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Putting Inclusive Leadership into Practice | Ann Marie Heiser

Inclusive leadership is a strategy that many organizations are adopting towards their success. Making employees feel they belong to a company requires inclusive leadership. Individuals want to be treated fairly and valued. They want to be recognized and be made part of the organization’s short and long-term goals.

Leadership is integral in the thriving of any company. Their resolutions can make or break the organization. Leaders increase employees’ productivity by making them feel part and parcel of the organization. In the end, it lifts the company’s performance giving them a competitive edge. Let’s delve into the key ways organizations achieve inclusive leadership:

Demonstrate Commitment to Diversity

Companies have to deal with different employees coming from various backgrounds. All employees want to feel they are part of the organization. Handling individuals from different cultures, races, and beliefs can be daunting. Companies must demonstrate their commitment to diversity to achieve optimal inclusive leadership.

Organizations must be authentic in their inclusive leadership . They should be willing to challenge the existing state of affairs. Diversity and inclusion should be made a personal priority to ensure all needs of employees are considered.

Effective Collaboration

Leaders that incorporate inclusion in their strategies benefit from effective collaboration. They get the teams working in unison, resulting in positive results and increased productivity.

Being a leader goes beyond giving instructions and expecting employees to follow them. One needs to empower their teams and emphasize team cohesion. They need to consider the overall performance of the organization by incorporating different individuals.

Empathy and Humility

Handling organizational issues with empathy means understanding the employees’ viewpoint. Empathy and humility play an integral role regarding organizational inclusion. When leaders are approachable, it becomes easier for employees to interact with them. An organization working towards inclusion needs to understand their employees’ feelings deeply.

Humility attracts feedback since teams feel like a unit with their leaders. As a result, it opens grounds for employees to share their views openly without hesitation. In addition, it helps to capture and identify ideas that can elevate the organization to the next level.

Wrap Up

Dealing with employees from different backgrounds is not easy. Striking a balance to ensure every employee is comfortable and their needs are being met is equally challenging. Organizations looking towards remaining competitive in their niches need to practice inclusion in their leadership.

Originally published at https://annmarieheiser.com on October 5, 2021.

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Leadership Qualities That Make you a Great Leader

Leaders are the decision-makers in organizations and communities. Great leaders should have a clear vision. We are all quick to point out bad leaders in society, but we cannot point out the good ones. The following are leadership qualities and characteristics that you should look out for in a leader. 

Good Communication Skills

Leaders should be able to communicate effectively. Effective communication helps your employees to understand your vision, goals, and mission. As a leader, your communication skills should be consistent in regards to laying out your expectations or when you are giving feedback. 

Proper communication helps your employees understand what is expected of them and what they are really working for in the organization. You should have proper communication channels that ensure a smooth flow of information. 

Empathy

Empathy can be described as the ability to feel or know what those around you are going through. As a good leader, you should be able to put yourself in other people’s shoes. They should also understand how to praise their employees in public and advice them in private. 

Empathetic leaders should guide their staff when they face challenges. Great leaders do not blame others when they face challenges. They look for solutions. 

Courage

Good leaders should be able to speak up and raise their concerns. They should be champions of change in their workplaces. Courageous leaders should be able to move things in the right direction and stand up for other people in the workplace. 

Ability to Delegate

Leaders should recognize that they cannot do everything on their own. Delegation is believing and trusting that other people can discharge duties assigned to them. Delegating tasks to your junior staff shows that you believe in their abilities and talents. Employees want to feel trusted and appreciated. Delegating tasks to them makes them feel wanted and important in the organization. 

Gratitude

Good leaders should be thankful and optimistic in every situation. Gratitude can result in reduced depression and higher self-esteem. Leaders should practice gratitude and appreciate others in the workplace. 

There is always room to improve your leadership skills. Some people are born leaders, while others acquire leadership skills. The above characteristics can help you become a better leader in your organization.

Styles of Leadership to Embrace for the Future | Ann Marie Heiser

Leadership is vital for the development of any organization and leaders must have the qualities to steer in the appropriate direction. The world is changing fast, so leaders need these styles of leadership to embrace for the future. 

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence means someone can identify and manage emotions, including those by others. Emotional intelligence in business organizations is essential in navigating emotions to make everyone efficient.

Emotional intelligence may feel like personality but should be a group skill that all leaders should learn and improve. It is a superior indicator of overall success than academic achievements. 

A high level of emotional intelligence generates abilities that drive people to achieve better results. EQ also enhances an ability to negotiate, read situations better, and manage conflicts before they escalate. The qualities that EQ brings to leadership are the reason for increased attention in recent times.

Emotional Resilience

Emotional resilience is the ability to adjust when change, crisis, or a challenge happens. Emotionally resilient leaders will deal with the dents and find ways to progress after difficult moments. They do not let stress and frustration diminish their capacity to face challenges. Emotionally resilient leaders are also less susceptible to burnout when the situation requires harder work. 

Some people argue that emotional resilience is inborn, but it is something that people can learn. It is a valuable style of leadership to embrace for the future since unforeseen issues like policy changes or pandemics interrupt the norm every time they occur. Emotional resilience should be a part of leadership development as it instills the capacity to respond to daily challenges and occasional adversities in leaders.

Coaching and Development 

Great leaders do not strive to take all the shine but do their best to develop and improve others. Coaching and developing is more profound than many think since a leader must have other traits that contribute to the environment for transferring knowledge. A leader who plans to coach and develop must possess abilities to:

  • Listen patiently 
  • Observe carefully 
  • Reveal difficult to accept truths
  • Help others in navigating challenges

Coaching and developing others is an essential skill for the future because performance is becoming more of a team effort. Leaders with an effective team achieve more in their industry. Outstanding leadership creates a bridge for transferring new skills it learns to their team and, in the process, grabs something from subordinates. 

Visionary organizations should include the three essential styles of leadership to embrace for the future in their development programs. They will generate great results in the coming days.

This blog was previously published on August 21, 2021 at AnnMarieHeiser.com

Narrow Down Where You Should Vacation Next | Ann Marie Heiser

There is nothing quite as exciting as choosing where your next trip will be. However, with all the diverse locations available with the click of a button (and a few hundred dollars taken out of your bank account), it can be hard to narrow down where you should vacation next.

Though it can seem nearly impossible at times to narrow down your options, the following tip should help you make your decision more quickly in the future.

Use Pinterest

Pinterest has been a source of travel inspiration from the app’s creation. Fellow travelers have been flocking to the app to refuel their wanderlust for over a decade now. Not only can you look up destinations on the app, but Pinterest will also personalize a home feed of fresh pins for you to gain inspiration from. The more you see a destination pop up on your home feed, the more likely you are to grow intrigued by it. Additionally, you’ll find many links to travel blogs that will list activities and sites to see in those locations. By discovering the types of activities available in different destinations, you’ll be able to determine if it’s a place worth visiting depending on your travel style.

Decide What Type of Weather You Fancy

Depending on the time of year you’re traveling, climates and weather patterns may differ from place to place. You can go anywhere from the Swiss Alps to the Sonoran Desert to the tropical beaches in Jamaica. Some individuals despise the humidity, while others flock to these areas to escape the cold. Deciding on the type of weather you’d like to experience during your vacation can help narrow down your choices immensely. Think ahead to determine what sort of weather you’ll be wanting to escape to during the month you are choosing to travel.

Pay Attention to Deals

Sometimes, instead of looking for a place to vacation, the trip will instead make itself known to you. This is often done by brands sending their customers special deals or advertising them on social media. You might not have been looking to take a trip to Paris, for example, but the $400 round-trip airfare being advertised by an airline might be enough to convince you to go there. If you’re not already locked into a particular destination, and you’re open-minded to traveling anywhere, taking advantage of these deals can help you choose a destination and save money in the process. Also, pay attention to rewards or discounts you might have earned with previous miles and points. There might be certain deals associated with these rewards as well.

This blog was previously published on July 12, 2021 at AnnMarieHeiser.net

Influential Women in Leadership | Ann Marie Heiser

Access to quality education and the growth of democratic space has allowed women to rise to the influential leadership position. Currently, women leaders hold significant leadership positions in society and continue to inspire females to overcome existing societal barriers to achieve even higher. Women leaders continue to excel in politics, business, activism, and arts. Here are some of the notable and influential women in leadership.

Jacinda Ardern

Jacinda Ardern overcomes various challenges to become the New Zealand Prime Minister in 2017. Ardern becomes the youngest female head of state at the age of 37. Ardern’s policies on gun ownership and her response to the Covid-19 pandemic have demonstrated her good leadership skills and allowed her to receive worldwide accolades for dealing with situations effectively.

Kamala Harris

Kamala conquered the challenges of being of color and Asian origin to hold various positions. In 2010, she was the first Attorney General of California. Later, she was elected US senator. Currently, she serves as the US vice president. Kamala has demonstrated exemplary leadership skills and inspires women to strive to achieve their best.

Whitney Wolfe Herd

Wolfe bristled sexual harassment and discrimination challenges and moved out of Tinder to start her own company. She has managed to grow Bumble to generate billions in revenue. Bumble is a dating platform that allows women to make the first moves.

Bethenny Frankel

Frankel founded Skinny girl, which featured stylish women’s products. The woman also operates a Just B podcast where she discusses her take on various life perspectives. The show has gained popularity. Frankel has previously used the platform for philanthropic works.

Kathrin Jansen

Kathrin’s works in scientific research continue to inspire more women to pursue scientific research. She headed the Vaccine research and development at Pfizer that played a critical role in developing a vaccine using mRNA technology. Previously, she led the development of papillomavirus and pneumococcus vaccines.

Gülsüm Kav

Kav founded the We Will Stop Femicide Platform and has continuously advocated for stopping men’s violence towards women. As a medical doctor, she observed that Turkish women feared to speak about violence at home and started the foundation to help protect violence survivors and help them seek fair justice.

Women have established themselves as solid voices and change-makers by overcoming various challenges and leading successful organizations. These influential women have demonstrated leadership skills that will continuously inspire generations of women to rise against odds. The female leaders have also shown that they would even play better roles in transforming society given an equal platform.

Books Every Leader Should Read | Ann Marie Heiser

If you’re a leader, chances are you have a passion for lifelong learning. Whether you prefer having a book in your hands or listening to an audiobook while multitasking, here are some books you should add to your library.

Permission to Screw Up

If you look at any great leader, there were likely countless failures that preceded their success. If you are in the middle of the failure stage of leadership Permission to Screw Up by Kristen Hadeed is for you. This book promotes going out and acting instead of getting stuck in the thinking or planning phases of success. Shake off the idea of planning for perfect, and get out there and fail forward!

Meditations 

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius is a great book for any reader to consume. An in-depth philosophy of how mastering your mind can help you master the world around you.

The Alchemist

A book that will help you feel in touch with your ‘Personal Legend’ is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. This book is told in a simple yet wise manner, and the text can impact the reader in the most profound way.

Endurance

The next book will really appeal to any leader who is facing times of adversity. Endurance by Alfred Lansing details Edward Shackleton’s failed expedition to the South Pole in 1914.

The Power of Mental Discipline

The Power of Mental Discipline is Book 20 in a Positive Psychology coaching series. Written by Ian Tuhovsky. If you need to break bad habits or really engage in the ability to turn your dreams into reality, this book should be the next one you pick up. 

You Are a Badass

Let’s face it, all of us struggle with negative self-talk. If that low vibrational narrative is taking up too much of your valuable mental space, then the next book you should add to your list is You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero.

The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You and Secrets of Six-Figure Women

2021 is the era of the boss babe. Making a name for yourself in the world of powerful women is no small feat. There are a couple of perfect books for you to keep tucked away in your Louboutin handbag. The first is The Most Powerful Woman in the Room is You by Lydia Fenet. The second is Secrets of Six-Figure Women by Barbara Stanny.

Now that you have finished your summer reading list, it’s time to get out there and show the world what you’re made of!