People Centered LeadershipPost Graduate Course in Effective Leadership

Alberto Zucconi World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS)

World University Consortium (WUC)Person Centered Approach Institute (IACP)

azucconi@iacp.itazucconi@worldacademy.org

Inter- University Centre (IUC), March 31-April 3, 2015 , Dubrovnik, Slovenia

CENTRATO SULLA PERSONAISTITUTO DELL'APPROCCIOWorld Academy

of Art and Science

World University Consortium

WE live in a period of globalization and of growing complexity.

In order to meet our present and future challenges every community needs effective ways to cope.

WE need to facilitate the emerging of effective leaders at every level of society

We need effective leaders at every level

We need leaders that are healthy, not narcissistic or psychopathic ones

We need leaders that are people centered

and emphatic

We need leaders that are generous and not selfish ones

We need leaders that empower their people not those that enslave them

Independent, resilient and

empowered people

are more creative

and capable of

effective crisis management than those who are just passive followers

“How well do you listen? Listening is a key leadership skill”

Gail Reichert

Carl Rogers is a good example of a people - centered leader, a firm believer on empowerment:When he was asked, "What is a good leader?" Carl would pull a crumpled piece of paper out of his wallet and read aloud what Lao Tzu had written:

“When his task is accomplished and things have been completed, all the people say, we ourselves have achieved it!”

In my early professional years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?

Carl Rogers

When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic.

Carl Rogers

“The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change”.

Carl Rogers

“Classic economic theory, based as it is on an inadequate theory of human motivation, could be revolutionized by accepting the reality of higher human needs, including the impulse to self actualization and the love for the highest values.”

Abraham Maslow

"Of all the tools available to us in dealing with conflict, none is more important than attentive, intentional listening. Listening helps reduce resistance and opens our thinking to creative solutions. Listening not only clarifies the message but changes both the messenger and the listener. Listening makes it possible for both sides to have a change of heart."

 Brian Muldon

“Man's inability to communicate is a result of his failure to listen effectively.” 

Carl Rogers

It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.

Nelson Mandela

“Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace”

Nelson Mandela

“ When a person realizes he has been deeply heard, his eyes moisten. I think in some real sense he is weeping for joy. It is as though he were saying, "Thank God, somebody heard me. Someone knows what it's like to be me.”

Carl Rogers

"When I ask you to listen and you start giving advice, you  have not done what I have asked.When I ask you to listen and you start telling me why I shouldn't feel the way I do, you are invalidating my feelings. When I ask you to listen and you start trying to solve my problems, I feel underestimated and disempowered. When I ask you to listen and you start telling me what I need to do, I feel offended, pressured and controlled. When I ask you to listen, it does not mean I am helpless.

When I ask you to listen and you do things that I can and need to do for myself, you hurt my self-esteem. But when you accept the way I feel, then I don't need to spend time and energy trying to defend myself or convince you, and I can focus on figuring out why I feel the way I feel and what to do about it. And when I do that, I don't need advice, just support, trust and encouragement.

Please remember that what you think are irrational feelings always makes sense if you take the time to listen and understand me." 

Mark Brady

"Of all the skills of leadership, listening is the most valuable and one of the least understood. Most captains of industry listen only sometimes, and they remain ordinary leaders. But a few, the great ones, never stop listening. That's how they get word before anyone else of unseen problems and opportunities." 

Peter Nulty - National Business Hall of Fame Fortune Magazine

“Big egos have little ears.”

Robert Schuller

"The ear of the leader must ring with the voices of the people."

Woodrow Wilson 

“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”

Winston Churchill

Participative vs. Autocratic Leadership

A growing body of research shows that companies with a participative management style are more financially successful than those with autocratic styles. More and better ideas, free flow of information, improved decisions, higher productivity, higher morale, less absenteeism, lower turnover - all have a positive impact on the bottom line. A 10-year study of 30 companies published in 1996 demonstrated that “organizations that consistently practice good people management create an environment that reduces--even eliminates--significant workplace stressors--have higher sales, profit, growth and margins (Kravetz, 1996)

Leadership is a set of functions that are the property of the group and should be “distributed” to group members.

The most effective leader is one who creates the conditions by which s/he will give up the traditional leadership role and become more of a group member. Consequently, group members will then carry out some of the functions of the leader.

Group problems require “participative group problem-solving.”Leaders create the conditions in which all the group members feel safe to communicate their ideas and feelings.

Group-centered leaders set a model of empathic listening ,Group-centered leaders convey “acceptance of the members’ communication.”

Thomas Gordon

Emotional Intelligence

is the ability of people to recognize emotions both in themselves and in others; to understand and communicate about their emotions; hear and understand others’ feelings; and build and maintain satisfying relationships with others. Research has shown that EQ is more important than IQ in determining one’s success in life, both as individuals and in relationships with others.

Social Intelligence (SI) is the ability to get along well with others, and to get them to cooperate with you. SI informally referred as "people skills," includes an awareness of situations and the social dynamics that govern them, and a knowledge of interaction styles and strategies that can help a person achieve his or her objectives in dealing with others. It also involves a certain amount of self-insight and a consciousness of one's own perceptions and reaction patterns.From the standpoint of interpersonal skills, Karl Albrecht classifies behavior toward others as falling somewhere on a spectrum between "toxic" effect and "nourishing" effect. Toxic behavior makes people feel devalued, angry, frustrated, guilty or otherwise inadequate. Nourishing behavior makes people feel valued, respected, affirmed, encouraged or competent.

Characteristics of the Most Effective Leaders

They decrease the power differential between self and team membersThey create conditions for distributing the leadership function throughout the groupThey show respect for the intrinsic worth of team membersThey show respect for team members as individuals who are different from the leaderThey deeply feel that people aren’t there to be used, directed, or influenced to accomplish only the leader’s aimsThey listen with empathyThey demonstrate acceptanceThey express their own beliefs, needs and ideas honestly, clearly, and without blameThey work to resolve conflicts in a win-win way that creates mutual need satisfaction

“Do I really trust the capacity of the team and of the individuals on it to solve the problems facing us? Or do I basically trust only myself?”

“Do I create a climate in which my team can have creative discussions by being willing to hear, understand, accept and respect all input? Or do I find myself trying to influence the outcome of discussions?”

“Do I honestly express my own beliefs and ideas without trying to control those of others?”

“When there are problems and conflicts, do I make it possible for them to be brought out into the open, or do I subtly communicate that they should be kept hidden?”

Skills to meet group members’ needs1. Behavior that increases group members’ self-esteem and personal worth.2. Behavior that increases group cohesiveness and team spirit.Skills to meet organizational needs 1. Behavior that motivates productivity and the achievement of group goals.2. Behavior that helps members reach goals: planning, scheduling, coordinating, problem-solving, providing resources.Skills to resolve conflicts1.The effective leader must learn skills to resolve the inevitable conflicts that arise among his team members

Promoting processes that protect and foster the development of fully functioning persons, families, groups, organizations and communities and that foster the development of effective, compassionate and people centered leaders is not only of vital importance for human survival and welfare but also for the welfare of the entire planet.

Humanistic Psychology instead of focalizing only on pathology has studied people that are particularlHumanistic Psychology instead of focalizing only on pathology has studied people that are particularly healthy and fully functioning, investigating the common denominators of those people y healthy and fully functioning, investigating the common denominators of those people

Kurt Goldstein described self-actualization as the tendency to actualize, as much as possible, the organism's individual capacities in the world.

The tendency toward self-actualization is the only drive by which the life of an organism is determined.

Abraham Maslow based his theory on his case studies of historical figures whom he saw as examples of self-actualized individuals including Albert Einstein, Ruth Benedict, Frederick Douglass, Jane Addams Eleanor Roosevelt, Max Wertheimer, Henry David Thoreau….

Maslow examined the lives of each of these people in order to asses the common qualities that led each to become self-actualized.

In general he found that these individuals were, accepting of themselves and of their life circumstances; very creative; focused on finding solutions to cultural problems rather than just to concentrate on personal problems; open to others' opinions and ideas; had a strong sense of privacy, autonomy, human values and appreciation of life; and a few intimate friendships rather than many superficial ones.

They also all reported the frequent occurrence of peak experiences . These occasions were marked by feelings of harmony and deep meaning: feeling at one with the universe.

For Carl Rogers human nature has a fundamental tendency, the actualizing tendency where self-awareness generates self-regulation.

The research of Carl Rogers and his group on the fully functioning person found the following common denominators:•Self aware, integrated, in touch, deep, authentic, trusting, creative, good capacity for affiliation and communication, balanced and realistic •Psychological health, maturity, existential depth, effective self- regulation, respect for themselves and others •Openness to experience (instead of the rigid defense stance of the person feeling under threat)•Personality: mature, fluid, absence of rigidity / fundamentalism •Maximum of adaptability •Trust in themselves, their organism, intuitions, feelings and values•Sense of direction, purpose, leadership qualities

The process of the fully functioning person is seen by Rogers as a challenge:

“This process is not, I am convinced, a life for the faint-hearted.

It involves the stretching and growing of becoming more and more of one's potentialities.

It involves the courage to be.”

(Carl Rogers 1961)

Carl Rogers’ research over the last 70 years has identified specific qualities in relationships which promote the development of fully functioning people as well as the healing of partially functioning people:

Respect

Empathic understanding

Authenticity/congruence (deep contact)

People that are related to in this nourishing way tend to reproduce these

qualities in their

new relationships.

We need more people and especially more leaders that relate to themselves, to others and to the planet with more

Respect

Empathy

Authenticity/congruence (deep contact)

We will be part of the solutions

and not of the problems afflicting present society

Thank You!

CENTRATO SULLA PERSONAISTITUTO DELL'APPROCCIOWorld Academy

of Art and Science

World University Consortium

Alberto Zucconi azucconi@iacp.it

azucconi@worldacademy.org

World Academy of Art and Sciencewww.worldacademy.org

World University Consortium (WUC)www.wunicon.org

Person Centered Approach Institute (IACP) www.iacp.it

CENTRATO SULLA PERSONAISTITUTO DELL'APPROCCIOWorld Academy

of Art and Science

World University Consortium