Coaching challenging executives

This book chapter explores the mental health of senior leaders, its impact on the organization, and the role of coaching executives in the workplace. Specifically, we explore four regularly encountered toxic behavior patterns amongst leaders that can derail their organizations. For each personality type, we describe the conditions underlying the behavior pattern, how to recognize the pattern, how to coach individuals who exhibit this pattern, as well as to provide a real live case study to illustrate how coaching can bring about better ways of running their organizations

The Group Coaching Conundrum

This article sheds light on the challenges facing coaches when undertaking the journey to becoming a group coach. It begins with observations on the state of the art of group and team coaching and continues with a description of the various conundrums faced by coaches interested in pursuing this kind of activity. Subsequently, it describes a coach’s reflections on leadership group coaching and shares his inner journey toward becoming a group coach. The second part of the article reflects on what makes group coaching an effective intervention, discussing the dynamic processes applicable to individual participants and the ‘cloud issues’ or themes that the group-as-a-whole brings to the table. It describes seven premises that characterize the clinical paradigm, a psychodynamic lens that can be turned on our inner theatre. The article also highlights a number of other psychodynamic processes that take place during the group coaching process, creating tipping points for change

Colhendo tempestades : A gestão de pessoas criativas

Este artigo aborda o desafio que existe em transformar métodos criativos, mas não ortodoxos, em acção organizacional construtiva. As pessoas criativas são muitas vezes consideradas como causadoras de problemas, mas, na realidade, elas podem ser uma fonte de produtos, ou de processos, inovadores para a sua organização. O documento começa com uma discussão sobre o que é criatividade, focando quer a noção popular quer a noção de genialidade. Em seguida, são explorados alguns dos aspectos do desenvolvimento psicológico que contribuem para a criatividade individual. Como resultado das experiências vividas ao longo do desenvolvimento, conclui-se que a criatividade pode assumir uma de duas formas possíveis: construtiva ou reactiva. Para ilustrar estas formas de criatividade, são dados exemplos de artistas, escritores e compositores reconhecidos internacionalmente. Por fim, o artigo mostra como o conhecimento das raízes da criatividade é essencial em contexto organizacional. São dadas sugestões para dirigir pessoas criativas em contextos organizacionais, culturais e de liderança diversificados

The impact of self-esteem, conscientiousness and pseudo-personality on technostress

Purpose We investigated how personality traits are associated with workplace technostress (perception of stressors related to the use of Information and Communication Technologies—ICTs). Methodology We collected 95 self-rated and 336 observer-rated questionnaires using the Personality Audit and a shortened version of the Technostress Scale. To analyze relationships between personality dimensions and technostress, we applied partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings Our study shows that in line with previous studies, self-esteem is negatively related to levels of technostress. Contrary to our expectations, conscientiousness is positively related to technostress. Finally, the gap between a person’s self-ratings and observer ratings in all personality dimensions is positively associated with technostress. Practical implications We showed that the experience of technostress varies significantly amongst individuals. By taking personality differences into account when allocating responsibilities and creating guidelines for ICT use at work, technostress could be addressed. Instead of setting organization-wide norms for availability and use, we suggest it would be more effective to acknowledge individual needs and preferences. Originality/value This study contributes to current technostress research by further examining antecedents, and by focusing on the role of personality. In addition, we examined how differences in “self” and “observer” ratings of personality characteristics may point to variations in the way individuals experience technostress. We outline concrete best practice guidelines for ICTs in organisations that take inter-individual differences into account

Relating cultural distance to self-other agreement of leader-observer dyads: the role of hierarchical position

Multisource feedback is important for leadership development and effectiveness. An important asset of such feedback is that it provides information about the self-other agreement between leaders and observers. Self-other agreement relates to several positive individual, dyadic, and organizational outcomes. Given the increasingly intercultural context in organizations, it is imperative to understand whether and how cultural distance between leaders and observers relates to self-other agreement. We hypothesize that cultural distance within leader-observer dyads is negatively associated with self-other agreement. Moreover, we expect that this relationship is stronger for leader-superior than leader-subordinate dyads. We use a unique multi-cultural dataset of 7,778 leaders (52 nationalities) rated by 22,997 subordinates (56 nationalities) and 10,132 superiors (54 nationalities) to test our hypotheses. Results confirm that cultural distance is negatively associated with self-other agreement; we show that this relationship is driven by increased self-ratings and by reduced other-ratings. In addition, we find that these results are more pronounced for leader-superior than for leader-subordinate dyads. Implications for the theory and practice of self-other agreement and multisource feedback are discussed

The character strengths of class clowns

Class clowns traditionally were studied as a type concept and identified via sociometric procedures. In the present study a variable-centered approach was favored and class clown behaviors were studied in the context of character strengths, orientations to happiness and satisfaction with life. A sample of 672 Swiss children and adolescents filled in an 18 item self-report instrument depicting class clown behaviors. A hierarchical model of class clown behaviors was developed distinguishing a general factor and the four positively correlated dimensions of “identified as a class clown,” “comic talent,” “disruptive rule-breaker,” and “subversive joker.” Analysis of the general factor showed that class clowns were primarily male, and tended to be seen as class clowns by the teacher. Analyses of the 24 character strengths of the VIA-Youth (Park and Peterson, 2006) showed that class clowns were high in humor and leadership, and low in strengths like prudence, self-regulation, modesty, honesty, fairness, perseverance, and love of learning. An inspection of signature strengths revealed that 75% of class clowns had humor as a signature strength. Furthermore, class clown behaviors were generally shown by students indulging in a life of pleasure, but low life of engagement. The four dimensions yielded different character strengths profiles. While all dimensions of class clowns behaviors were low in temperance strengths, the factors “identified as the class clown” and “comic talent” were correlated with leadership strengths and the two negative factors (“disruptive rule-breaker,” “subversive joker”) were low in other directed strengths. The disruptive rule breaking class clown was additionally low in intellectual strengths. While humor predicted life satisfaction, class clowning tended to go along with diminished satisfaction with life. It is concluded that different types of class clowns need to be kept apart and need different attention by teachers

Experiencing uncertainty – on the potential of groups and a group analytic approach for making management education more critical.

This document is the Accepted Manuscript. The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Management Learning, November 2017, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1350507617697868. Published by SAGE Publishing. All rights reserved.This article points to the potential of methods derived from group analytic practice for making management education more critical. It draws on the experience of running a professional doctorate for more experienced managers in a university in the UK over a 16 year period. Group analysis is informed by the highly social theories of S.H. Foulkes and draws heavily on psychoanalytic theory as well as sociology. First and foremost, though, it places our interdependence at the heart of the process of inquiry, and suggests that the most potent place for learning about groups, where we spend most of our lives, is in a group. The article prioritises three areas of management practice for which group analytic methods, as adapted for research environment, are most helpful: coping with uncertainty and the feelings of anxiety which this often arouses; thinking about leadership as a relational and negotiated activity, and encouraging reflexivity in managers. The article also points to some of the differences between the idea of the learning community and psychodynamic perspectives more generally and the limitations of group analytic methods in particular, which may pathologise resistance in the workplace.Peer reviewe