindset. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2020/01/to-be-a-great-leader-you-need-the-right-mindset

Lee, A., Martin, R., Thomas, G., Guillaume, Y., & Maio, G. R. (2015). Conceptualizing leadership perceptions as attitudes: Using attitude theory to further understand the leadership process. The Leadership Quarterly, 26(6), 910–934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2015.10.003

McKee, A., Boyatzis, R. E., & Johnston, F. (2008). Becoming a resonant leader: Develop your emotional intelligence, renew your relationships, sustain your effectiveness. Harvard Business School Pub.