Unleashing Potential in Yourself and Others

Question 1

What are the major categories in this chapter?

Answer 1

Developing your leadership imprint; core functions of your leadership style; motivations as a leader; motivating individuals and unleashing capability

Question 2

What is your leadership imprint and what are the different categories?

Answer 2

This is how others experience you - both those that you are leading and those you are working with and is composed of seven traits: authenticity, competence, humility, resolve, warmth, elevation, and faith.

Question 3

What is authenticity?

Answer 3

The quality of being true to yourself and genuine in your interaction with others

Question 4

What is competence?

Answer 4

The ability to do the work of leadership and take the team where it needs to go.

Question 5

What is humility?

Answer 5

making space for and acknowledging others’ work and contribution, and recognizing your own areas of limitation

Question 6

What is resolve?

Answer 6

A steadfast commitment to see things through to the end

Question 7

What is warmth?

Answer 7

likability and caring about team members as individuals

Question 8

What is elevation?

Answer 8

Understanding to set high expectations that others feel energized to pursue.

Question 9

What is faith?

Answer 9

Creating a sense of possibility and confidence at what can be achieved.

Question 10

What three groups do the seven dimensions of leadership form? What are these also known as?

Answer 10

Approachability; credibility; and aspiration; master dimensions.

Question 11

What is approachability?

Answer 11

This is a combination of authenticity and warmth; which are the behaviors and expressive tendencies that help build rapport with others.

Question 12

What is credibility?

Answer 12

This is the combination of humility, competence, and resolve; together, these convey know-how and authority. Being perceived as credible means you are trusted to set a direction and guide others to follow that direction.

Question 13

What is the approachability/credibility matrix?

Answer 13

This highlights the risks of emphasizing one trait over the other. Credible but not approachable breeds fear; approachable but not credible means you’re a pushover; not credible and not approachable means people will discount you; you need to be both credible and approachable which breeds commitment, trust, and belief.

Question 14

What is aspiration?

Answer 14

This combines faith and elevation. It allows you to create in others a sense of high expectations, a desire to achieve those expectations, and a belief that together those you are leading can meet or even surpass those expectations.

Question 15

Why is it important to pay attention to situational context as a leader?

Answer 15

Because certain attributes can cause those they’re leading to interpret their behavior in a distorted or biased way (although the leader knows what they want to accomplish, their followers don’t) or to hold expectations for the leader that reflect unconscious and unfair biases.

Question 16

What are the core functions of leadership style?

Answer 16

These are structure and direction and support and development.

Question 17

How do you leverage yourself as a leader to enable people to get things done?

Answer 17

Through two practices. The first is known as structure and direction and the other is known as support and development.

Question 18

What is meant by providing structure and direction?

Answer 18

This is a pattern of behavior you employ to mobilize others to get things done by communicating with them a clear sense of what to do.

Question 19

What is meant by support and development?

Answer 19

This is a pattern of behavior you employ to mobilize others to get things done by providing a psychological boost and instructional guidance to get work done.

Question 20

What is the learning frontier?

Answer 20

This refers how you stretch yourself along the leadership functions aka your potential for movement along the spectrum of leadership functions based on where you want and need to be as a leader.

Question 21

What are your motivations as a leader?

Answer 21

These are the desire, stimulus, or incentive to pursue a particular course of action. As a leader, you must work to understand not only your own drives and motivations, but also those of the people on your team.

Question 22

What is the framework to look at your leadership style?

Answer 22

Leadership imprint, leadership functions, and leader motivations.

Question 23

What are the two forms of motivation and what do they mean?

Answer 23

External rewards and intangible forms of motivation. External rewards are tangible markers of success including salary, bonuses, status, recognition, or perks. Intangible rewards are the experience to stretch oneself by taking on new challenges or learning new content, the opportunity to work independently, be part of something meaningful or important, or to feel a sense of belonging to a team or organization.

Question 24

What are the three core motivational needs we all have?

Answer 24

Achievement, affiliation, and power.

Question 25

What does it mean to have a high need for achievement?

Answer 25

People with a high need for achievement are task focused, and prefer to spend time and energy getting things done on their own.

Question 26

What does it mean to have a high need for affiliation?

Answer 26

People with this need derive energy and satisfaction from building and cultivating relationships.

Question 27

What does it mean to have a high need for power?

Answer 27

People with a need for socialized power are driven by the influence, persuasion, and having an impact on others.

Question 28

How do you motivate individuals and unleash their capability?

Answer 28

Motivation through the three broad categories of visibility/structure/common purpose, equipping, inquiring, advocating, aggressive listening, engaging the head/hand/heart.

Question 29

Why do you need to motivate and equip your team?

Answer 29

So that they can succeed in the work they do individually and collectively

Question 30

What is inquiry?

Answer 30

This is when leaders take the time to ask questions of their team mates/team members. It helps foster relationships, manage emotions, and provide insights.

Question 31

What is advocacy?

Answer 31

This is when a leader advances their own perspective directly and firmly.

Question 32

How do you apply aggressive listening to inquiry/advocacy?

Answer 32

This is when you lock on what people are saying, making sure you are grasping what they say and signaling your attentiveness through body language. It also means asking for clarification when you need it and paraphrasing what they other person has said to confirm that you understand it correctly, permitting the other party to clarify and elaborate if they need to.

Question 33

What are the three broad categories of motivators?

Answer 33

Visibility, Structure of the work, and common purpose.

Question 34

What is visibility and are three unique levers leaders can use to increase visibility?

Answer 34

Illuminating the unseen effects of a team members work, effort, or accomplishments and, by making them evident, fuel motivation. The three unique levers are recognition, impact, and progress.

Question 35

What is recognition lever within the visibility motivator?

Answer 35

This refers to how you as a leader acknowledge and express appreciation for something a team member or colleague has done. This can include something as simple as a one-on-one communication recognizing the exemplary performance of your team member.

Question 36

What is the impact lever within the visibility motivator?

Answer 36

This involves connecting your team directly to the effect their work is having on others, who are either within the organization, or, most powerfully, outside the organization.

Question 37

What is the progress lever within the visibility motivator?

Answer 37

This is a motivational tool that makes visible to those you are leading the ground you have covered thus far. This will help them appreciate the distance they have traveled. Showing team members the progress connects to the progress principle, a desire people have to make steady advances every day.

Question 38

What does the structure of work motivator?

Answer 38

This is the role a leader plays in shaping the way a team member will go about their work. You need to understand three psychological needs: competence, autonomy, and relatedness.

Question 39

What is competence mean within the structure of work motivator?

Answer 39

This refers to structuring jobs and tasks to provide team members with opportunities to learn, grow, build their capabilities, and feel like they are on the path to mastery.

Question 40

What is the autonomy principle within the structure of work motivator?

Answer 40

This refers to providing the team members sufficient amount of freedom to make decisions, especially about how to get from point A to point B

Question 41

What is the relatedness principle within the structure of work motivator?

Answer 41

This is creating the opportunity for engagement / collaboration with others so that members of your team feel like part of a whole.

Question 42

What is the common purpose motivator?

Answer 42

This is a clear, unifying direction allowing individuals to experience the camaraderie of working together to achieve objectives. It also allows individuals to generate consequences they care about and they they know others care about.