Managing Leader Core Values at Work A Practice – Oriented Approach

A leader’s values influence how they see people and situations as well as how they act at work. Managerial leaders can benefit by having a practical and systematic approach to managing their core values. After defining values, presenting a Core Values-Management Cycle and offering some benefits associated with this process, a proven practical seven-step approach to applying this process in the workplace is presented. The article also provides a real world example of this approach being applied with an executive. The positive impacts and outcomes of this application are noted. Some challenges that this approach presents are also reviewed

Decisive Problem Solving: A Key Leadership Practice

Decisive problem solving is integral to effective leadership. This is an important competency for leaders and policy makers to have when facing problematic situations, challenges and issues. After considering some relevant literature, a practical definition of decisive problem solving is offered and a practice-oriented framework is presented. Key skill components of effective decisive problem solving are integrated in this framework. The application value and implications of the approach for practicing, researching and teaching leadership decisive problem solving are offered; and some challenges are discussed. This article focuses on the practical aspects of decisive problem solving with the intent of enhancing leaders’ effectiveness in this critical practice area

Optimizing Performance, Well-Being and Well-Doing: A Leader Practice-Oriented Approach

Performance, well-being, and well-doing are foundational key results that leaders need to be held accountable for and encouraged to assess, optimize and evaluate. This foundational, interdependent and synergistic triad of vital organizational key results is advanced when leaders effectively execute the practices associated with optimizing these results for positive impact. A practice-oriented approach is offered to help leaders optimize performance, well-being, and well-doing. After presenting a Leader Performance Well-Being Well-Doing Cycle, and some benefits associated with this framework, a five-step process for applying this approach is provided. Some challenges are also offered, including having leaders consider how their Internal Operating System (IOS) positively or negatively impacts their and others’ performance, well-being, and well doing

Managing Leader Identity at Work: A Practice-Oriented Approach

It is important for leaders to have a clear, credible and motivating view of who they are and who they want to become as a leader. Understanding and managing leader identity is a key practice area for leaders. After reviewing some relevant literature, a practice-oriented framework is offered which focuses on some key elements of leader identity and is operationalized through a management cycle. A review of the application value, implications and challenges of this approach is provided. With increasing accountability for organizational outcomes including stakeholder performance, well-being and well-doing, this approach offers practitioners a way to understand and manage key considerations relating to managing leader identity at work for positive impact

Impacting Well-Doing at Work: A Practice-Oriented Leader Framework

Emerging evidence indicating the positive outcomes associated with well-doing behavior in workplace settings makes well-doing a valuable topic for leaders to understand, apply and impact. When engaging in well-doing behaviors managerial leaders help make value-added contributions which benefit others. After reviewing some relevant literature, a practice-oriented framework is presented to operationalize well-doing across four phases. The application value and implications of this framework in policy, practice, research and teaching are discussed. Some challenges connected to helping managerial leaders positively impact well-doing at work are offered. These challenges include finding practical ways to develop well-doing and communicate its importance to policy makers as well as developing additional measurement tools for practitioners to assess their impact when applying well-doing behaviors to benefit others across organizational levels

Managing Teamwork: A Key Leadership Practice

How leaders manage teamwork impacts team performance and well-being. After a brief review of some relevant literature, a practice oriented framework for managing teamwork is offered and the value of engaging in this process is noted. A proven practical coaching approach and real world application example with an executive are provided to help further operationalize the framework. This approach is offered to help enhance a managerial leader’s effectiveness when managing team dynamics and teamwork in workplace settings. Some challenges such as optimizing team behavioral diversity, managing geographically distributed teams, and applying recent developments in neuroscience are considered

Leadership Presence at Work: A Practice – Oriented Framework

Leadership or executive presence can be a nebulous concept, making it difficult for leaders to understand and put into practice. When behaviorally defined and operationalized, presence can strengthen a leader’s personal brand equity, career competitiveness and organizational impact. After a brief review of some relevant literature, a four-phase practice-oriented framework is offered. This dynamic process helps a leader more fully understand and use leadership presence at work, including managing the relevant components. A leader profile which focuses on a set of eight behavioral practices for managing leadership presence is also provided, and some specific challenges associated with the process are considered

Managing Leader Learning Preferences at Work: A Practice-Oriented Approach

A culture of learning is an organizational resource for creating and sustaining competitiveness while enhancing high-performance with high well-being. Managerial leaders can benefit by having a practical and systematic approach to understanding and managing their learning preferences. After a brief review of some relevant literature, a practice-oriented framework and proven six-step approach to applying this process is presented. Some benefits from applying this process are noted and an application example is offered. Some challenges that this approach presents such as increasing leader awareness of the value of managing learning preferences, breaking bad learning habits and integrating technology into efforts to actively engage leaders in managing learning preferences are noted

Genetic Dissection of Acute Ethanol Responsive Gene Networks in Prefrontal Cortex: Functional and Mechanistic Implications

Background Individual differences in initial sensitivity to ethanol are strongly related to the heritable risk of alcoholism in humans. To elucidate key molecular networks that modulate ethanol sensitivity we performed the first systems genetics analysis of ethanol-responsive gene expression in brain regions of the mesocorticolimbic reward circuit (prefrontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, and ventral midbrain) across a highly diverse family of 27 isogenic mouse strains (BXD panel) before and after treatment with ethanol. Results Acute ethanol altered the expression of ~2,750 genes in one or more regions and 400 transcripts were jointly modulated in all three. Ethanol-responsive gene networks were extracted with a powerful graph theoretical method that efficiently summarized ethanol\u27s effects. These networks correlated with acute behavioral responses to ethanol and other drugs of abuse. As predicted, networks were heavily populated by genes controlling synaptic transmission and neuroplasticity. Several of the most densely interconnected network hubs, including Kcnma1 and Gsk3β, are known to influence behavioral or physiological responses to ethanol, validating our overall approach. Other major hub genes like Grm3, Pten and Nrg3 represent novel targets of ethanol effects. Networks were under strong genetic control by variants that we mapped to a small number of chromosomal loci. Using a novel combination of genetic, bioinformatic and network-based approaches, we identified high priority cis-regulatory candidate genes, including Scn1b,Gria1, Sncb and Nell2. Conclusions The ethanol-responsive gene networks identified here represent a previously uncharacterized intermediate phenotype between DNA variation and ethanol sensitivity in mice. Networks involved in synaptic transmission were strongly regulated by ethanol and could contribute to behavioral plasticity seen with chronic ethanol. Our novel finding that hub genes and a small number of loci exert major influence over the ethanol response of gene networks could have important implications for future studies regarding the mechanisms and treatment of alcohol use disorders