Listening Impact

The three questions posed to eleven executives who I know to be high-functioning, well-regarded, and thoughtful leaders:

1. What prompted you to engage in a personal development journey?
2. What did you learn about yourself?
3. How has your personal development journey impacted your work?

During the interviews, I noticed that the respondents gave more complex answers to the third question. I’m not sure if it was because they were on a roll thinking and talking about personal development, or if it required more reflection in order to answer.  Personally, I found it more challenging to slot the responses into categories, and I’m not so sure that the categories are what you, the reader, might have created.  What’s most important is that we “listen” and relate their words to how we might answer the same question.

A great quote from one of the participants:

Diplomatic.  I now say things like, “What might we do?” rather than “Here’s what we’ll do.”  I guess those subtle changes have a big impact because I notice that people come to me with better and better ideas and questions.  And the quality of work is steadily improving.

Question #3: How has your personal development journey impacted your work?

Building Relationships

• I started with good knowledge, and I was promoted because of it and my ability to develop others. With a lean organization, every person has to work at 100% of capacity.
• I believe I am much more tolerant of other people’s process of learning and am aware that others usually are not like me. I used to feel betrayed when people didn’t do tasks the way I would have or even wanted.
• One must recognize in others all that we see in ourselves, and visa versa.
• Level of comfort with me and me with others is better.
• I’m more of a mentor or coach than I was before I went on this journey.

Developing Skills

• Everything I learn I put in my tool kit.
• It’s influenced my messaging—not as abstract and more human-to-human.
• Working with you, my coach, was a turning point.  I’m always aware of balancing advocacy with more inquiry.  I guess I’m more conscious of what I’m doing.
• I began to ask the right questions to understand if the question posed to me was right in the first place.
• I absolutely changed from being a micro-manager to being a guide. Performance soared.
• Re-emphasis on goal setting—it’s the foundation for focus.
• Moved from telling to selling—my influencing skills are used to motivate others.
• Whew, it was hard to receive straightforward feedback, so in the past I lobbed it like a hand grenade. I thought people were out to get me. Now I know how to provide feedback in a positive manner—so many employees thank me for my honesty and care.  Pretty much we’ve learned to talk about how to be at our best.

Changing Culture

• Building teams, developing others, and constantly seeking out experiences…became my motivation.  Why?  Because it worked.
• There’s a more human aspect that I bring to work in a very rational organization.
• Always had good thinking with people, now I have both good thinking and good feeling.
• When something goes awry, instead of acting shocked or angry, I see it as a point of perturbation and try to understand what might be the cause of the setback, not “who screwed up?”

Unexpected consequences

• Developed an appetite for learning and I always want more, often learning from what others do wrong is just as valuable.
• It’s given me an advantage over peers.
• Conceptual models help me understand–they are like a flashlight in the path of darkness.
• When you asked this, I thought first about skills, but really my personal development is to bring passion back to me and to my workplace. I love the work I do.
• I look back to my footprints to see where I’m going.
• I’m more than just a head going from meeting-to-meeting.
• I’m much more empathetic, less de-sensitized, and not nearly as exhausted.
• It’s so natural to go back to “obnoxious” tendencies, so my own development is to be aware and constantly modify behaviors.

Following are the names and titles of the executives who shared their insights:

• David Carder, VP, Executive Consultant, The Forum Corporation
• Ralph Chauvin, Vice President of Sales, North America, Perfetti van Melle USA
• Iain Duffin, Chairman Origo Service Group Edinburgh, Non Executive Director of the Scottish Leather Group, Director of IDD Associates Ltd.
• Carol Ryan Ertz, AVP, Enterprise Leadership Development, Unum Corporation
• Ron Griffiths, CEO Network Green Deal Ltd and RG Direct Associates Ltd.
• Larry Hart, Chair, Vistage International
• Jim Mikula, Managing Director, Hotel Madeline and Inn at Lost Creek, Telluride
• Susan Moseley, VP Member Service Corporation, NFIB
• Vivien Price, VP Solutions Design, The Forum Corporation
• Helaine Suval, President and Founder, Suval Consultants
• Frank van Dijk, Regional Marketing Leader, GE Oil & Gas