Working with Derailers: Coaching Insights at the Top of the Stress-performance Curve

Derailers are important because they are the habitual behavioral patterns that can get in our way. Typically operating below the level of conscious awareness, these behaviors are often easy to ignore. But when overused, they hinder performance. Coaching people to learn to work with derailers and manage stress can be a gateway into new understanding and help them increase their effectiveness.

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CEOs in Crisis: The Influence of Leaders’ Performance Risks (Part 2)

Some personality traits can pose risks to companies’ success. These traits, which Hogan calls derailers, tend to arise when people are stressed, fatigued, or bored (that is, when we do not exercise self-control). These are the most challenging elements of personality to work with, and they are the most damaging to our careers. Because crises such as the one we are currently experiencing cause almost constant stress, these characteristics are particularly notable right now.

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CEOs in Crisis: The Influence of Leaders’ Everyday Strengths (Part 1)

The new realities shaped by the disruptive and complex moment we are experiencing are completely different for each organization. This situation is forcing some companies to completely reinvent themselves, while others are unable to operate as needed. Others (the least common group, especially in Colombia) are seeing turnover grow at unexpected levels. The personality characteristics of the CEOs of the companies influence the consequences that each of the companies is experiencing as a result of the pandemic.

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Derail Leaders’ Derailment

Despite the thousands of print and internet resources available on the subject of effective leadership, it remains elusive. The number of leaders who fail is consistently estimated to be greater than 50%. The impact that ineffective leaders have on their teams and entire organizations can be devastating from both a human and financial perspective. It’s no wonder that leadership effectiveness continues to be at the top of organizations’ agendas.

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Engaging and Inspiring the Global Workforce through Future Talent/Future Leader 4.0

According to the World Economic Forum 2022 Skills Outlook report, the growing workforce skills that will be imperative to businesses in the coming years include a more holistic approach to leadership incorporating complex, analytical, innovative, and creative thinking in combination with social influences and emotional intelligence. Lessening in demand will be traditional/transactional and isolated skills such as manual dexterity, memory, personnel management, quality control, time management, and technology management.

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Leadership Matters

The quality of people’s lives depends on their careers. The quality of people’s careers depends on the organizations in which their careers are embedded. The success of these organizations depends on their leadership. The effectiveness of the leadership depends on the characteristics of the people in leadership roles. Ultimately then, personality drives leadership, leadership drives organizational performance, and who is in charge matters greatly for the fate of organizations and the people in them.

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Leading into the “New Normal”

As governments around the world are under increased demands to reopen, leaders everywhere are making decisions in the face of staggering uncertainty and conflicting information. In many ways, the decisions that first closed down businesses and quarantined cities, although certainly difficult, were much easier exercises in short-term decision making and execution than those that leaders will have to make for the longer-term journey.

And now everyone is asking, what will this “new normal” look like?

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Look for the Helpers: Humble Leadership in Times of Crisis

Many people are involved in a basketball game: A coach provides strategy, a shooting guard is agile, and a point guard assists in providing direction. In the heat of the game, the coach knows when to put in strong players, when to bench someone, and when to encourage every player to step up and give 110%. But winning does not depend on just the coach. Winning depends on each player contributing, whether by hustling down the court, putting up a three-pointer, or being in the best possible position when the game is on the line.

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The Importance of Staff Development During an Economic Downturn

To say that these are interesting times that we are living in is an understatement.

Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen panic-buying at supermarkets; a rout on global stock markets; racism and bigotry rearing their ugly heads; all coupled with a disturbing lack of leadership by many of our global leaders during trying and uncertain times.

It has been said that “People can deal with bad news better than they can deal with uncertainty." I agree with this, and believe that during times of uncertainty – such as the current COVID-19 pandemic – the role of effective leadership becomes even more critical.

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