MTI, Monica Thakrar Inc.
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Online Courses
    • Search Inside Yourself (SIY)
  • Leadership Development Program
    • Leadership Development Details
  • Art of Leadership Blog
    • Resources
  • Clients
  • Contact

Art of Leadership Blog

Leadership and Wellbeing - Physical Health

9/29/2014

1 Comment

 
What is wellbeing and why is it important for leadership? Wellbeing is health, or the ability to stay comfortable and happy. Why is this so important for leadership? Leaders are the guides in an organization and create the culture of which they are a part. It is critical for leaders to focus on their own health in order to stay grounded, focused, disciplined, and guiding others in the right direction. The more that leaders can stay centered in who they are the better they are then going to be able inspire and grow others in the organization.

Wellbeing is made up four different components: physical health, emotional health, mental health, and spiritual health. The first one we are going to focus on is the physical health as it is the basis of keeping the body strong, vital, and full of energy to handle all of the work needs in an organization. What can leaders to keep to keep their physical health in balance?

Exercise - working out for 30 minutes 4-5 times a week is a great way to relieve stress, get the endorphins going, and keep your energy levels high. Whether you walk the dog, go running, play tennis, or go to the gym physical activity is a great way to keep your wellbeing in balance.

Eat nutritionally - as a busy leader you are often on the go, eating out with clients, burning the hours on both ends which can lead to poor nutritional choices. In order to maintain or increase your physical wellbeing it is important to eat healthily getting plenty of vegetables and fruit, lean meats, and lots of water. There is an online app where you can now track all of your food intakes called MyFitnessPal and is a great way to know what you are putting into your body.

Sleep well - often when you are working hard you forsake sleep, but research is showing that getting 7-8 hours of sleep per night is critical in functioning as well as possible.

What is one physical health step that you can take to increase your wellbeing? What area can you focus on?

1 Comment

Leading Change and Neuroscience

9/22/2014

0 Comments

 
The people side of change (understanding how people are impacted) is typically undervalued in many change efforts. Many leaders believe it is the process, technology, or technical issues that most need to be focused on rather than the need for ensuring that the organization and its people buy in to the change.

In neuroscience experts say that as we go through change the brain is using much more of its brain functioning than if it was doing a routine sort activity or event. It is often in over drive, exhausted, tired, and uncomfortable. They also say that people often feel like they are losing something during a change. David Rock, a well known neuroscientist, says that people often feel like they are losing of the following things:
Status - the degree with which one is compared to another regarding role, position, and/or money
Certainty - the ability to be understand what is going on and when
Autonomy - the ability to work independently
Relatedness - how connected you are to others
Fairness - the feeling that you are being treated equally as others

In order to lead an effective change effort it is often necessary to add back in one or more of the elements above in order to have employees emotionally buy-in and/or shift with the change. What is one of the components of the SCARF model above that you can support your employees on? How can you increase Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness, or Fairness for your employees?
0 Comments

Leading Change - Managing Emotions Through the Change

9/15/2014

0 Comments

 
Change in an organization can be hard for anyone. Emotionally employees often can face a difficult time managing through the transition (or the psychological changes associated with the external shift). As William Bridges says in Transitions, "It isn't the changes that do you in, it is the transitions." So in a organizational environment where we are not supposed to speak about emotions how do you as leaders deal with the transitions?

First understanding what the transition phases are is important as well as taking appropriate actions. According to Bridges the three phases are:

Letting Go phase - you are letting go of the comfort zone of the past and feelings of uncertainty, anxiety, and confusion arise. Here leaders can communicate the Case for Change as well as listen to the concerns and feelings of their employees.

Neutral Zone - the past is gone, but the new is not quite established yet. Here there are feelings of confusion, doubt, caution but also a phase of creativity, innovation, and advancing new ways of doing things. Here leaders can ask for input and feedback, continue to communicate why the change is occurring and the benefits, as well as assist employees in prioritizing their tasks.

Beginning a New phase - the establishment of new processes and ways of thinking. Here employees are starting to see opportunities, get energized by the new ways of working, and begin to settle into new habits and behaviors. In this phase leaders can reward new behaviors, celebrate quick wins, and continue to support employees if they should regress.

What phase are you in with your change? How can you support your employees through the transitions that they are going through?





0 Comments

Leading Change - Getting Buy-In

9/8/2014

0 Comments

 
  • Leading change efforts in an organization can be hard. People do not like to change which is why I had a job in change management for so long. In order to truly gain buy-in and acceptance by those being impacted by a large change initiative leaders have to work to ensure that they bring those impacted along. There are key steps that can be done in order to gain trust and limit resistance to a change implementation. Some of these steps include:

    Get employees involved in the change process - the more that employees are a part of the change and have input into it the more they feel like they can impact the effort. They also feel then that they can make a difference and ensure that it gets implemented in a way which is takes into account their needs.
  • Get continuous feedback on the process - the more that employees feel like they are heard and can express any doubts that they have for the change, the more that their resistance will begin to lessen.
  • Show quick wins - the more that you can show progress with the change and the benefits of those quick wins, the more that employees can tell that it is really happening and there is no going back.
What are you doing to gain buy-in from your employees? What can you begin to do more of?




0 Comments

Leading Change - the Case for Change

9/1/2014

0 Comments

 
Are you initiating a change in your organization? Are you trying to figure out how to mobilize your organization to come along with you through the transition process?  I always say the best way to initiate a transformation is to communicate the Case for Change. This case includes the following key elements:

  • What is the change? What are the key differences from now to the end vision? What will be different once the change is implemented?
  • Why you are making the change? - What are the key drivers that instigated the change so that people understand the logic behind it? Distill them down into tangible, practical bit sized needs either using data to show the need for the change and/or emotion to show the urgency for the change.
  • What are the benefits of the change? What are the key benefits and/or advantages of implementing the change to the organization and/or the employees? Show the benefits for different audience groups impacted by the change.
  • When is the change going to be implemented? Provide a high level roll out plan on when the changes will be taking place and directly impacting the employees.
These four components provide the basis for engaging audiences in wanting to learn more about the initiative and answers the key questions that they may have as the transformation begins to happen.

0 Comments

    Monica Thakrar

    Monica Thakrar has over 18 years experience in business focused mainly on strategy, change management, leadership development, training and coaching resulting in successful implementations of large scale transformation programs.  

    MTI Newsletter Signup
    For Email Newsletters you can trust.

    Archives

    March 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    May 2017
    January 2017
    August 2016
    June 2016
    March 2016
    October 2015
    July 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    November 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010

    Categories

    All
    Accountability
    Assessment
    Change
    Change Management
    Character
    Clients
    Collaboration
    Commitment
    Communication
    Complexity
    Cost
    Courage
    Creativity
    Culture
    Discipline
    Diversity
    Economy
    Emotional Intelligence
    Emotional Labor
    Emotions
    Employees
    Entrepreneur
    Excellence
    Facilitation
    Failure
    Flexibility
    Focus
    Generosity
    Genius
    Goals
    Growth
    Habits
    Hiring
    Holidays
    Ideas
    Innovation
    Inspiration
    Integrity
    Introverts
    Invest In Employees
    John Maxwell
    Kindness
    Leader
    Leadership
    Linchpin
    Managers
    Marketing
    Meditation
    Myers Briggs
    Myths
    Opportunities
    Organization
    Planning
    Potential
    Prioritize
    Progress
    Relationships
    Resilience
    Resistance
    Rewards
    Risks
    Seth Godin
    Stephen Covey
    Steve Jobs
    Technology
    Time
    Transparency
    Tribes
    Trust
    Understanding
    Vision
    Vulnerability

    RSS Feed

​Contact Info
1435 Chapin St NW, #206, Washington DC 20009 703.282.3295
monica@monicathakrar.com    
MTI Inc. is a woman-owned small business founded in 2008 | Monica Thakrar, CEO | DUNS #004654409 | NAICS Codes 541611, 541612, 611430 | Classification WOSB 

Copyright © 2020 MTI Inc., Monica Thakrar All Rights Reserved | Aspire Beyond Expectations | 11435 Chapin St NW, #206, Washington DC 20009 | 703.282.3295 | 
Find us Online
Site design by Artotems Co. 
  • Home
  • About
  • Services
    • Online Courses
    • Search Inside Yourself (SIY)
  • Leadership Development Program
    • Leadership Development Details
  • Art of Leadership Blog
    • Resources
  • Clients
  • Contact