Diversity and Inclusion
There seems to be an automatic assumption that when we talk about quiet people, they are introverts. In many cases this is true, but not always. Having worked on the Quietly Powerful movement for a while now, this is definitely not the case and worth keeping in mind.
Read more “Quietly powerful is not just about introverts”
Diversity and Inclusion
Many have spoken and written about the War for Talent. I wrote an article Let’s stop the war for talent nearly 3 years ago. My thinking has evolved, but my message is largely the same. In fact, I shared at the EEON (Equal Employment Opportunity Network) lunchtime talk on 20th March that if organisations are serious about talent as a key driver of performance and growth, they need to focus on the War on Wasted Talent.
Read more “War on Wasted Talent”
Confidence
Speaking to a senior executive recently, he told me about a change he saw in a team member he ‘inherited’. He described how this team member had shifted from being pretty much mute, with no opinions of their own, waiting for instructions and lacking initiative to being quite feisty, unafraid to express their views and showing passion for their work. Discussing what had happened and exploring our own experiences, we saw a few common things managers do which crush team members’ confidence and ability to speak up and contribute.
Read more “7 ways a manager can crush team members’ confidence and ability to speak up and contribute”
Confidence
Lately I have had many coaching sessions and conversations around aspiring leaders who wish to be more confident. Many have been told to ‘be more confident’, which is unhelpful (see Don’t tell me to ‘be more confident’). Others have been told that they appear confident but don’t feel so confident inside. I am excited to be working with these people as they are aware of and open to the need to develop their inner confidence.
Read more “The dangers of leaders who appear confident but are not so confident inside”
Leadership
Quietly powerful was started as a movement to help quieter professionals to succeed on their own terms rather than having to ‘fix’ themselves (See Fixing people who don’t fit). The bigger intention behind the work was to challenge how we define what good leadership looks like.
Read more “The definition of what good leadership looks like needs an update”
Diversity and Inclusion
I recently had an interesting evening where I went to two unrelated, separate events and came away with the one message.
We keep trying to fix people who don’t fit.
Read more “Fixing people who don’t fit”
Diversity and Inclusion
One of the frustrating things about being more introverted is that you get put into an ‘introvert’ box. Introverts are regularly stereotyped as:
Read more “Stop putting introverts in a box”
Diversity and Inclusion
Time and time again I hear people in organisations say they wished their leaders listened to them more.
How would you feel working for a leader who:
Read more “We all want leaders who listen. So why don’t we have more quieter leaders?”
Leadership
Following my article Bias towards style over substance is keeping your real talent hidden, I found out from a colleague about an organisation which eliminated introverts from their talent pool after doing some personality profiling of their high potentials. Most of my readers know where I stand on the issue of diversity of leadership style (ie. I believe we need more diversity in leadership style – please see Do you have to be an extrovert to get ahead?). It made me reflect on what organisations and leaders do to keep their diverse talent hidden and under-utilised.
Read more “How organisations and leaders crush diverse talent without realising”