Blog – Quietly Powerful

Labelling Divides, Listening Builds Bridges

5 November 2024
by megumimiki1

Have you noticed how much and how often we label others?

It is easier to place people in neat categories—labels that we believe define others’ values, intentions, or intelligence. Whether it’s generational terms like “Boomer” and “Gen Z,” political identities like “right-wing” and “woke”, gender, race, personalities, religion, or even viewpoints on contentious topics like vaccines or reproductive rights, labels serve as quick identifiers.

Conversation

True Humility: A Sign of Self-Esteem

29 October 2024
by megumimiki1

In a world where assertiveness and charisma are still seen as prerequisites for success, humility might seem like a weakness. But true humility is far from self-effacing or submissive; it is, in fact, a profound demonstration of self-esteem. Having interviewed 50+ successful Quietly Powerful leaders, humility stands out as one of their leadership strengths.

Conversation

Psychological Safety is not the same as being comfortable

20 February 2024
by megumimiki1

There’s a difference between being safe and being comfortable, whether physical or psychological.

When you’re training to run a marathon, there’s no doubt there will be some discomfort while training. There will be a certain point where, if you overtrain, it becomes unsafe, but it’s further along than the point at which you become uncomfortable.

Leadership

Leadership emergence is NOT the same as Leadership effectiveness

12 December 2023
by megumimiki1

Have you seen ‘mistaken’ leadership appointments or promotions where people who appeared to have leadership potential did not turn out to be the best leaders?

On the flipside, have you seen people with great leadership capabilities or potential being overlooked, perhaps because they are not as visible or do not fit the ‘prototype’ of who looks, sounds or feels leader-like?

Conversation

Is Your Leadership Team Having Productive Disagreements?

15 August 2023
by megumimiki1

The best leadership teams make the most of diverse expertise, knowledge and perspectives to make informed and considered decisions, particularly in complex situations. All too often, leadership teams are unable make high-quality decisions because they either avoid disagreements or clash due to differences in views. Many fear that disagreement represents conflict and, as such, may be potentially destructive. Some see it as a waste of time and energy. Others opt for a debate and end up creating tension and conflict. The opportunity being missed is ‘productive disagreement’.

Uncategorized

How well do leaders use their quiet superpowers? (hint:…

26 June 2023
by megumimiki1

Leaders of all kinds can access a range of ‘quiet superpowers’ to build relationships, lead their teams and organisations, and deliver results. Over the last few years, I have been gathering data from clients and presentation audiences on how effectively their existing leaders use these superpowers.

Sadly, the ratings people gave for the leaders they know or work with were rather disappointing. For every one of the identified superpowers of calm, listening, thinking and inclusion, the average rating fell firmly within the ‘mediocre’ range of performance.

Conversation

Not All Introverts are Great Listeners All the Time

3 May 2023
by megumimiki1

Introverts are often stereotyped as quiet, reserved individuals who are excellent listeners. While this may be true for some introverts some of the time, not all introverts are great listeners.

I am indeed an introvert and can come across as a good listener, as I may not say a lot or be economical with my words when I do. But I have had to work on improving my listening, because while I may look like I’m listening, I may:

Conversation

The long-lasting and wide-ranging impact of racism and microaggressions

20 February 2023
by megumimiki1

Have you ever stopped to think about the long-lasting impact of racist comments and microaggressions? I recently had a coaching client who opened my eyes to the lasting impact of these types of incidents.

I hesitated to share this but when my coaching client gave me permission, I felt it was important to share. She hoped that it would help others to feel that they are not alone.

Conversation

When the pursuit of efficiency becomes inefficient

1 February 2023
by megumimiki1

With the pressure to perform, do more with less and get things done quickly, efficiency and productivity have become very much a goal for many people and organisations. Have you noticed, though, that in the pursuit of efficiency and productivity, we end up rushing everything and don’t do anything very well?

I felt this effect towards the end of last year, with so many things to get done ‘before Christmas’. Unfortunately, as much as I tried to be efficient and get through my tasks, I noticed that there were some things that simply could not be rushed in the pursuit of efficiency.

Conversation

Benefits of Poor Listening

5 October 2022
by megumimiki1

In a recent “Listening Masterclass” with senior leaders, we asked: “What are the benefits of poor listening?”

You may be thinking “What? There are no benefits, are there?” Perhaps the leaders thought the same.

The logic driving this question is that most people agree that we experience poor listening in the workplace often. If there were no benefits to poor listening, this wouldn’t be the case and we wouldn’t do it, would we? So there must be some perceived benefits.

As the group explored this question, a number of different answers came up.

Take a look at these benefits and see if there are reasons why you might not listen as well as you could.