Lunch & Learn: Rediscovering the formula to great leadership with Talent Optimization

05 Jul

The Acumenian Lunch & Learn: Talent Optimization, Discovering the formula to great leadership was an opportunity to have a conversation with leaders from different industries.

Facilitated by Myrna Malavé, the group started the session by identifying some common reasons why leaders struggle with their teams, such as limited ability to ask, listen and act, assigning tasks without considering strengths, low awareness of people’s personalities, and lack of direction or strategy.

We discussed how often we take time to reflect on Who we are as leaders? To maximize our impact on self and others, we should often explore our motivations to behave in certain ways, whether internal vs. external focus or predictability vs. innovation. This can shed light on how we navigate our strengths and blindspots and continuously grow.

Then, recognizing that the #1 driver of attrition is inflexibility (The State of Talent Optimization 2022 report) and the World of Work is composed of the diversity of the people in it, we moved to discuss the importance of identifying: Who is on our team? Individual preferences bring a specific interaction between team members, making each team an entity with a subculture within the company, with particular strengths and cautions. As leaders, we can facilitate the dynamics to ensure we create a healthy environment where individuals thrive.

The last component of great leadership touched upon was What does the team need to accomplish? Working on the people aspect is not enough because organizations are built to bring results, and different strategies can leverage different styles. Aligning the team with their objectives can build a sense of purpose and belong.