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Archive for February, 2012

Business owners often recognise the value of networking especially given that 83% of people do business with people they like and trust. Yet the challenge for high impact and effective networking is to ensure that you stand out from the crowd. The quickest way to do this is to release your natural flow of charisma so people are naturally compelled towards you.

Having devoted over two decades to studying charisma I appreciate that there are many misconceptions about what it is and what it isn’t. Charisma naturally flows within all of us when we are being absolutely ourselves and love what we are doing. You don’t need to be a confident extrovert with a big personality to be charismatic. Charisma is an authentic power that captivates the hearts and minds of others. Here are my top tips for charismatic networking:

1. Operate in the NOW. When I observe people during networking events there are those that strut their stuff with an air of confidence yet during conversations you don’t feel they are really interested in you. It’s as if they are waiting for you to finish so they can either jump right in and impress the hell out of you or ditch you for the next potential catch. According to Nancy Kline, author of The Thinking Organisation “the quality of our listening, determines how intelligently the person responds to you’. Charismatic people are able to connect deeply with others in just a few seconds and are genuinely interested in what the other person is saying.

TOP TIP: Imagine that everyone in the room has an interesting insight for you to learn. When you look at them really see them and focus your concentration on them.
2. Speak from your heart. The world of business has drummed into us that we need to assert ourselves, think logically and trust only the facts and the evidence presented to us. The ability to inspire and ignite interest requires high levels of energy. People who are in touch with their emotions generate a strong electro-magnetic force field around them that is unconsciously ‘felt’ by others. People who disassociate from their emotions also disconnect interest. There is a wonderful piece of prose called The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer that starts with the line; ‘It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing’

TOP TIP: Speak from your heart, be real and recognise that you and the other person are both wonderfully unique people with an abundance of wisdom. Tap into their wisdom by saying what you really feel rather than engaging in superficial chit-chat.
3. Generate balanced energy for communication flow. At the tiniest, subatomic level, in the Quantum Field we are all pulsating atoms of energy, constantly interacting with the energy fields of those around us. In 1997, Cranfield University produced a thought-provoking report proving the impact of energy on performance and contribution. People with low energy are tired, depressed, stressed, angry or ill. In contrast, people with high energy levels are positive, creative, confident, healthy and in-balance. People with high energy are more attractive than people with low energy. Energy is addictive. We naturally crave it to make us feel better and unconsciously seek to steal it from others in 4 main ways:
1. Intimidation – people like to hold the balance of power because the hold the balance of energy.
2. Interrogation – when people fire many questions it is a form of energetic attack that will drain the energy of the person they are speaking with.
3. Aloof – when people disassociate they erect an invisible wall around themselves that stops the flow of their energy towards others. 4. Poor Me – being a victim will often trigger the concern of others causing energy to flow one-way towards the victim.

TOP TIP: Balance your conversation so that your energies flow between you and the other person. If you start to feel drained, take control of the conversation until your energy builds again. If the person you are talking to looks drained, encourage them to talk.

People never cease to amaze me. When we feel safe and secure we allow our protective barriers to fall away and open up to the experience in front of us. People who can create this feeling of safety in others are utilising their natural charisma, a state where everything becomes effortless and others are irresistibly drawn towards. Charisma is like a transcendental power that resides within us all. We don’t need to learn any fancy postures or gestures we simply need to re-connect with the essence of our true self. In a moment we can suddenly light up like a Christmas Tree!

1. Commit to running The Big Apple Experiment within your company. This provides you with a unique and memorable way to highlight the importance of your employee’s attitude. People are often stunned that they have affected the rate of decay of an apple and this then opens their mind to the importance of being positive. For more information about doing your own experiment visit The Big Apple Experiment on Facebook.

2. Recognise that your emotional state at the beginning of the day will affect everyone you come into contact with, even those people you speak to by phone. The best way to optimise your energy and emotional outlook is to take up meditation. Meditation, which is an ancient practice and part of Eastern spiritual philosophy, involves sitting, usually in silence, and focusing on one thing, such as your breathing. According to Mark Williams, Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Oxford, brain scans have proved that meditation breaks the loop of feelings that trigger self-defeating thoughts and depression. A positive self-image energises you and others. A negative self-image drains you and others.

3. Operate in the NOW and be really ‘present’ with people. According to Nancy Kline, author of The Thinking Organisation “the quality of our listening, determines how intelligently the person responds to you’. Charismatic people are able to connect deeply with others in just a few seconds and are genuinely interested in what the other person is saying. Imagine that everyone you meet has an interesting insight for you to learn. When you look at them really see them and focus your concentration on them.

4. Speak from your heart. The world of business has drummed into us that we need to assert ourselves, think logically and trust only the facts and the evidence presented to us. The ability to inspire and ignite interest requires high levels of energy. People who are in touch with their emotions generate a strong electro-magnetic force field around them that is unconsciously ‘felt’ by others. People who disassociate from their emotions also disconnect interest. When you listen to your Emotional Guidance System and speak from your heart you become authentic and real.

5. Generate balanced energy for communication flow. At the tiniest, subatomic level, in the Quantum Field we are all pulsating atoms of energy, constantly interacting with the energy fields of those around us. In 1997, Cranfield University produced a thought-provoking report proving the impact of energy on performance and contribution. People with low energy are tired, depressed, stressed, angry or ill. In contrast, people with high energy levels are positive, creative, confident, healthy and in-balance. People with high energy are more attractive than people with low energy. Energy is addictive. We naturally crave it to make us feel better and unconsciously seek to steal it from others in 4 main ways:

• Intimidation – people like to hold the balance of power because the hold the balance of energy.
• Interrogation – when people fire many questions it is a form of energetic attack that will drain the energy of the person they are speaking with.
• Aloof – when people disassociate they erect an invisible wall around themselves that stops the flow of their energy towards others.
• Poor Me – being a victim will often trigger the concern of others causing energy to flow one-way towards the victim.

Balance your conversation so that your energies flow between you and the other person. If you start to feel drained, take control of the conversation until your energy builds again.

6. Identify the influences within your own business that are likely to create resistance in your workforce. For example:

• Have you recently downsized, cut operating costs and/or out-sourced services?
• Have you introduced and implemented significant changes in the last 12 months?
• Have sales revenues dropped recently?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above questions then it is likely your employees are feeling scared and insecure. As a Charismatic Leader your role is to create a working environment where people feel safe. This reduces their resistance and enables them to optimise their performance.

7. Identify 3 issues you are experiencing within your business right now. For each one ask yourself the following questions:
• If this issue was a metaphor, what would it represent?
• How does this metaphor relate to me personally?
• What other areas or occasions in my life have I experienced this metaphor?
• What’s the emotional reaction this metaphor creates within me?
• What’s really the issue here?

Charismatic Leaders accept 100% responsibility for everything that happens in their life. Because we cannot consciously know reality (2 million bits of information every second) the only reality that is true to us is the one we create inside our own heads. If you change your inner reality this naturally changes your external reality. This way of looking at things can be summarised as Perception is Projection. What you perceive you will project onto others.

This week I delivered a half-day session on Charismatic Leadership to The Ella Foundation, established by Brian Chernett, created to inspire more leaders in the not for profit sector to be more effective and successful. Nearly 30 leaders from different registered charities participated in a way that was subtly different to leaders within the corporate sector. These men and women showed a real passionate intensity for their cause that was truly inspiring. Their minds were open and receptive to my techniques meaning that the exercises we did regarding energy were really advanced because their attitude to learning was untainted by cynicism.

Having met Craig Goldblatt, Motivational Speaker, this week, he refers to ‘the need to find our passions and relight our beliefs. That’s why leaders working in the not for profit sector are different. Their driving force and passion for their charity is evident and contagious. Without this, a person delivers a lacklustre performance and the contamination by apathy and negativity starts to spread.

When individuals possess high levels of positive attitude, their resistance to change and personal growth reduces. Equally, when an individual’s positive attitude reduces, this will expand and strengthen their protective wall of resistance towards growth and change.

Within an organisational context, especially in today’s tough economy, employees are being asked to deliver more with fewer resources. Layer this requirement with the threat of redundancy and immediately individuals feel their survival and security is threatened. An aura of fear invades their performance and employees will start to show signs of stress, lethargy and anger. It doesn’t matter what the organisation tries to do to remedy this because the usual corporate influences (new processes, culture, training & development, communication tools) will act like arrows bouncing off a brick wall. According to Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, “what we resist persists”. Fear will have a huge impact on an individual’s self esteem, hamstringing confidence and causing a reluctance to express what they are truly feeling. If an individual can’t see a future for himself or herself they cannot feel motivated.

Organisations know instinctively that workforce engagement is vital for growth and sustainable success and may recognise that they need to tackle attitudes rather than behaviours. That’s why there has been a growing trend for Emotional Intelligence training where individuals are taught the ability to identify, assess and control the emotions of oneself, of others and of groups. Yet the challenge of wanting individuals to become more connected with their emotions is thwarted by the barriers they have erected to protect themselves whilst working in a climate of uncertainty and fear.

Rather than ‘pretend’ organisations can find huge value from recognising that an individual’s attitude can be impacted by working with their internal influences. When people have a positive sense of their self-worth, a clear sight of their future within the organisation they dissolve the barriers to emotional connectedness and inner motivation. This naturally boosts their energy, fuelling levels of positive attitude that naturally reduces resistance to change and growth. This process of internal awareness is the state of charisma, a state when an individual’s true essence can be expressed without fear and their performance and contribution to the organisation expands.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Hungarian Pschology Professor claimed “repression is not the way to virtue”. He introduced the concept of ‘Flow’ – a mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energised focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Sports psychologists refer to the concept of Flow as ‘being in The Zone’. Organisations refer to this as ‘engagement’. Having devoted over 30 years of my own life to this state, I refer to it as ‘Charisma’ – when an individual is being themselves and they are loving what they do, they shine.

Harnessing the power of energy

Over the centuries we have become addicted to growth through struggle. Pain is often perceived as a necessary stimulus to growth where individuals adopt the  Friedrich Nietzsche view “what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.” Adversity is worn like a badge of honour because people often call on their inner resources to strengthen their resolve. Resilience is now viewed as an essential component for corporate success. Yet individuals are still resistant to change within a corporate context because they feel in touch with fear. According to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs first introduced in 1943 our basic needs are for survival closely followed by safety and security.

Organisations going through change initiatives often unwittingly perpetuate a climate of fear and uncertainty. Where jobs may be at risk and more demands and pressures are being placed on performance and productivity this can create a choking effect on their performance. Professor Willi Railo, University of Oslow who worked closely with Sven-Goran Eriksson, Manager of England Football team in 2002 states that fear of failure is a crippling form of anxiety, a negative burden of expectation where people become inhibited, take fewer risks and consequently underachieve.

Consequently, in today’s tough economic environment where organisations and the workforce are being tasked to achieve more with less resources becomes unrealistic whilst the workforce feel in fear of the jobs and worried about the future. Despite competent and robust external influences such as the training and development of people, relationships, organisational culture, processes, leadership teams, job roles and responsibilities it is still difficult to penetrate through an individual’s resistance to growth.

Breaking through this barrier to change and resistance to growth can only be achieved by working with an individual’s own internal influences. To put it in a nutshell, the more positive an individual’s attitude, the thinner the layer of their resistance. A negative attitude automatically strengthens the resistance so it becomes an impenetrable wall of protection.

The biggest impact on attitude is based on 5 key areas that coincidentally are the same attributes that determine an individual’s level of charisma:

1. Self-Esteem – the extent to which we see ourselves as a valued, important and respected member of the workforce. The benefits to an organisation of having individuals with high self esteem is confidence, authenticity and mutual trust and respect.
2. Vision – the extent to which we see our future and can align that future to the corporate vision. The benefits to an organisation is that individuals feel inspired and compelled towards their organisational goals.
3. Sensory Awareness – the extent to which we can communicate with our hearts so we feel an emotional connection with the organisation. The benefits to an organisation is that individuals build stronger, loyal and long- term relationships with peers, internal and external customers.
4. Driving Force – the extent to which our work holds personal meaning so we feel enthusiastic and dynamic in pursuing our personal and corporate vision. The benefits to an organisation is that individuals feel highly motivated and possess greater resilience to setbacks.
5. Energy – the culmination of the first four internal influences will affect the intensity, quality and balance of an individual’s energy. The benefits of having a high energy workforce include high performance, improved productivity, higher engagement, reduced stress and absenteeism.

People with a high positive attitude are people with high levels of balanced energy. People with a negative attitude often feel drained, depressed and apathetic leading to illness.

In 1997 Cranfield Business School authored a white paper – Assessing Energy within Organisations that explored the role that energy of employees is recognised as an important factor in their performance and in maximising their overall contribution to the organisation. Yet 15 years later, organisations have failed to grasp and harness the concept of energy on powering their employees productivity.

Every individual has the potential to develop more charisma, a state that optimises their flow of energy, boosting their wellbeing and enhancing their performance. When people feel in harmony with themselves they exude high levels of energy that impacts on those around them.

Organisations who look at the workforce’s internal influences will be rewarded by high levels of engagement, people working with their heart and soul and double-digit growth that can be sustained year on year.

Yet the old rigid dogma in organisational thought leadership will continue to perceive energy, charisma and workforce harmony as spiritual mumbo jumbo until someone can present irrefutable proof that workforce attitudes can be changed in an instant.