Leaders Must S.E.E. Clearly by Alyson Van Hooser
Photo by Christina Morillo for StockSnap
Everything rises and falls with leadership. Especially because of recent events, if you want yourself and your team to come out of this in a positive way, you have to S.E.E. clearly. If you’re wondering how to do that, I can help.
Below is an excerpt from one of the chapters in my new book, Level Up: Elevate Your Game & Crush Your Goals, which will help you successfully navigate the multiple issues facing our country—your people—right now. I teach often on the characteristics of the five different generations in the workforce and multiple informative motivational theories, but if you’ve ever been in one of my keynote presentations or leadership training sessions, then you’ve heard me express the criticality of understanding the personal stories that have shaped your people into who they are today.
As you dig into the psyche of people, you will find outliers who don’t conform to the generational and motivational information. The outliers do not make this information obsolete at all because most of the time, the basic principles apply. However, you have to be able to recognize the outliers. If you do not, YOU MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO TRULY CONNECT WITH THEM.
[An example of an outlier might be a Gen X employee who is not an independent worker, where research suggests that the majority of Gen X adults are very independent workers. More discussion on “outliers” is featured in the book.]
Outliers will not fit the statistical norm. Why? Because something in their life has happened that shaped them into who they have become, which is different than the majority. Sociologist Morris Massey coined the term Significant Emotional Events (S.E.E.). A Significant Emotional Event is one that causes a person to question and even change their values. To create a more influential connection with people, you need to know the stories of the Significant Emotional Events in their lives—good and bad. There is information held within those stories that you will never be able to gather from science or statistics….
To truly know the people around you and understand what motivates them and what makes them tick, you have to build relationships with them. When you build a relationship established on trust, then the people around you will open up to you and allow you into their lives by sharing very real—sometimes good, sometimes tough—stories of what they have been through that have formed the why behind what they do.
With so much nationwide turmoil potentially affecting your team (personally and professionally), it’s likely that one or more of your people are experiencing heartache, despair, stress, etc. It’s incredibly important that you as a leader appropriately show love to your employees in the way of tender communication and finding ways to help that would lighten their load and heal their hearts. A great place to start is simply asking and listening to their stories. When you ask and listen, it shows them you care…and also helps you know exactly how to take action…just two of the many benefits of a leader who S.E.E.s clearly.
Alyson Van Hooser is a leadership keynote speaker and trainer on millennials, Gen Z, and women in business. With the grit that only comes from tough experiences, Alyson has learned a thing or two about personal and professional success. From her management experience with Walmart, as an elected city council member, bank manager—all before the age of 30—Alyson has wisdom well beyond her years! Her book Level Up: Elevate Your Game & Crush Your Goals is now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and other fine retailers. Connect with Alyson on LinkedIn and Instagram. This article originally appeared here on the Van Hooser Associates Leadership Blog and has been edited for inclusion on the Sound Wisdom Blog.