1.Inspirational leadership is a less studied, but holistic concept that centers within the presence of a whole mind that is aware of the being and doing of the self and others.
2.As an inspirational leader who gives ideas to others, investing time and effort into self-development is vital. One can only give what’s inside of him/her.
3.The human side of leadership is fundamental for an inspirational interaction between leaders and followers.
4.The most appreciated leadership aspect is the ability to inspire. The capacity to inspire does result in high employee commitment.
5.Inspirational leaders positively influence employee characteristics, such as independent thinking and pro-activeness. These qualities not only foster innovativeness and drive business performance, but also have a positive effect on followers’ happiness at work.
6.The quest for the ‘Why,’ critical thinking, purpose, passion, and caring emotional intelligence all come from within oneself. Self-awareness and autonomy is the foundation for accessing the source of inspiration. Allow your soul to be free.
7.Authenticity is the core of inspirational leadership. Authentic behavior arises when the ‘who you are’ and the ‘what you do’ are aligned. A genuine and ethical leader differentiates between the true needs of his/her inner being as compared to the many and often conflicting demands and conditions of society.
Slides from our 80% is Psychology event, December 12th, 2018 in Tokyo.
As you know from past years, I have been researching, advising, and working with many successful global leaders. I have also read several hundred research papers and books on leadership from a managerial and psychological perspective.
I am very happy to announce that finally, I have converted key learnings into 1.5 hours online course on Udemy. I am glad to give this course for free for an additional 3 days to my social media connected friends. Those who are interested, please drop me a message and I am happy to share 150 USD course for free. Hope you like this little gift!
As you know from my blogging activities, I’m doing a lot of research, writing and projects related to leadership and personal development.
For the last few weeks, I’ve been working on my first online course and today it’s officially live on Udemy, the platform for high-quality on-demand online courses!
You can find a description of my course ‘Developing Leadership Skills: Leadership Personality, Motivation, and Creativity’ below as well as in this introductory/promotional video: https://youtu.be/TQQWZCn3R_A
I am very happy to announce that finally, I have converted key learnings into 1.5 hours online course on Udemy. I am glad to give this course for free for an additional 3 days to my social media connected friends. Those who are interested, please drop me a message and I am happy to share 150 USD course for free. Hope you like this little gift!
If you know of anyone else that’d be interested to learn developing leadership skills, I’d appreciate if you’d share this information with them too.
Thanks so much, and all the best!
Mathias
Course description
The course ‘Developing Leadership Skills’ is a compelling summary of latest research and good practices that may well become your passport to explore new ways of effective leadership styles, increased levels of motivation, and untapped creativity.
Whether you are an HR practitioner, an aspiring or current leader, an executive coach, or a student, this logically structured course will help you in becoming personally and professionally more effective and efficient. You are offered practical tools for insight and understanding of your possible
roles in team situations,
conflict management style,
successful negotiation strategies,
stress management,
motivation,
better decision-making, as well as
unlocking of your innovation capacity.
The goal of this course is to make sure you will find answers to the questions that are relevant for personal growth and a thriving career. Compact, straightforward, and with numerous references to further information, the interdisciplinary, innovative, and cross-cultural knowledge and perspectives presented in the twelve short lectures will benefit your well-being and success as a dynamic leader and the common good alike.
Choosing not to change risks failing if change is understood as improvement [1]. In organizations, mainly the investors, but also drivers like competition, globalization, technology, and employees require change [2]. Change always signifies loss that prompts threatening emotions, which cause resistance. Therefore, resistance to change needs to be understood from an individual’s emotional perspective [3]. For example, people mostly don’t alter their change decisions related to moral dilemmas solely based on reason [4]. Often, leaders and managers have a better understanding of the organizational situation than of individuals [5]. Change antecedents, reactions to and consequences from changes like, for example, organizational commitment and job satisfaction, have to be carefully considered. Commitment can positively correlate with a favorable perception of proposed change, while commitment to the status quo can be negatively related [6].
Personality differences in predispositions to resist change
Helping conquering limitations in improving is a core function of leadership, and it is relieving for people to feel understood in their resistance to change [7]. Indeed, supervisory support is a key factor in positively influencing people’s commitment to change [8]. However, there might also be personality differences in predispositions, i.e., having negative thoughts, feelings, and behaviors towards organizational change [9]. It is more difficult to positively influence job satisfaction for people characterized by lower levels of openness to change [10]. Increased mindfulness (i.e., engagement in new and healthy thoughts and habits) and tolerance of ambiguity (i.e., tolerance of lack of clarity and uncertainty) predict a more positive attitude toward change [1].
Trust and authenticity in transformational leadership
Change follows a process [11], most simply described as ‘unfreeze,’ ‘mobilize,’ and ‘re-freeze’ [2]. To help people through these phases, understanding their emotional and intellectual needs seems to be essential. Transformational leadership ought to consist of these qualities, but some researchers suggest a broader integration of leadership dimensions, including spiritual elements to bridge the gap between profit strategies and quality of life [12]. Studies found that transformational leadership, regardless of the leaders’ behavior, was positively associated with promoting acceptance of change. Even change-specific leadership behavior could not compensate for transformational leadership, especially when there was a lot at stake personally for the change receivers. A history of long-term trustful relationships with their followers may be the reason for this as consistent research of authenticity in leadership evidenced too. In cases where the job impact of the change was low, rather than transformational leadership, proper change management practices were sufficient for effective change. This finding speaks for a close integration of the change leadership and change management disciplines [13]
We change for what we have chosen for ourselves
Resistance can be a capacity for change itself [14], sometimes coming from positive intentions too [15], and providing feedback from people who may know best about the day-to-day operational details [16]. To support effective change, leadership should involve change-related training [17], possibly also in early developmentally sensitive school years [18]. It is crucial to help individuals experiencing close and successful participation in the change process [19] because people are more likely to adapt what they have chosen for themselves [20].
Photo credit: Geralt (pixabay.com)
References
[1] Dunican, B., & Keaster, R. (2015). ACCEPTANCE OF CHANGE: EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG PSYCHOMETRIC CONSTRUCTS AND EMPLOYEE RESISTANCE. International Journal Of The Academic Business World, 9(2), 27-38.
[3] Bailey, J. R., & Raelin, J. D. (2015). Organizations Don’t Resist Change, People Do: Modeling Individual Reactions to Organizational Change Through Loss and Terror Management. Organization Management Journal (Routledge), 12(3), 125-138. doi:10.1080/15416518.2015.1039637
[4] Stanley, M. L., Dougherty, A. M., Yang, B. W., Henne, P., & De Brigard, F. (2017). Reasons Probably Won’t Change Your Mind: The Role of Reasons in Revising Moral Decisions. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: General, doi:10.1037/xge0000368
[5] Clarke, H. (2013). Context, Communication and Commiseration: Psychological and Practical Considerations in Change Management. Perspectives: Policy And Practice In Higher Education, 17(1), 30-36.
[6] Oreg, S., Vakola, M., & Armenakis, A. (2011). Change recipients’ reactions to organizational change: A 60-year review of quantitative studies. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 47(4), 461-524.
[7] Kegan, R., & Lahey, L. L. (2001). The Real Reason People Won’t Change. Harvard Business Review, 79(10), 84-92.
[8] Jaros, S. (2010). Commitment to organizational change: A critical review. Journal of Change Management, 10(1), 79-108.
[9] Erwin, D. G., & Garman, A. N. (2010). Resistance to organizational change: Linking research and practice. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 31(1), 39-56.
[10] Hinduan, Z., Wilson-Evered, E., Moss, S., & Scanell, E. (2009). Leadership, work outcomes and openness to change following an Indonesian bank merger. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 47(1), 59-78.
[11] Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, (March-April), reprint No: 95284.
[12] Gill, R. (2002). Change management or change leadership? Journal of Change Management, 3(4), 307-318.
[13] Herold, D. M., Fedor, D. B., Caldwell, S., Liu, Y. (2008). The effects of transformational and change leadership on employees’ commitment to a change: A multilevel study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(2), 346-357.
[14] Ford, J. D., Ford, L. W., & D’Amelio, A. (2008). Resistance to change: The rest of the story. Academy of Management Review, 24, 274-288.
[15] Clayton, M. (2016). RESISTANCE TO CHANGE. Training Journal, 16.
[16] Ford, J. D., & Ford, L. W. (2009). Decoding Resistance to Change. Harvard Business Review, 87(4), 99-103.
[17] Whelan-Berry, K., & Somerville, K. (2010). Linking Change Drivers and the Organizational Change Process: A Review and Synthesis. Journal of Change Management, (2). 175.
[18] Haig, E. L., & Woodcock, K. A. (2017). Rigidity in routines and the development of resistance to change in individuals with Prader-Willi syndrome. Journal Of Intellectual Disability Research, 61(5), 488-500.
[19] Choi, M. (2011). Employees’ attitudes toward organizational change: A literature review. Human Resource Management, 50(4), 479-500. doi:10.1002/hrm.20434
[20] Kettleborough, J. (2014). Time to change the way we change. Training Journal, 60-63.
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