Download 200202-quiet-leadership-slides

Quiet Leadership: An Introduction
1
What is Quiet Leadership?
•
“Quiet Leadership” is term that has become associated with a body of work focussed
on promoting the benefits introverted leadership styles.
•
Popularised by Susan Cain’s 2012 book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World
Which Can’t Stop Talking, it seeks to move away from a model of leadership based on
the “extravert ideal”: “the omnipresent belief that the ideal self is gregarious, alpha
and comfortable in the spotlight”.
•
Instead, it recognises the differences between extraverts and introverts and
considers how best individuals, teams and organisations can work in ways which
maximise the benefits of both.
•
It asserts that the most successful organisations will be those which use both
collaborative and group-based ways of working (to challenge assumptions and form
census), whilst allowing individuals the time and space for reflection (to avoid
groupthink and organisational inertia).
•
As a result, leadership is seen as not the preserve of extraverts or introverts: it can
be loud or quiet – and we need to employ elements of both throughout our work.
2
What is the science / evidence?
•
Broadly, between a third and a half of the population self-identify as “introverts”, at least to
some extent.
•
And there is a breadth of empirical evidence that shows that people are “hard-wired” to
respond differently to different levels of stimulation – and that these differences can be
correlated with physiological and functional differences in the brain which determine how
we process stimulation, respond to reward and assess risk.
•
In the workplace, there is a substantive body of research – by people such as Hans Eysenck,
and Chaiara Haller & Delphine Courvoisier – testifying to the fact that this diversity is a good
thing: creativity requires a healthy balance of solitude and interpersonal interaction.
Essentially, this shows that people are most creative when they are comfortable and that,
given that different people feel comfortable in different situations, we need a range of
environments in the workplace to get the best from people.
•
Ultimately, this is about recognising how different people respond to stimulation:
• Introverts get their energy from inside themselves and need solitude to recharge.
• Whereas extraverts get their energy from interpersonal interaction and recharge by
socialising.
•
But it is a spectrum….
3
Character strengths
Introversion and extraversion exist on a spectrum: different people have different
preferences and different strengths.
Extraversion
Preference for more stimulating
environments
Tackle jobs quickly and make quick
decisions
Think out loud and on their feet
Prefer talking to listening
Recharge by socialising
Ambiversion
Introversion
Prefer less stimulating environments
Prefer focusing on one task at a time and do
so deliberatively
Think before speaking and listen more than
they talk
Feel they express themselves better in
writing
Recharge by being alone
4
Who are Quiet Leaders?
Bill Gates, Found of Microsoft: “Quiet and bookish, but apparently
unfazed by others’ opinions of him: he’s an introvert, but not shy.”
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook COO: “Shy and introverted and he often
does not seem very warm to people who don't know him, but he is
warm".
Rosa Park, Civil Rights activist: “When she died, the flood of obituaries
recalled her as soft-spoken, sweet, and small in stature. They said she
was ‘timid and shy’ but had ‘the courage of a lion.’ They were full of
phrases like ‘radical humility’ and ‘quiet fortitude.”
Mahatma Gandhi, leader of the Indian independence movement:
“In a gentle way you can shake the world”.
Albert Einstein, Physicist: “The monotony and solitude of a
quiet life stimulates the creative mind”.
5
So what?
Quiet Leadership matters for the Cities & Local Growth Unit because our diversity and
inclusion survey from last autumn and some anecdotal feedback suggests there is a
perceived unconscious bias within the team to rewarding extraversion at the expense
of introversion. There has therefore been a lot of interest in what the concept might
mean for the Unit and how we can make best use of it.
So these insights into different personality types prompt a number of questions:
•
How we ensure that we encourage a breadth of leadership styles and don’t privilege either
extraversion or introversion?
•
How can our teams employ a range of ways of working which enables everyone to have a
voice?
•
How can we support both extraverts and introverts to operate in ways which don’t come
naturally to them?
•
How can we ensure that our workspaces are configured to encourage both group-based and
individual working?
•
How can use different ways to reward success that take account that different people like to
be recognised in different ways?
6
What does this mean?
• The big message from all of this is that we should be open-minded to different types of
leadership, but acknowledge that sometime we all need to operate in ways which don’t
come naturally.
• The unit recognises the benefits of a diverse team and how differing leadership styles is an
integral part of this. Information on Quiet Leadership will therefore be:
1. Incorporated into the Unit induction pack
2. Built into the people plan
3. Championed through the Unit’s L and D blog
• It doesn’t just stop here. There is also an onus on us as individuals and in our teams to
develop awareness and understanding of our own – and others’ – personalities and
preferences. There are real benefits – individually and as a team – from knowing your own
and each other’s personality types, working to our strengths, whilst trying our best to
operate outside of our comfort zone.
• The next slides set out a package of core learning activities you and your team should look
to complete by the end of 2017. There is also information on further activity if you are
interested in learning more.
7
Take a quiz to find
out where you fall
on the introvertextrovert
spectrum and
think about how
you can act out of
your comfort zone
Watch these videos here
and here on introversion
and leadership.
Learn more about
Emotional Intelligence
Do some free e-learning
on Leadership and
Management - managing
self on Civil Service
Learning
Listen to Susan Cain’s
podcast and read her
book.
There are also online
learning modules available
via the Quiet Leadership
Institute which go into
detail of different
personality types and what
these differences mean for
the workplace
Additional Face to Face Learning
Watch Susan
Cain’s TED Talk
Additional E-Learning/Resources
Core Learning
Individual Learning
RADA provides various
courses looking at how
individuals can employ
different leadership
styles through presence
and communication.
The Whitehall Industry
Group also provides the
Women’s Leadership:
Purpose, Power and
Promotion course which
focuses on giving you an
insights into your
leadership style and
personal strengths.
There is also a raising
self-awareness course
for the SCS focussed on
providing feedback on
and raising selfawareness of your
leadership style.
8
These tools can help teams
learn about personality types
and how they respond to each
other in different
situations. This develops your
own self-awareness while
enables teams to work
together more effectively and
adapt leadership approaches to
bring out the best from team
members.
There are various different
psychometric tools such as
Myers Briggs, Belbin and
Strengths Deployment
Inventory (colours)
More information is available
via Civil Service Learning (click
on tab to the right).
Additional Team Activity
Core Learning : Psychometric
Learning as a Team
Team Learning
Team meeting discussion
focussed on working practices
in the team and how to make
the most from different
approaches. Someone from
the Quiet Leadership group
would be happy to attend your
team meeting or provide
information to help structure
this conversation.
The Quiet Leadership Institute’s
“Quiet Kit”, includes agendas
and activities for running team
meetings, focussed on what
individuals have learnt through
QLI online learning resources.
9
5 small practical steps we can all take to
get the most out of everyone in the Unit
Meetings
• Send out agenda and papers in good time - this gives people time to prepare and
suggest comments to be raised if they do not feel comfortable doing so in the meeting.
• Make people aware in good time if you would like them to chair/lead on parts of the
meeting.
Working practices
• Make best use of the different spaces in our offices that enable us to work in different
ways: open plan spaces are great for keeping in touch with people across the Unit but
we should also use quiet desks when we need time by ourselves.
• Keep diaries up to date with working patterns e.g WFH/quiet-desk time – people will
then know where you are and how best to contact you.
Supporting others to act outside of their comfort zone
• From time to time, we all need to operate in ways which don’t come naturally. Line
managers in particular can support their staff to step outside of their comfort zones
when required and assist them to find the space to recharge and reflect afterwards.
10
Contacts
If you want to find out more about quiet leadership or any of the L&D
opportunities above, please contact:
Kirsty Pearce ([email protected] / 07920 295648)
Pete Northover ([email protected] / 07909 932286)
Claire Denniss ([email protected] / 07590 456848)
11