Leadership and Personal Development Final

Taking 100% responsibility for your life

Events + Response=Outcome

You have control over:

1. your thoughts

2. your actions

3. your visual imagery

You have to give up blaming and complaining to achieve greater success!

Civility

Key Aspects

-Respect for others

-polite communication

-empathy and understanding

-constructive engagement

-self restraint

Does Civility Matter and How it Impacts

-Builds Trust

-Promotes Collaboration

-Enhances communication

-fosters inclusive communities

-supports leadership

Bad Leadership

Bad Communication

Lack of Recognition

Unreasonable Expectations

Micromanagement

-Unintentional; stems from incompetence or inexperience

-Impact Scope localized affects team performance or morale

-High potential to improve, can be addressed with training and feedback

-leader's focus is task-oriented, struggles to manage effectively

Toxic Leadership

Credit Stealing

Public Shaming

Angry Tirades

Personal Insults

- often intentional; driven by self-interest or malice

-impact scope is pervasive; damages organizational culture and individuals' well-being

Potential to Improve

-low; requires structural intervention and significant behavioral change

leader's focus- self-oriented manipulates or harms others for personal gain

Is Toxic Leadership really that harmful

Spreads like a virus

Lower: productivity, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, helping behavior, perceptions of fairness

Higher: stress and burnout, deviant work behavior, alcoholism and family abuse, absenteeism and turnover, health care costs, risk of heart attacks

Root causes of Toxic Leadership

We are all capable of it

Tolerance for it in the workplace

psychological power

drained emotional and cognitive resources.

Stop making Excuses for Toxic Bosses

Behaviors: insults, gossip, belittling

Effects: stress, health issues, turnover

Excuses don't help—most won't change

Accountability protects people & firms

How can you prevent toxic leadership

Set and Enforce clear standards

Think collaboration, not power

Replenish your resources

How can you develop civility

1. Develop Self-Awareness and emotional intelligence

2. Communicate with respect and active listening

3. Foster a culture of kindness and inclusivity

4. Practice accountability and continuous improvement

Emotions

-Short (seconds to minutes)

-High Intensity

-Trigger is clear and immediate

-Hard to control (automatic)

-Ex: fear, anger, happiness

Moods

-long-lasting (hours to days)

-intensity is moderate to low

-trigger is not always clear

-control can be influenced

-ex: irritability, optimism, anxiety

feelings

-duration varies

-intensity depends on interpretation

-based on thoughts/memories

-control can be changed through mindset

-ex: feeling valued, rejected, appreciated

emotional contagion

the process by which emotions are transferred from one person to another

-automatic and subconscious

-influences team moral, productivity, and decisions making

-leaders are powerful transmitters of emotions

Emotional Cognition and Leadership

Leaders project moods and emotions- positive and negative- onto subordinates

left unchecked, negative mentions can lead to toxic leadership

Positive emotions->transformational leadership behavior->leadership effectiveness

Emotional Cognition: Social mechanisms

External Cues

1. Nonverbal communication

2. Vocal tone

3. Group emotional synchronization

Emotional Cognition: Neurological Mechanisms

internal brain processes

1. Mirror neurons

2. Amygdala

3. Oxytocin and social bonding

Surface acting vs Deep Acting

Surface acting: modifying emotional displays without changing inner feelings ("painting on a good face")

Deep Acting: Attempting to modify inner feelings to make emotional displays in accordance with display rules

reapprasial

Reassessing an emotional situation

Strategies

-self-awareness

-gratitude

-visualization

-stress positivity

-talking to someone- friends, family, professors, counseling, community resources

-practice

self-awareness

Recognize situations that trigger certain emotions

Understand you impulses

Know how your emotions and impulses affect yourself and others

Gratitude & Visualization

Gratitude- Despite what happened what can you be grateful for? What is the silver lining?

Visualization- How can you use what happened to push you closer to your ideal self?

C players

Barely deliver acceptable results

Not bold, innovative, or inspiring

not grossly incompetent or unethical

refers to the quality or performance not the person

Costs of C Players

Hold back organization performance

block advancement and development of A and B players

Lower standards and expectations

Leads to burnout from C players being unable to meet expectations

Strategies for managing C players

Identify C players

-clearly define goals and expectations

-establish simple performance rating system

-provide feedback frequently and encourage employee feedback in response

Agree on Action Plans

-determine whether employee wants to improve or whether they can

-create a clear plan with employee to improve performance, move to a better job or let them go

Hold managers accountable

-formally enforce frequent identification and action

Negative impacts of superstar employees

team resentment, disengagement, resistance to feedback, and imbalance in collaboration if not managed carefully.

How to optimize teams including superstar employees

Balance recognition

Encourage collaboration

Set stretch goals for all

Provide honest feedback

Protect team cohesion

Align with organizational purpose

Performance and Turnover

Research on performance and turnover clearly indicates that a significant negative relationship exists, indicating that low performers are more likely to leave organizations

The power of thank you

Study by Adam Grant and Francesca Gino

-in one condition fake student sent a not of gratitude, the other asked for further help

-Participants were 66% more likely to provide the requested help in the gratitude condition

2nd study

-in one condition the the director of the fundraiser said made a visit to say thank you, the other made no visit

-Participants in the gratitude condition made 75% more voluntary calls after being told thank you

Why are employees reluctant to speak up

Fear (anonymous feedback, general invitations, signals of power)

Futility (voiceless leaders, unclear desired input, lack of resources

How can you promote voice culture

1. Make feedback regular and casual

2. Be transparent

3. Just go ask people- reach out

4. Soften the power cues

5. Avoid sending mixed messages

6. be the example

7. Close the loop

Promotive Voice

Employee suggestions regarding opportunities and initiatives to improve future organizational functioning

Outcomes: Organizational citizenship behavior (helping), innovative performance, task performance

Prohibitive Voice

Employee communication intended to address past or current problems and concerns that could otherwise lead to harmful outcomes for the organization

Outcomes: safety performance, task performance

Delegation

The assignment of new responsibilities to (others) and additional authority to carry them out

Goal: get people to feel empowered through empowering leadership

Why leaders resist empowering virtual teams: sources of resistance

Problems with motivation

1. Affective motivation

2. Social-normative motivation

3. Noncalculative motivation

Perceived lack of control

1. Internal locus of control

2. External locus of control

Concerns about risk

1. Regulatory focus

-promotion focused

-prevention focused

Ways to reduce leaders resistance to delegation

1. Reframe their motivations

2. Boost their sense of control

3. make empowerment feel less risky

psychological empowerment

Meaning: Feeling your work is important to others

Autonomy: Having choice over your actions

Competence: Believing you can be successful

Impact: Seeing how your affects the unit

Impact of psychological empowerment

Higher job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance, citizenship behavior, and innovation

Strongest predictor of psychological empowerment: Empowering leadership

Keys to effective delegation

Autonomy with boundaries

Vision (for meaning and impact)

Control (for autonomy)

Resources (for competence)

Mindfulness

Intentional

Being present in the moment without judgement

Focus on breath and body

NOT: zoning out, meditation-only, stress avoidance, only for monks or yoga studios

Evidence-based benefits of mindfulness

Improved focus and attention

Better emotional regulation

Reduce stress, anxiety, and depression

Enhances self-compassion and resilience

Mindfulness and Leadership

1. Improved decision making

2. Stronger relationships and empathy

3. Lower burnout and higher resilience

4. greater self awareness

Practical ways to incorporate mindfulness

1. Mindful Breathing

2. Mindful Walking

3. Digital Mindfulness

4, Body Scan meditation

5. Use an app

Burnout

Emotional exhaustion

Cynicism

Loss of professional efficacy

Demands>Resources

Stress vs Burnout

Stress

-short term

-often linked to specific tasks or deadlines

-involves feelings of tension, anxiety, or urgency

-can be motivating in small doses

Differs from burnout

-duration

-engagement

-experience urgency vs helplessness

How to prevent burnout (DESC)

Demand->

(Resource Appraisal)- Efficacy, Support, Control

Emotional Response- energy vs anger/anxiety->

Behavioral Response-engage vs fight/flight

Want to be a better leader article

Leaders who mentally disconnect from work after the official workday are more effective the next day. Leaders who ruminate about work in the evening — tend to feel drained and less able to embody their leadership role. In contrast, those who detach from work, recharge, and get restful downtime return with more energy, a stronger sense of leadership identity, and perform better — something even their employees notice.

Trait perspective of ethics

People who engage in unethical behavior are just bad people

Situational perspective of ethics

Certain situations are more likely to induce unethical behavior

Cognitive perspective of ethics

Even good people can behave unethically

Moral Disengagement Theory

Convincing oneself that ethical standards do not apply to oneself in a particular context, and thus avoiding self-condemnation

4 forms of moral disengagement: Reconstructing Immoral Conduct

Portraying unethical behavior as having a moral purpose

Or justifying unethical behavior by making comparisons between your actions and others

4 forms of moral disengagement: displacing or diffusing responsibility

Displacing responsibility: viewing your actions as resulting from the dictates of authorities

Diffusing responsibility: viewing your actions as simply being in line with what others are doing

4 forms of moral disengagement: Misrepresenting injurious consequences

Minimizing the amount of harm that can be done to others by unethical actions

4 forms of moral disengagement: Dehumanizing victims

No longer viewing people as having feelings, hopes, and concerns (lacking empathy)

The Psychology of Fraud: Why Good People do Bad Things

The episode explores why ordinary, well-intentioned people end up committing fraud and other unethical acts — not because they're "bad character," but because of how human thinking works in real situations. It uses the story of Toby Groves, a businessman who pledged to always be ethical but eventually engaged in millions of dollars of bank fraud. Psychologists and behavioral economists explain that people often become blind to the ethical dimensions of choices when they're focused on business goals, helping others, or solving problems — so they don't realize they're crossing moral lines. Once one small lie happens, it can snowball, especially when others join in out of loyalty or shared goals, which shows how easy it is for unethical behavior to grow even among people who see themselves as good.

Building an ethical career

Prepare in advance for moral challenges - Anticipate situations where your values might be tested and think through how you'll respond before you face them.

Make good decisions in the moment - When confronted with ethical dilemmas, slow down, identify the moral issues, and use tests like "Would I be comfortable seeing this decision in public?" to guide your choice.

Reflect and learn from your actions - After key decisions, reflect on what you did well and where you could improve, so you strengthen your moral judgment over time.

Moral humility

a mindset shift to "the recognition that we all have the capacity to transgress if we're not vigilant

3 main ways to build moral humility

prepare for ethical challenges

Make good decisions now- publicity, generalizability, mirror tests, don't rush into decisions (10/10/10 rule)

reflect on and learn from ethical successes and failures

Reflect on Ethics

Find an ethical mentor

Integrity test

Definition of happiness according to the PERMA model

Positive emotions

engagement

relationships

meaning

accomplishment

Harvard Study of Adult Development findings

Positive relationships keep us happier and heathier

Strong relationships are the strongest predictor of long-term happiness

How will you measure your life article

Create a strategy for your life

Allocate your resources

Create a culture

Avoid the marginal costs mistake

Remember the importance of humility

Choose the right yardstick

Loneliness epidemic

Growing number of people who feel social isolation even when they are not physically alone

Why is taking action important

What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.