Get IGNITEd!
WRITTEN BY Kathrina Olsen
27th & 28th February 2020
Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute is a consulting company that partners with organizations to deliver customized training and events, assessments, and consulting services. Having worked with over 600 organizations from 30 nations around the world, they are trusted advisers to Fortune 50 companies and startups alike. They create strategic visions, improve corporate cultures, develop outstanding leaders, and engage employees.
HR Hacking Forum Zurich
Even before entering the job market, we students can feel the workforce changing. Everyone is mentioning the future of work, start-ups and work–4.0. We’re asking ourselves which industries and companies value what we value. IGNITE recently participated in the HR Hacking Forum event hosted by transformational consultant #nuriaarojo. Inspirational speakers shared insights into #thefutureofwork and #leadership. Here are some of our favorite take-aways:
Sara Hannah & Matt Whiat - Chapman & Co. Leadership Institute
First of all, participants were asked to brainstorm what “inspires” us. Words such as passion, purpose, caring, integrity and many more appeared on the screen. Participants found that sitting in a room with more than 100 people who felt that in many firms the organizational culture and leadership is not heading in the right direction, was frankly quite scary.
“Ours is a #TGIF world,” Sara and Matt explained. People are increasingly unmotivated in the workplace and don’t like going to work. “We prefer creating a world that’s a #TGIM – thank God it’s Monday – culture. I want to go to my awesome job with awesome people.”
What is leadership and how, as leaders, can we inspire our work teams? Matt asked participants to guess the size of the team that got Neil Armstrong to the moon – 40, 100, 2000? It took an astounding 400’000 team members. So, how can we create an inspired and healthy team?
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Psychological Safety
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Dependability
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Structure and clarity
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Meaning
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Impact
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Siiri Musten - Elevus
Siiri declared that leadership development programs focus too much on the external sides of leadership, such as behaviours and competencies. What really drives human action and change, however, comes from a leader’s own values and experiences, which everyone can master to become an authentic leader.
Siiri gave participants three tools to becoming truly authentic leaders:
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Ask yourself who you truly are
As human beings, we are not a computer program asking if we want to install an app or a plugin. Environmental factors influence us. Without wanting to, we may even adapt negative values that become part of our norms, such as habits from our parents. As leaders, we need to provide people safe spaces to figure out who they really are. -
Striving to be at your best
We all have a vision of what we could do to be better. One of the most important factors of selfhood is having the freedom to figure out our personal drivers. What really drives me to do my best? One role as leaders is to inspire people to focus on the journey - not just the results. -
Living your purpose
Siiri gave participants a question to ask themselves: What is my gift to this world? Recognize your gift, and you wake up committed to purposeful action. There will always be challenges and obstacles, but you must be present to know why you are working towards something. If you are able to have a purpose and give action from the heart, you will achieve extraordinary business results.
Siiri is the founder of Elevus, a unique global consultancy that focuses on solving current business and leadership challenges with a new mindset. Their approach is based on neuroscience, integral psychology and the latest research on human consciousness evolution.
Jan Bellermann – Conscious Leadership Academy
Usually, whenever the topics of “human-centric leadership” or “human culture” come into discussion, people assume the intent is to implement a wellness centre in an organisation or fun and games at the workplace. This is not the case. Psychological safety, which lies behind a productive organisational culture, is the number one driver of high performance. Many people, however, fear giving their all and are unwilling to step out of their comfort zones, which can lead to a negative organisation culture arises. Humans are hard-wired to learn, grow and achieve a lot. So why not creature an environment where they can enjoy the process of learning?
One way to stimulate a positive, transparent culture is to mention repeatedly why someone is doing something so they feel valued or what their work is doing to help the organisation as a whole. If, as a leader, you are able to care of your employees and help them fulfil their needs, you will reduce their fear, automatically increasing their psychological safety. Once people feel as if they are in a safe environment, they may speak up more, which enhances innovation and creativity.
The Conscious Leadership Academy – They are experts in leadership, consciousness and culture transformation and follow a common vision. The CLA vision, they are convinced, that leaders can make a huge difference in the world by creating an environment, which inspires people to go to work and feel fulfilled by applying their unique talents to contribute to something greater than themselves. The mission is to inspire and facilitate organisations and leaders, who share the CLAs vision and are passionate to turn it into reality.
https://www.conscious-leadership.academy/english/who-we-are/
Jonathan Normand – B Lab Switzerland/BCorp
Jonathan showed us a fresh side of the HR Hacking forum. The way businesses operate in the 21st century is changing quickly; business for the good is possible, but we need systemic change for a sustainable impact. There is no “planet B”: Should we mess up this planet, there is nowhere to go. It is our responsibility to leave children and future children a world they can enjoy.
With the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that 193 countries are working towards, we are trying to head in the right direction. Still, we need to be more committed. As leaders and future leaders of this world, it is our duty to advance the topics of business operations and how to make a profit while being sustainable.
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B Lab is a nonprofit organization that serves a global movement of people using business as a force for good. Its vision is that one day all companies compete not only to be the best in the world, but the Best for the World® and as a result society will enjoy a more shared and durable prosperity. Certified B Corporations are a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. 3’234 companies are certified B Corps in over 150 industries and 71 countries.
Bob Chapman – Barry Wehmiller
Where can we start with Bob Chapman? We are in awe of what he has been able to achieve. What we learned from him is that the way we decide to lead will impact other people’s lives. Leadership is a privilege, not a job. It takes courage to care for people and their skills in a positive way.
When Bob’s granddaughter graduated from college, he cried, because the world she is entering is not a pretty sight. Each year, 120 million people die from stress or work-related problems. The person you work with has a larger impact on your health than your doctor. 55% of people would trust a stranger more than their boss. Even universities are struggling to meet the needs of anxious students who are going through high levels of stress. People nowadays face immense pressure from home, school, work and friendships to make the right decisions in life and to not make any mistakes.
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Bob Chapman, is the chairman and CEO of Barry-Wehmiller, a $3.08B global manufacturing business with 12,000 team members. He was recently named the #3 CEO in the world in an Inc. magazine article, Bob Chapman is very intentional about using his platform as a business leader to build a better world. Over the past two decades, a series of realizations led him away from traditional management practices to what he now calls Truly Human Leadership--a people-centric approach where his employees feel valued, cared for, and an integral part of the company’s purpose.
IGNITE
We were utterly taken aback by the messages of these inspirational speakers. We were warned, we were encouraged and we were empowered. We walked away from the event with an ignited fire in our organisation to strive to live by our values, include everyone and – most importantly – empower everyone to be the best version of themselves.
With this Blog, we hope to have brought to light some of the important messages these speakers gave us. We will do our best to take these along our journey, building and learning about how to be future leaders and how to create a high performing organisations with great people.
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