Leadership – Thought Leadership

Reading for Leading: Some Books for National Reading Month

For those out there who are unaware, March is National Reading Month. While this month is often celebrated with Dr. Seuss and children’s literature in mind, it’s important not to forget that reading is also an excellent way to stimulate ideas for professional growth. With that in mind, here are some recommendations for books that I highly recommend if you are interested in turning a few pages!

• When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, by Daniel Pink. This book provides great insights into why you should be thinking about when to do things, not just why or how. A unique and thought-provoking shift from the standard text on self and team improvement.

• Dare to Lead: Brave Work. Tough Conversations. Whole Hearts. by Brene Brown. An excellent book to start with if you have never been introduced to the writings of Brene Brown. Many excellent topics such as leadership and culture development are discussed, with applicable action steps and tons of online resources.

• Thanks a Thousand: A Gratitude Journey, A TED Book by A.J. Jacobs. If you’ve never read a TED Book, this is an excellent first choice. This book follows the author’s journey to thank every single person who made his morning cup of coffee happen, from the barista and paper cup manufacturer to the coffee farmer and distributer. A short and fun journey into gratitude and the systems our world is made of.

Reading provides a great opportunity to step back from the world we live in and gain a new perspective. It can be on your own, with a friend or in a group, something new or something you’ve read before, a book or an article or anything in between. You never know when or where you’ll find some inspiration!

UW-Green Bay’s Continuing Education and Community Engagement Division (CECE) is continuously looking for ways to stay on the cutting edge of professional development for its clients. Be sure to check out the CECE website and reach out if you have ideas for new content you want to see!

Writing/Research Credit: Christopher Ledvina, UW-Green Bay Business Development Specialist

What ChatGPT Can Do For Your Organization?

If you haven’t heard about ChatGPT yet, allow me to introduce you to one of the most talked about artificial intelligence programs in the world. This program, a chatbot that launched in late 2022, has taken the world by storm with advanced language usage and an ability to “learn” from your previous answers to create even more effective responses. While quite a bit of the press has focused on the education space, the uses for a program like ChatGPT have significant value for other industries as well. Here are some ways that ChatGPT has been used to either create or improve processes across organizations:

- Creating advertising plans and writing content for social media or marketing purposes.
- Developing coding, data analytics and cybersecurity suggestions.
- Acting as a recruiter and responding to questions and providing information that a potential candidate might ask for.
- Gaining a second opinion by gathering information on a subject and explaining the various intricacies.

ChatGPT can be used for a myriad of processes within an organization. However it is important to recognize its limitations as well. The program only uses data through 2021 and is not able to incorporate real-time information for topics such as finance. It also cannot guarantee that any responses it generates is 100% accurate and therefore should be considered a resource requiring additional due diligence. Yet ChatGPT can still be a powerful tool for generating ideas and creating process improvements. Don’t believe me? Here is what ChatGPT told me when I asked how businesses can use it:

“A business can use ChatGPT to improve customer service, sales and content creation, resulting in saved time and resources, as well as providing more personalized, efficient and accurate interactions with customers and clients. ChatGPT can assist internal employees by automating repetitive tasks, providing real-time data and insights and allowing for more efficient and effective processes, thus freeing up employees’ time to focus on more important and value-added activities.”

UW-Green Bay’s Continuing Education and Community Engagement Division is proactively looking for ways to stay on the cutting edge of professional development for its clients. Be sure to check out the CECE website and reach out if you have ideas for new content you want to see!

Sources:
ChatGPT– ChatGPT by OpenAI

Writing/Research Credit: Christopher Ledvina, UW-Green Bay Business Development Specialist

The Value of Showing Appreciation

In a world going through a cycle of mass change and employee movement, the research is clear: showing your current employees’ recognition and appreciation can make a significant difference in their engagement, performance, and even retention. An article in the Harvard Business Review, titled “Do You Tell Your Employees You Appreciate Them?”, describes how leaders rated in the top ten and bottom ten percent for providing recognition have over a 40-percentile difference in their employees’ engagement scores. This is a significant gap to be attributed to a simple but meaningful practice for leaders to incorporate into their team culture. There are several ways you can improve your recognition and appreciation-sharing skills. Here are a few to consider:

Think about how people want to be recognized – Not everyone wants the public callouts and team celebrations. Recognize individual preferences, and they will truly feel seen and appreciated.
Go beyond “Good Job” – Show that you recognize the process and the work that went into them receiving the appreciation. Provide detail and specifics beyond just the outcomes.
Timing and frequency matters – Once you get into the habit of providing recognition to associates, the awkward initial feelings can fade away and your recipients can appreciate the moment more effectively. Also, timely recognition is the most effective recognition, so don’t wait too long!

If you aren’t normally a leader who provides recognition to their team members, it can feel awkward and unnatural to suddenly start. Remember though that you can always start with small, authentic moments of appreciation. Even that can make a difference in the engagement of employees, providing benefits for your team, team members and organization.

Understanding how to create high performing teams and communication skills are just two of the topics within UW-Green Bay’s Supervisory Leadership Certificate program. Registration is open now, learn more on our website.

Sources:

Do You Tell Your Employees You Appreciate Them?– Harvard Business Review

Writing/Research Credit: Christopher Ledvina, UW-Green Bay Business Development Specialist

Keys to a Successful Mentoring Relationship

Without a doubt, mentorships help people improve their knowledge and develop skills for the future. The mentor and mentee both benefit from this relationship. The relationship the two share is vital to creating a successful mentoring experience. So, how do you foster this relationship?

Get to know each other

Like all relationships, a mentoring relationship will improve from getting to know one another. Become more familiar with each other’s interests and goals and talk about your expectations for the relationship. This knowledge will help create a more insightful, efficient and effective experience without any wasteful discussion.

Set a schedule

Setting aside time for meetings is important. There should be some structure and understanding of how, when and how often you will meet. Dedicating part of their days to each other may also help the mentee and mentor stay present and attentive, giving them the best chance to learn and grow together. However, according to APA instruction, “Not every contact need be lengthy or weighty,” they can contain “small talk… necessary for establishing a relationship.”

Prepare

The mentee can get the most out of their structured meeting time by preparing some questions and other ideas to share beforehand. The mentor can do the same by remembering learning situations and preparing to share stories with their mentee. Being prepared will help foster great discussion, and both parties will appreciate it. Farah Radzi of ADPList believes you should “Treat each session like a first date where both mentor and mentee are putting their best efforts to get as much information as possible.”

Feedback

Be honest! Hearing what is good and bad about ideas nurtures better growth. Continually check in with each other. Mary Abbajay from Forbes, recommends asking each other, “How is this going for you? What’s been helpful? What hasn’t? What could I do differently to make this a more rewarding experience?”

Reflect

Between meetings, reflect on what you have learned. Reflecting will help you remember more of the important points of the meeting and apply them later. It may also help you remember something unclear so you can ask for more clarification during the next meeting.

You, too, can nurture career-enhancing relationships at your business or organization with a Mentoring Certificate Program developed by UW-Green Bay to help you establish a mentoring framework designed for success. Only three sessions. Now enrolling. First session starts February 23.

Sources

Forbes. “Mentoring Matters: Three Essential Elements of Success.” Mary Abbajay. January 20, 2019.

APA. “Getting Your Mentoring Relationship Off to a Good Start.” 2008.

ADPList. “How To Build a Successful Mentor-Mentee Relationship?” Farah Radzi. December 22, 2021.

Writing/Research Credit: Benjamin Kopetsky, UW-Green Bay Marketing Intern

Closing the Leadership Gap

The Institute for Women’s Leadership exists to address the leadership gap and to take progressive steps to narrow the breach.

Leadership by the Numbers
Center for American Progress

Women have outnumbered men on college campuses since 1988. They have earned at least one-third of law degrees since 1980 and accounted for one-third of medical school students by 1990. Yet, they have not moved up to positions of prominence and power in America at anywhere near the rate that should have followed.
In a broad range of fields, their presence in top leadership positions—as equity law partners, medical school deans, and corporate executive officers—remains stuck at 5 percent to 20 percent.
Overall, there is an enormous gap between the fortunes of a small number of prominent women at the very top of their fields and the vast majority of women nationwide.
A gulf is widening between American women and their counterparts in peer nations as well: Although the United States ranked first in women’s educational attainment on the World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Index of 144 countries, it ranked 19th in women’s economic participation and opportunity and 96th in women’s political empowerment.

The Center for American Progress also makes recommendations for advancing gender equality at home and abroad by leveraging women, peace and security (WPS).

A big step was President Biden’s executive order on the establishment of a White House Gender Policy Council, of which a primary goal is:

Increasing economic security and opportunity by addressing the structural barriers to women’s
participation in the labor force and by decreasing wage and wealth gaps.

Like the Council and the Center for American Progress, UW-Green Bay’s Institute for Women’s Leadership has been established to “develop and promote affirmative solutions to ensure that all women can participate fully in our economy and live healthy and productive lives.”

One such affirmative solution is the creation of an Advanced Certificate Program, designed to help women counteract the documented stall that can occur between middle management and executive leadership. The certificate program not only identifies concrete steps a woman can take to outbalance the factors of stalling, it enables women to create a social network across industries vital to their advancement. The program is a blend of online and in-person work, now enrolling for Fall 2021. Register by September 21. Learn more at the Institute for Women’s Leadership.

RESOURCES:
The Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is an independent nonpartisan policy institute that is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans, through bold, progressive ideas, as well as strong leadership and concerted action. Our aim is not just to change the conversation, but to change the country.

Institute for Women’s Policy Research
We win economic equity for all women and eliminate barriers to their full participation in society. As a leading national think tank, we build evidence to shape policies that grow women’s power and influence, close inequality gaps, and improve the economic well-being of families.

The Leadership Manifesto Challenge

Dare to Lead by Brene Brown is a #1 New York Times bestseller. In the book, Brown applies and builds on the principles from her other books — Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness — in a new context of leadership and culture-building that is “daring.”

Brown says, “One of the most important findings of my career is that daring leadership is a collection of four skill sets that are 100 percent teachable, observable, and measurable. It’s learning and unlearning that requires brave work, tough conversations, and showing up with your whole heart. Easy? No. Because choosing courage over comfort is not always our default. Worth it? Always. We want to be brave with our lives and our work. It’s why we’re here.”

Now Dare to Lead is a podcast and a dedicated hub with links to an assessment, a workbook, organization book reads and downloadable resources.

One of the available downloads is a “Daring Leadership Manifesto.” According to Merriam-Webster, a manifesto is:

: a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer

This idea of putting on paper a statement of what you stand for as a company and a team is a great way to become more “daring” and leading with your whole heart.

We challenge you to adopt the Daring Leadership Manifesto or craft your own.

Daring leadership is teachable and begins with self-awareness. Our Supervisory Leadership Certificate Program includes a diverse course curriculum that will enable you to evolve as a leader and make a difference. The program includes a core course “Develop Yourself and Others” but also covers other critical topics like “Coaching for Performance,” “Change Management,” “Supervision and Human Resource Functions,” “Interpersonal Communication,” “Helping Your Team Achieve Organizational Management,” along with a Capstone Course that integrates all the learning and knowledge. Now enrolling for the fall session, starting in August.

Mentoring as a Super Power

Pat Mitchell is a groundbreaking media icon, global advocate for women’s rights and co-founder and curator of TEDWoman. She is also a passionate mentor. She believes mentoring “can close the gender gap in leadership in this country and around the world.”

In her book, Becoming a Dangerous Woman: Embracing Risk to Change the World, which is part memoir and part call to action, she connects mentoring with “being dangerous.”

“By ‘dangerous,’” says Mitchell, “I don’t mean being feared. I mean being fearless. Speaking up for truth. Showing up for one other and challenging the social construct that encourages women to complete, compare and criticize.”

As part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, she offers straightforward advice from her experience on how to show up for women and be a better mentor:

Being a mentor means matching your skills and interests.
Being a mentor takes time.
Being a mentor is about suggesting, not instructing.
Being a mentor is about asking smart questions, not having all the answers.
Not all mentorship ends with a sense of satisfaction.
You’re a mentor, not a mother.
Being a mentor can result in lifelong relationships that continue to nurture and empower.

Mentoring Certificate Program
Help leading women and their sponsors show up for other women and other underrepresented communities. We offer a structured mentor training program to enable business leaders and HR professionals to maximize the benefits of mentoring for both mentor and mentee with tips for implementing, enhancing success in any field or level. Now enrolling for a virtual session in September. Certificate can be completed in three weeks. Each session is four hours long – 2 hours of self-study content and 2 hours of online live discussion and activities.

The Institute for Women’s Leadership seeks to dismantle barriers for women and to fulfill a critical need in the region by promoting a more representative professional workforce and leadership with programs like “Women Rising” Stories from Experience” and “Rising Together: Caffeinated Conversations,” along with “Sharing Knowledge” workshops from qualified business members. For more information visit the website www.uwgb.edu/womens-leadership

RESOURCES:
Ideas.Ted.com. “Help Them Succeed.” Pat Mitchell. March 6, 2020.

Leaders Share Life Stories

It is graduation season, and leaders in all walks of life are commonly invited to share their life lessons at graduation ceremonies, inspiring future leaders of tomorrow. These leaders may include celebrities, entrepreneurs, political change-makers and more, all with stories and life lessons to share.

Here’s an article from Teen Vogue that collects some of the most famous, featuring:

Steve Jobs: Standford, 2005
Michelle Obama: Tuskagee University, 2015
Natalie Portman: Harvard, 2015
Amy Poehler: Harvard University, 2011
Meryl Streep: Barnard College, 2010
David Foster Wallace: Kenyon College, 2005
Barack Obama: Howard University, 2016
Kerry Washington, George Washington University, 2013
Conan O’Brien: Dartmouth College, 2011
J.K. Rowling, Harvard, 2008
Oprah Winfrey: Harvard University, 2013
Joss Whedon: Wesleyan University, 2013
George Saunders: Syracuse University, 2013
Nora Ephron: Wellesley College, 1996
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Wellesley College, 2015
Admiral William H. McRaven: University of Texas at Austin, 2014

Take a page out of these leaders’ stories. Our Supervisory Leadership Certificate Program includes a diverse course curriculum that will enable you to evolve as a leader and make a difference. The program includes a core course “Develop Yourself and Others” but also covers other critical topics like “Coaching for Performance,” “Change Management,” “Supervision and Human Resource Functions,” “Interpersonal Communication,” “Helping Your Team Achieve Optimal Organizational Management,” along with a Capstone Course that integrates all the learning and knowledge. Now enrolling for the fall session, starting in August.

*

SOURCE:
Teen Vogue, “16 Best Graduation Speeches That Leave a Lasting Impression, Kristi Kellogg and Noor Brara, April 17, 2020.

Changing Leadership in the New Now

2020 has been a crucible for leadership. The world faced a crisis, and workplaces and workforces were forced to adapt. Some leaders fared better than others, creating lessons for leadership in the “new now,” as we navigate a more hybrid future.

Needed skills have shifted in three crucial ways:

The need for communication shifted to a need for empathy
The need for emotional intelligence shifted to a need for emotional agility
The need for time management shifted to a need for context management

Empathy

No one had answers in 2020, including leadership. That meant that in order for leaders to connect and check-in with employees that had to delve a little deeper and share more than updates. The important skill set was less about communication and more about listening.

Emotional Agility

Emotional intelligence is the ability to be aware of and control your emotions. Emotional agility goes a little further. Agile people are not only aware of their feelings, they know how to navigate through them. As a leader, this means you are better able to affect the desired impact because you are self-aware and situation-aware.

Context Management

“Flipping” the workplace requires that leaders rethink how work gets done. In today’s more hybrid environment, leaders need to be more intentional. The work context has changed, so we collectively need to manage our time and design our days around how we work, based on what we’re working and with whom we’re working.

2021 and beyond will demand leaders who are more flexible, collaborative and creative to guide their people and companies through current – and future – challenging times.

Our Supervisory Leadership Certificate Program includes a diverse course curriculum that will enable you to evolve as a leader and make a difference. The program includes a core course “Development Yourself and Others” but also covers other critical topics like “Coaching for Performance,” “Change Management,” “Supervision and Human Resource Functions,” “Interpersonal Communication,” “Helping Your Team Achieve Organizational Management,” along with a Capstone Course that integrates all the learning and knowledge. Now enrolling for the fall session, starting in August.

RESOURCES:
Adobe. “New Year, New Leadership: 5 Skills Needed to Succeed in 2021. Melissa Williams. January 28, 2021.
Forbes. “Three Leadership Skill Shifts for 2021 and Beyond. Melissa Daimler. November 24, 2020.

Lessons from Female Leaders

There is a growing call for a more equal future with better representation of women as leaders.

We rally around the need to eliminate or reduce obstacles in the way of women on their paths to leadership. Yet, in a recent article in Harvard Business Review and a compelling Ted Talk, psychologist and author Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic accounts for the inequity in another way – an overabundance of incompetent men as leaders.

In fact, he advocates for more obstacles in the way of men who lack the characteristics and abilities that data has demonstrated makes for more effective leaders, which in his assessment overwhelmingly favor women.

Here are his “sexist” lessons male leaders can learn from women:

Don’t lean in when you’ve got nothing to lean in about.

Stop falling for people who lean in without the talent to back it up. Use science-based assessments to more accurately gauge attributes.

Know your own limitations.

We live in a culture that celebrates self-belief. Although studies show women are generally less overconfident than men, their more balanced self-view means they are better able to prepare, aiding competence and performance.

Motivate through transformation.

Women are more likely to lead with purpose than men, who tend to rely on incentive. Purpose is tied with higher levels of team engagement, performance and productivity.

Put your people ahead of yourself.

It’s very hard to turn a group of people into a high-performing team when your main focus is yourself. Because men are generally more-self-focused than women, they are more likely to lead in a narcissistic and selfish way.

Don’t command. Empathize.

Throughout history, women have been told they are too kind and caring to be leaders, but the notion that someone who is not kind and caring is at odds with reality. In today’s workplaces, it is an imperative for leaders to establish an emotional connection with their followers.

Focus on elevating others.

Female leaders have been proven to be more likely to coach, mentor and develop their direct reports than male leaders, thus enabling them to unlock other people’s potential and promote effective cooperation on their teams.

Don’t say you’re “humbled.” Be humble.

There are well-established gender differences in humility, and they also favor women. Humility is also a trait essential to great leadership. Without humility it will be very hard for anyone in charge to acknowledge their mistakes, learn from experience, take into account other people’s perspectives, and be willing to change and be better.

Dr. Tomas calls for a larger focus on equality of talent and potential as the best gender equality intervention. The ROI of male leaders should be scrutinized as strenuously as the ROI of female leaders.

The Institute for Women’s Leadership seeks to fulfill critical needs in the region and contribute to a more robust, broadly engaged and representative professional workforce and leadership with programs like “Women Rising” Stories from Experience” and “Rising Together: Caffeinated Conversations,” along with “Sharing Knowledge” workshops from qualified business members. For more information visit the website www.uwgb.edu/womens-leadership

RESOURCES:
Harvard Business Review. “7 Leadership Lessons Men Can Learn from Women,” April 1, 2020.
TedXCambridge. “Why We Should be More Sexist.”
Ideas.Ted.Com. “6 Things we can learn from how women leaders have handled the pandemic,” September 24, 2020.