1. Leadership Briefs
Behavioral Skills = Corporate Performance
Greetings! We are pleased to introduce our reformatted, one-page (two-side) Leadership Briefs (LB) as well as our
new operating name, logo and www.c4os.org website address. We’ll be “operationalizing” the name and logo (website,
company materials, business cards, etc.) over the remainder of 2012. The move to a shorter, more focused version of our
LB is based on input from our clients. Clients tell us they find the LB valuable with a caveat to make them more concise
and easier to read.
Leadership Brief: “There is now statistical data to support the theory that strong emotional intelligence
competencies lead to increased client returns (i.e. soft skills equal hard results).” This is the conclusion of a
recent study on Emotional Intelligence in the Financial
Services Industry*. Yes, “soft skills” really do lead to “hard Defining Behavioral Skills …
results” as the study points out. Through our work we’ve Intrapersonal skills: self-awareness, managing
stress and effective problem-solving
experienced this first-hand and have come to realize that
Interpersonal skills: communication, motivation
behavioral change truly is the key to companies making and conflict management
substantial and sustainable improvements in how they People management: empowerment, delegation,
operate. The behavioral change required of traditional team- working, leadership and management.
managers is significant … to move from management — Clifford Whetten, Texas A&M
behaviors developed over years of working in a system of
hierarchy, power, control and top-down decision making to one that is based on self-responsibility,
collaboration and engagement. This change is not just an exercise in cognitive development. It is a momentous
transformation from the outdated operating model and related knowledge and skills of the industrial era to an
entirely new participatory model of management requiring both cognitive and behavioral development and
skills. Inherent in this transformation is a considerable shift in behaviors.
We’ve learned through our experience that transformation of this degree requires a great deal of effort. This
effort is not only on the part of the participants but also on the part of the supporting roles of coaches,
consultants, trainers and others with expertise
1-31-12 Boston Consulting research results “Behavioral Capabilities in changing behavior in organizations.
Drive Corporate Performance” … “This research confirms the
Behavioral change requires a significant
importance of strong leadership, high employee engagement, and a
collaborative approach to work within an organization--all of which amount of “hands-on” support to make the
depend on key leadership behaviors. The report highlights how the transition a reality. Quite frankly, the change
‘softer’ behaviors and values can often make more of an impact to we’re referring to can be both uncomfortable
productivity and performance than the structural capabilities within for employees as well as difficult to do. As my
a company. It is significant that there is such a gap between best
wife Eileen (a Psychologist) points out “People
practice and the day-to-day experiences in companies. This is where
the role of management training and enhancing leadership skills is have a hard time losing 5 lbs let alone
critical to ensure behavioral development, effective delivery of changing the way they relate to each other!”
strategy, and the consequent success of an organization.” Those of us in the field of organizational
— Christopher Kinsella, Acting Chief Exec., Chartered Mgmt Institute development typically refer to the change as
“relatively easy to comprehend and extremely
hard to do”. In fact, one of our alliance partners refers to their training program for developing the behavioral
skills which are a prerequisite for the transition as “Tough Stuff” training! In many cases corporations along
with consulting/development companies don’t adequately appreciate the effort that is required and the extent
2. of support that is needed to achieve the behavioral changes required for the transformational change required
to achieve breakthrough goals. This is best illustrated by the poor success rates of corporations attempting
transformational change as reported by Gallop and others in surveys on employee engagement and
transformational change. In a recent Gallup document on employee engagement, Gallup stated the following
on transformation change “It takes a lot of energy and effort to initiate change, and it takes even more energy
to build on that momentum. It takes focused attention…”
It is true that learning new technical, product, manufacturing, etc. aspects to transform an organization is
important to the transition. However, we suggest that developing the expertise in the behaviors and skills
required to actually accomplish the transformation and do
"In hard times, the soft stuff often goes away. But
it successfully is equally important and many times Emotional Intelligence, it turns out, isn't so soft. If
overlooked or undervalued. This new behavioral expertise emotional obliviousness jeopardizes your ability to
to be learned is built upon a clear vision of the kind of perform, fend off aggressors, or be compassionate in
culture a company must develop in order to achieve a crisis, no amount of attention to the bottom line
breakthrough performance objectives. It also includes a will protect your career. Emotional intelligence isn't a
luxury you can dispense with in tough times. It's a
great deal of experiential (read “adult”) training with role basic tool that, deployed with finesse, is the key to
playing and skill practice in order to develop the level of professional success." — Harvard Business Review
expertise necessary to successfully navigate the change
envisioned. Yet, more often than not developing expertise in behaviors and skills is not given the prominence it
deserves. As a result, we’ve found how easy it is for companies to believe the illusion or appearance that
change has occurred only to later be disappointed when the desired results fall far short of
expectations.“Hands-on” coaching and development is an important consideration when planning
organizational changes and absolutely necessary in order to instill the considerable behavioral change
required.
*Research paper can be found at www.competencyinternational.com
Wishing you the Best!
Dave Fleck, CEO & Principal Coach/Consultant
dave@davefleck.com; mobile: 908-797-7328
Northeastern Consulting, Inc. also dba Center for Organizational Success
"Unleashing human potential to achieve organizational success"™
www@davefleck.com; thrive@davefleck.com
Mid-Atlantic Corporate Office:
991 US Highway 22 West, Suite 200, Bridgewater, NJ 08807
908-864-8045; Fax: 908-864-8099
Regional Offices:
New England: 508-775-0604
Southeast: 843-877-2627
"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."
~ Albert Einstein
Reprint permission granted in whole or in part when the following credit appears: “Reprinted with permission of C4OS Leadership Briefs
(Copyright 2012, , www.c4os.org)”. Please email comments, questions, ideas, etc. to LB@davefleck.com. Please also use this email
address to subscribe or unsubscribe to this complimentary newsletter.