#HR #RRHH Making love and making personal #branding #leadership

Reading this article really opened up my mind towards being an effective leader. As a senior and the oldest in Junior High, I have given many After Action Reviews (AAR) and talks towards my peers and juniors on their development and areas of improvement. Although many my age harbour fears of having to interact with others on such a personal level, I have always found it easy for me to provide both motivation and constructive criticism to someone. However, this article mentioned about a process named 360 feedback – something I was exposed to but unfamiliar with. To implement 360 feedback in a company, there were a few criteria that the company should have: have the continuous intention of growth and improvement of employees, emotionally mature and open leaders to be accepting of criticism, a platform to integrate data with support mechanisms that can prove the 360 feedback useful, and senior engagement with employees. In my opinion, the latter is the most important criteria that an organisation should have in order to establish good rapport between senior and junior, regardless of whether a 360 feedback implementation is in contention. As a senior and a leader, it is essential to be able to open up your juniors to open and insightful development talks. My peers have always opened up to me, saying that what they wish to gain most out of in a developmental talk, is insights on their journey thus far, and areas for improvement. I believe that the 360 feedback is a wonderful platform for individuals to understand their confidential, anonymous feedback from those they interact the most: their batch mates, seniors, juniors and teachers. The process ensures that we can draw feedback from objective, multiple perspectives to evaluate our overall effectiveness. I have always been intrigued by the idea of 360 feedback as I feel that it is an effective platform to provide constructive feedback. However, after reading this article, I realise that there are many criteria to consider in order to ensure that the 360 feedback becomes effective, depending on the nature and context of your organisation. Rather than brainstorming complex methods of improving development of employees, I believe what is more critical is to have leaders who know how to engage and motivate their employees. The essence of a good leader is someone who does not have to continually motivate employees, but rather leverages on their internal passions and desires to create sustainable engagement. An insight that I also gained from the article is that conversations with employees should not only center around yourself, but around them as well. By asking questions that encourage them to be more open and honest, this will allow me to channel their internal motivations and redirect it towards projects that enjoy my employees the most. When centering the conversation around THEM and not YOU, the talk will also take the form of mentoring rather than dictating, creating an atmosphere of trust and rapport between the two that will break barriers and lead to a more enjoyable working process in the company.

According to Brent Scott, MSU Professor of Managment, " effective leadership may be based on a leader's ability to recognize when a particular mental state is needed in their employees and to adapt their own mental state and their behaviours to elicit that mindset." Ideal leadership needs to be a judicious combination of the "Conservative Mindset and Innovative mindset". I would compare these two mindsets with the "Fixed mindset and Growth mindset". Fortunately, according to the writer of the article, mindsets can be changed!