IoD Central London | Harvard Business Review – Helping people change with Professor Richard Boyatzis

Introduction

The speaker welcomes the audience to the webinar and introduces the topic of helping people change.

Welcome and Topic Introduction

• The speaker welcomes everyone to the webinar on helping people change.

• The topic is introduced as an important one that will change how attendees lead themselves, their teams, and their businesses.

Speaker Introduction

The speaker introduces herself and Professor Richard Buratz, who will be leading the master class.

Speaker Introduction

• The speaker introduces herself as Reena Dayal, Vice Chair to IOD Central London.

• She shares her professional background in corporate HR and transformation.

• Professor Richard Buratz is introduced as the leader of the master class.

Poll Results

Attendees are polled about their membership status with IOD and their profession.

Poll Results

• A poll is launched asking attendees if they are members of IOD. 85% respond "no".

• Another poll asks attendees about their profession. 44% are corporate executives or employees working in a large corporation, 33% are business owners or entrepreneurs, 11% are freelancers, and 6% are students.

Agenda for Today

The agenda for today's webinar is outlined.

Agenda for Today

• A slide is presented outlining today's plan which includes a warm-up welcome, information about IOD membership, a chat with Professor Richard Buratz, and a master class on helping people change.

• Attendees are encouraged to ask questions using the Q&A button at the bottom panel.

Introduction

David Stringer-Man, Chair of London Region at the Institute of Directors (IOD), welcomes attendees to the webinar and provides an overview of IOD's mission and pillars.

About IOD

• The topic of the webinar is "Helping People Change in a World Which is So Disruptive."

• David Stringer-Man introduces himself as Chair of London Region at IOD.

• IOD has around 300,000 directors and senior business people involved globally, with just over 25,000 members in the UK.

• IOD has four main pillars: corporate governance, advocacy, entrepreneurship and enterprise, and business skills.

About the Webinar

• The webinar is part of IOD's Business Extra series.

• The series was originally called Business as Unusual but was renamed to Business Extra after going virtual due to COVID-19.

• The webinar aims to be authoritative, influential, insightful and interactive.

Benefits of Joining IOD

David Stringer-Man discusses the benefits of joining IOD.

Benefits

• There are a range of benefits for joining IOD that can be found on their website.

• Currently there is a 20% discount on joint joining packages.

Introduction

The host introduces the panelists and welcomes Richard Batz, a leading expert in leadership behavior and emotional intelligence. They discuss the challenges that leaders are facing today and how businesses are being affected by change.

• Sally from Harvard Business Publishing is introduced as the host's partner in organizing the event.

• Richard Batz is introduced as a visiting professor at various universities and an author of many articles on leadership.

• The discussion focuses on the challenges that leaders are facing today due to increased stress and uncertainty caused by COVID-19.

• Richard emphasizes that managing people and motivating them is the biggest challenge for executives, not just managing finances or strategic plans.

Challenges Faced by Leaders Today

The discussion focuses on the challenges faced by leaders today, particularly related to personal stress and motivation.

• Leaders feel responsible for their positions, which causes immense stress.

• People are more aware now that they should be doing something about their stress levels instead of just escaping it.

• Due to COVID-19, there is even more uncertainty and financial shocks causing increased stress levels among leaders.

• Motivating employees has become an acute issue due to low engagement numbers prior to COVID-19.

New Challenges for Businesses

The discussion shifts towards new challenges businesses will face post-COVID.

• Prior to COVID, most organizations were facing a motivation crisis with low engagement numbers among employees.

• With COVID, this crisis has been aggravated due to social isolation and increased uncertainty.

• Managing people and motivating them remains the biggest challenge for executives rather than managing finances or strategic plans.

From Management to Coaching

In this section, the speaker talks about his journey from studying management to coaching and how he started using coaching in executive programs.

Studying Management and Psychology

• The speaker found managers unhelpful and decided to study management at MIT.

• He realized that what he wanted was psychology and went on to get his PhD at Harvard.

• The speaker started doing research with David Cole on how managers and people help each other.

Using Coaching in Executive Programs

• The speaker started using coaching in executive programs he was designing and helping deliver.

• He realized that more needed to be understood about coaching as a way of helping people change.

• The speaker began explicitly studying coaching in 1989, conducting longitudinal studies, behavior studies viewed by others, fMRI studies, hormonal differences studies.

Writing a Book on Coaching

• Most books published on coaching lack intellectual integrity because they are not based on actual research.

• With colleagues Professor Melvin Smith and Ellen Van Osten, the speaker had enough research to offer a message of hope for helping people open up and consider changing.

• They wrote a book called "Coaching for Emotional Intelligence" which came out over a year ago.

Leadership as an Art Form

In this section, the speakers discuss whether leadership is a science or an art form. They use cooking as an analogy to explain the art of leadership.

Leadership as an Art Form

• The speaker asks whether leadership is a science or an art form.

• Leadership is grounded in science but takes it to the next level of application, which becomes an art form.

• The art of leadership is knowing how to mix the ingredients, which means knowing when to use which recipe.

Cooking as an Analogy

• Great chefs have signature dishes with ingredients that are familiar and known.

• However, even with a recipe, the dish may not come out perfectly on the first try.

• The art of leadership is knowing when to use which recipe, just like a chef knows when to mix certain ingredients.

Leading People

• Leadership is all about people because you don't lead organizations; you lead people.

• Knowing when to use which recipe in leadership means understanding how to lead people effectively.

Sharing Presentation Slides

In this section, Rena is having trouble finding the email with the presentation slide deck. Richard offers to forward it to her and she provides her email address.

Trouble Finding Email

• Rena is having trouble finding the email with the presentation slide deck.

• She asks Richard to confirm which email he sent it on.

• Richard confirms that he sent it to the iod email.

Forwarding Email

• Rena asks if Richard can forward the email to her at reena@thecollaborators.org.

• Richard forwards the email to Rena's address.

Introduction and Motivating People

In this section, Richard discusses how executives should use different forms of capital to get performance from their team members and add value to their organization.

Using Different Forms of Capital

• Executives should use financial, intellectual, physical, human, and social capital to get performance from their team members and add value to their organization.

• Most people know how to manage financial capital but don't understand how to manage human capital effectively.

Motivating People

• The most fundamental skill set for a leader is managing or motivating other people.

• Extrinsic rewards can crowd out intrinsic motivation according to self-determination theory by Ed DC and Richard Ryan in the 90s.

• Leaders need techniques for motivating people intrinsically so they bring their talent, excitement, and energy into work every day.

Techniques for Learning and Openness

In this section, Richard discusses how leaders can be open to learning new ideas and techniques to help others be open as well.

Dealing with Stress

• Most important things in life that are uncertain and important are inherently stressful.

• Leaders have an extra dose of stress from the responsibility they carry.

• Cognitive, perceptual, and emotional impairment can result from chronic stress.

Techniques for Learning

• Leaders need to learn techniques for being open to new ideas so they can help others be open as well.

The Impact of Stress on Leaders

In this section, the speaker discusses how a leader's own stress can cause them to suffer from impairment and have difficulty accessing openness of the people around them.

Exercise: Reflecting on People Who Have Helped You

• The speaker asks the audience to think about who has helped them the most in their life, not just at work.

• The audience is asked to write down the names of a few people who have helped them become who they are or get to where they are.

• The audience is instructed to go back to the first person on their list and think of a moment they had with that person in which they learned something important. They are asked to remember what it looked like and write down what the person said or did and how it made them feel.

• After reflecting on the first person, the audience is instructed to do the same exercise for other people on their list.

Emotions Associated with Reflection Exercise

• The speaker asks the audience how reflecting on these people and moments made them feel.

• Audience members share emotions such as empowered, grateful, valued, supported, confident, proud, inspired.

• The speaker notes that he has done this exercise all over the world and people answer similarly regardless of location.

Importance of Renewal State

In this section, the speaker emphasizes that we are bad at knowing when we're in a renewal state but good at knowing when we're stressed. He explains that reflecting on positive experiences can put us in a parasympathetic nervous system state which is the body's only antidote to stress.

Legacy and Lasting Impact

• The speaker poses the question, "Whose list will you be on?" and emphasizes that our legacy in life is a function of the people we've gotten to know and the people we've helped.

• He notes that our lasting legacy is not just about who we've touched but also about who we've helped.

How People Learn and Change

In this section, the speaker talks about his journey of discovering how people learn and change. He shares how he started pondering this issue back in 1966-67 when working on interplanetary vehicles.

Discovering Organizational Psychology

• The speaker grew up with his father and Greek relatives in the restaurant business but didn't want to pursue it as a career.

• He signed up for a course at MIT on organizational psychology, which ended up changing the entire path of his life.

• The professor's description of the course sounded hokey, but two words - "complexity theory" - made him run to attend it.

Five Moments of Emergence for Sustainable Change

• The speaker talks about how humans change in sustained ways using complexity theory.

• There are five moments of emergence required for sustainable change:

• Personal vision statement

• Personal balance sheet

• Learning agenda

• Experimentation with different ways to think, feel or act

• Creating resonant trusting caring relationships

Emotional Attractors

• Inside each one of us are two emotional attractors that pull us around them not into them.

• The negative emotional attractor is being in the sympathetic nervous system hormonal arousal which means the body's stress.

The Power of Positive Emotions

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of positive emotions and how they activate the parasympathetic nervous system. He also talks about the difference between positive and negative emotional attractors.

Importance of Positive Emotions

• Positive emotions activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for renewal.

• Thinking positively opens up possibilities and leads to optimism, hope, strength, excitement, novelty, and resonant caring relationships.

• Research shows that 80 to 100 percent of all stories people remember start in the positive emotional attractor.

Negative Emotional Attractor

• Starting in the negative emotional attractor leads to cognitive impairment and defensive behavior.

• Stress reactions lead to cognitive impairment and competition neglect.

• Giving feedback can often put people in a negative emotional attractor.

Sustainability of Change

• The honeymoon effect in training programs shows that their effect atrophies to almost zero within three to six weeks.

• Negatively framing goals makes it difficult to sustain effort.

Management Education

In this section, the speaker talks about management education and how it affects social intelligence.

Management Education

• Most above-average MBA programs squeeze social intelligence out of their students.

• Graduates have less social intelligence than when they entered.

The Importance of Positive Emotions

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of positive emotions and how they can help us to solve problems and focus. However, too much stress can be harmful, so it's important to maintain a balance.

Positive Emotional Attractor

• Sustained desired change almost always starts in the positive emotional attractor.

• To sustain change, you have to over sample and have more moments of positive emotions.

• Coaching with compassion is coaching to the positive emotional attractor. It helps others open up rather than telling them what to do.

Stress Response

• When stressed, your body secretes endocrines such as epinephrine and cortisol that affect neuronal synapse work in your brain.

• Cortisol has two negative effects on the human organism: it shuts off your immune system and stops neurogenesis.

• Social media is often anxiety-producing because people perceive it as threatening.

Renewal Response

• Our bodies have a parasympathetic nervous system that allows us to experience renewal responses when we see something positive like an infant laughing or a puppy rolling in grass.

• Oxytocin and vasopressin are secreted primarily in women and men respectively when experiencing renewal responses. They reverse all of the things that the sympathetic nervous system does, allowing for increased cognitive capability, openness to new ideas, and neurogenesis.

Ways to Improve Personal Sustainability

In this section, the speaker discusses various ways to improve personal sustainability.

Ways to Improve Personal Sustainability

• Yoga, Tai Chi, and praying can help improve personal sustainability.

• Being in a loving relationship, helping people less fortunate, and having pets can also help.

• Laughter, joint playfulness, and walking in nature are additional ways to improve personal sustainability.

• It is important to have more episodes of renewal than stress throughout the day.

Coaching for Personal Sustainability

• Understanding a person's dreams and building a caring relationship are two strong ways to help someone improve their personal sustainability.

• Longitudinal studies show that emotional and social intelligence behaviors can be improved through coaching for personal sustainability.

• The speaker mentions different dimensions of personal sustainability such as stress versus renewal hormones and analytic versus empathic networks.

The Empathic and Analytic Networks

In this section, the speaker discusses the two networks that help individuals in different ways. The analytic network helps solve problems and make decisions, while the empathic network helps individuals be open to new ideas and people. However, these two networks have no overlap or are antagonistic.

Understanding the Empathic and Analytic Networks

• The empathic network helps individuals be open to new ideas and people.

• The analytic network helps solve problems and make decisions.

• These two networks have no overlap or are antagonistic.

• Activating one of these networks suppresses the other.

Managing the Two Networks

In this section, the speaker explains how managing both networks is essential for leaders. They need to know when to use each network as they operate within seconds of each other.

Using Both Networks

• Leaders need to know when to use both networks.

• Coaches need to use both with their clients.

Coaching Individuals' Dreams

In this section, the speaker talks about a study done on coaching individuals' dreams versus how they're doing on their courses.

Coaching Individuals' Dreams vs. Course Performance

• A study was done on coaching individuals' dreams versus how they're doing on their courses.

• 30 minutes of coaching someone's dreams activated many parts of the empathic network with some parts of the analytic network.

• If two or three peas occur in 30-minute sessions, the ventral medial prefrontal cortex is activated.

Intentional Change Theory

In this section, the speaker talks about the key part of intentional change theory that helps people be open to new ideas and how it can help individuals improve their renewal.

Key Part of Intentional Change Theory

• The key part of intentional change theory helps people be open to new ideas.

• There are times when you have to go into the analytic network as a coach or manager.

• The leverage points are vision, caring relationship, and a person's strengths.

• Using pea tipping points repeatedly brings somebody back in rhythm.

Closing Thoughts

In this section, the speaker encourages individuals to live closer to their dreams and mentions that vaccines are available for COVID-19.

Encouragement and Vaccines for COVID-19

• Individuals should live closer to their dreams.

• Vaccines for COVID-19 are available.

The Gift of Life

Richard discusses the importance of making the most out of life and being excited about it. He emphasizes that life is not a dress rehearsal and encourages people to become positively infectious by remembering special moments.

Management of Motivation

• Amrit asks about the management of motivation, stating that people join organizations motivated but something happens that causes them to become demotivated. Richard explains that stress in organizations often creates a negative emotional attractor, which is exacerbated by managers who overemphasize negativity and create pressure through ridicule or guilt.

• 70-80% of people in management positions are not adding value, either detracting from it or being mediocre. This can be due to poor direct supervisory relationships, which tend to squeeze motivation out of employees.

• Mid-level managers can set the tone for an organization and inadvertently spread negativity if they are under stress from their boss or peers. This can cause employees to lose their motivation and even turn it inward, leading to a loss of spirit.

Antidotes for Demotivation

• The antidotes for demotivation are specific activities and experiences that promote renewal. Richard suggests teaching more people about these antidotes and engaging in conversations as helpers to engage others in positive discussions.

Creating a Culture of Development

In this section, the speakers discuss how creating a culture of development in an organization can be more effective than focusing solely on performance. They also touch on the importance of playing to strengths and avoiding over-focusing on weaknesses.

Focusing on Weaknesses

• HR professionals often focus too much on weaknesses when trying to develop people.

• This creates a neurological pathway that fixates on fixing problems rather than building upon strengths.

• Specific measurement tends to go towards the negative because it is evaluative and we grow up defending ourselves.

• The need for achievement is an unconscious drive that some people have, but most people try to do what's expected and always fall short.

Balancing Performance with Development

• A culture of development, if done in a caring way, activates the empathic network and complements the culture of performance.

• Going back and forth between reviewing results and discussing what can be done differently next year can lead to innovation and excitement about work.

Motivating Others

• Managers who spend too much time focusing on financials are often ineffective at adding value.

• The purpose of an organization is not solely to make money but rather to help clients, create new products, or make people healthy.

• Playing to strengths is important in motivating others. Coaches work with athletes to improve what they are naturally good at rather than fixing their weaknesses.

Creating a Sense of Purpose

In this section, the speaker discusses how to create a sense of purpose in meetings and help employees feel like they have opportunities to grow and develop.

Using Stories to Create a Sense of Purpose

• Use stories about customers or clients or patients helped to open your meetings.

• Then go into the financials.

Opportunities for Growth and Development

• Help everybody feel as if they have opportunities to grow and develop.

• Getting every promotion is not necessary for growth and development.

Money is Not the Main Motivator

• A major survey was done in Europe among 1800 MBA graduates.

• Money was seventh in the ranking of reasons why people joined their firms and stayed.

• The first six were related to chances for growth, development, and doing new things.

Invoking Excitement in Employees

In this section, the speaker talks about how invoking excitement is important for employee motivation.

Importance of Invoking Excitement

• Invoking excitement is important because it addresses the next question: How do you get people excited?

• People want to be paid fairly but what they really look for are chances for growth, development, and doing new things.

Tips for Helping Anxious Clients

In this section, the speaker provides tips on how to help anxious clients who find it difficult to change.

Dealing with Anxious Clients

• Some people are anxious by nature while others become anxious due to external factors such as financial constraints or social isolation.

• Feed them more fiber (e.g., Weetabix in the UK or lentils in India) to help calm their nerves.

• Small steps are key to helping anxious clients change.

• Focus on feeling centered, talking about who helped you, and talking about your dreams.

Coping with Difficult Times

In this section, the speaker talks about how to cope with difficult times such as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Coping with Difficult Times

• The only antidote to difficult times is to help people enter a positive emotional state (PEA).

• This cannot be achieved by taking a pill; it requires small doses of positivity periodically.

• Don't expect gloomy people to start running around smiling; focus on small wins.

• Tend to relationships and create moments of laughter or humor.

• Use playful questions like "Suppose you won 50 million euros after tax. How would your work or life change?" to help people feel less stuck.

• Periodic coffee or tea breaks can give you interpersonal moments that help you renew.

The Importance of Emotional Storytelling

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of emotional storytelling and how it can be used to convey data effectively.

Emotional Storytelling and Data

• Emotional stories should be used to start a presentation or discussion.

• Providing data after an emotional story is more effective than presenting data first.

• The sequence of emotional story followed by data is important for conveying information effectively.

Remembering Negative Feedback

In this section, the speaker explains why people tend to remember negative feedback more than positive feedback.

Ecological Reasons for Fixating on Negative Feedback

• People fixate on negative feedback because it is defensive and helps the body survive.

• Negative emotions are stronger than positive emotions, which is why we remember negative feedback for longer periods of time.

• Constructive criticism is still criticism and can be hurtful even if it's well-intentioned.

Giving Negative Feedback

In this section, the speaker discusses how to give negative feedback effectively.

The Importance of Positive Feedback

• Negative emotions are stronger than positive emotions, so people tend to remember negative feedback more than positive feedback.

• It's important to remember that even constructive criticism can be hurtful.

• If you want to give someone negative feedback, consider keeping it to yourself as it may not lead to change and could make things worse.

Underestimating Professional Women

In this section, the speaker talks about professional women tending to underestimate themselves due to societal pressures.

Self-Assessment in Professional Women

• Professional women tend to underestimate themselves while professional men tend to overestimate themselves.

• This self-assessment is often delusional, but it's due to societal pressures and the need for women to be better than men in many cultures.

• Women who are members of visible minority groups or Islam have learned that they will receive more negative feedback, even if it's not well-intentioned.

Focusing on Weaknesses

In this section, the speaker discusses the dangers of focusing too much on weaknesses.

The Negative Emotional Attractor

• Focusing too much on weaknesses can lead to a negative emotional attractor.

• While it's important to work on weaknesses, spending too much time on them can be detrimental.

• It's important to strike a balance between working on weaknesses and focusing on strengths.

Political Dichotomy

In this section, the speaker talks about political dichotomy and its effects.

Political Dichotomy

• Political dichotomy makes it difficult for people to work together on issues they feel are important.

• This issue is present in almost every country in the world today.

• Intentional change theory includes country-level change.

Polarization and Narcissism in Politics

Richard Boyatzis discusses the issue of polarization and narcissism in politics, both in the US and globally. He notes that extreme polarization breeds extremes, which is exacerbated by the current culture of narcissism.

The Impact of Polarization on Politics

• Polarization leads to extreme thinking and self-righteousness.

• Extreme polarization is a global phenomenon, with many countries experiencing similar issues.

• It will take at least 30 years for people to start coming together again.

The Role of Narcissism in Politics

• Life has become very narcissistic, with selfie culture being a prime example.

• Narcissistic thinking exacerbates political polarization.

Lack of Resonant Leaders

• There hasn't been a resonant leader as president since Ronald Reagan.

• A resonant leader can help bring people together and reduce political polarization.

Conclusion

• Boyatzis encourages people to reach out to him if they have questions or want to share stories or references related to this topic.

Webinars are Here to Stay

In this section, the speaker talks about the importance of webinars and how they allow people to engage with prominent thinkers. He also thanks Professor Richard and Reena for their time and skilled engagement in putting together the webinar.

Importance of Webinars

• Webinars are here to stay because they allow us to engage with prominent thinkers.

• The two webinars mentioned have nice pretty pictures and are a great boon for the United Kingdom.

• The United Kingdom is reaching out beyond the European Union, including with friends in the United States of America.

Thanks to Professor Richard and Reena

• The speaker thanks Professor Richard for his time and Reena for her skilled engagement in putting together the webinar.

• The speaker thanks David and Richard again at the end of his speech.

Dealing with Changes Caused by Brexit

In this section, the speaker talks about how businesses will deal with changes caused by Brexit, which may cause some stress.

Changes Caused by Brexit

• The first of January will cause some stress due to changes caused by Brexit.

• Businesses will need to figure out how to deal with these changes.

Conclusion

In this section, the speaker concludes his speech by thanking everyone who joined them for making a difference.

Thank You Message

• The speaker thanks each person who joined them for their role in helping people change and making a difference.

• The speaker is grateful for every effort and hopes that they stay connected.