Orient Yourself Towards Others And Relieve Pressure In The Workplace

Leadership Workshop (4 of 12) – Lead Through Others

Leading at Light Speed is an excellent leadership book by Eric Douglas showing you step-by-step how to implement 10 Quantum Leaps that build trust, spark innovation, and create a high-performing organization.

Quanutm Leap #3 is all about how to Lead Through Others.

Imagine you’re flying on an airline with an open seating plan like Southwest. You’ve found yourself an aisle seat. The window and middle seats next to you are open. As people stream down the aisle looking for a place to sit, what do you do?

If you have familiarity with other people and you can make eye contact, welcoming them to take the seat next to you. But if you’re not familiar with other people–you evade eye contact and keep your face hidden behind a newspaper. Perhaps you place a section of the newspaper on the chair beside you. When someone takes a seat next to you, you take a glance at them, recoil, and let them fend for themselves.

This “Southwest Test” might not look like much. But it says a lot about who you are and your ability to lead through other people. A lot of information is transmitted in those few moments – am I a person who can be counted on to look out for other people? Or am I a primarily looking out for myself? It is obvious which type of person is more capable to foster trust–and who sparks peoples intuition.

“Type A” managers can create anxiety in the workplace which will exhaust people’s energy. Successful leaders alleviate the pressure in ways that aid people to find out how to trust one another. Psychologists call this ability to regulate pressure “systemic stress management.”It’s why sailors get shore leave, why people get holidays, why organizations throw parties.

Hundreds of highly paid broker-dealers manage the daily rise and fall of the stock market at Lehman brothers, but their Friday afternoon is a communal chance to relax with each other. One executive once said, “If you don’t bring food to the office, people will always go hungry.”Lehman give people yet another reason to appreciate the company’s level of attention and care.

People relax by playing volleyball during their lunch hour at the Intel campus in Roseville, California. Two sand courts are filled with players each day. A soccer game pick up on a field close by.

“To maintain a high level of focus is fatiguing,” says Gregory Kolt, a professor of psychology at Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. The trick, he says, is to find enough idle distractions so that you can elevate your focus at the right time.

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