The Ariel Group InterAct Blog

Back to Our Roots: The Ariel Group, Acting & Authenticy

Richard Richards on acting, authenticity and reconnecting with the Ariel Group mission.

When I joined The Ariel Group, I inherited much of what we deliver today in the classroom – and I was lucky to inherit such great designs and thoughtful workmanship. Since then I've been caught up with all the important organizational pressures and suddenly realized that it’s been a few years since I personally have been really thoughtful about what we do.

I have therefore made an effort to reconnect with our roots to make sure that we follow our internal compass as we navigate the vagaries of business and the demands of the learning world. Specifically, the leadership skills that we teach at the Ariel Group are infused with the concept of authenticity and I've been thinking about this concept in all parts of our work including its roots and influences, the sources for its inspiration and its unique quality.

T. S. Eliot somewhat ironically captures my own feelings for “Ariel authenticity”:

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.

~ T. S. Eliot

In our sales calls and client presentations, we are often asked to explain the seeming paradox between “acting” and authenticity. Kate Nugent in her most recent blog, “Leadership Lessons from Great Actors” has provided a contemporary and eloquent explanation for this. I thought I would add another modern perspective to this idea of authenticity.

I believe (and I have been told) that the experimental theater work of Jerzy Grotowski, a Polish theater director who died in 1999, has directly or indirectly influenced the foundation of our work at The Ariel Group.

In his book, Towards a Poor Theatre, Grotowski says:

“Civilization involves a donning of masks, people hiding motives and feelings. Theatre seeks to discard these masks and reveal the "real substance."

~ Jerzy Grotowski

Grotowski also believed that an actor should learn to use all parts of her body in order to project her voice to the audience better. Consistent with this approach, at The Ariel Group we seek to uncover and unlock in each individual their natural resonance – their authentic cadence or essence - that is often locked down by university or graduate school, by community or religious beliefs, by organizational or cultural norms:

"Theatre - through the actor's technique, his art in which the living organism strives for higher motives - provides an opportunity for what could be called integration, the discarding of masks, the revealing of the real substance: a totality of physical and mental reactions.”

~ Jerzy Grotowski

Which brings us to our vision:

The Ariel Group envisions a world where people authentically engage with others and unlock their most generous selves.

~ The Ariel Group

And so after a few days of research, I feel like I’ve arrived where I started, “and know the place for the first time.”

...

Richard Richards is the VP, Learning Design at The Ariel Group.

The Accidental Hairy Eyeball & Other Personal Presence Dangers

Many leaders and managers are conscious of their personal presence when they are presenting or speaking 1 to 1 but may be unaware of how their personal presence impacts co-workers and direct reports when they are “off-stage.”

We all know about non-verbal communication and how important it is. There have been studies. Blogs. Trainings. Maybe like me, your grandfather gave you Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office when you graduated college and you underlined the suggestions about looking people in the eye and not sitting on your foot in meetings.

By now, many of us are fairly competent at “looking lively” when we make a presentation, speak to a senior executive, or meet a client. Firm handshake, check. Eye contact, check. Good posture, check. But what happens once your part of the presentation is over and you are no longer the focal point of the meeting? Do you remain, as we say here at The Ariel Group, ‘high-presence’?

One of my personal challenges is unintentionally giving people the hairy eyeball when I’m listening intently or spacing out (see pictures at left). Because this is something I’m aware of, I try to maintain what I call my “encouraging listening face” unless I specifically want to send a different message.

If you’ve taken our Personal Presence class, it’s related to the “Passionate Purpose” exercise: just as you want your audience to feel or react a certain way when you’re speaking, you should have a passionate purpose for how you want the speaker and others in the room to feel when you are not speaking. If you aren’t at least aware of your “off-stage” personal presence, you may be unintentionally making a bold statement.

Here are some examples:

• Example 1: A new manager is presenting some data to a meeting full of senior executives. While many of the executives nod in encouragement, one fidgets in his chair and repeatedly checks his watch.
  
  The effect: The new manager thinks a) Oh gosh I’m boring/didn’t do a good job b) I must be running overtime c) What a jerk!
  
  
• Example 2: A senior executive is delivering some important news to a conference room full of staff. Most people are listening intently but one is slouched in her chair with her cheek in her hand and looking out the window.
  
  The effect: The executive thinks a) This is important news—doesn’t this person care about her job or the company? b) Oh gosh I’m boring c) What a jerk!

In reality, the watch checker and the window-watcher might both be engaged in the information being presented to them—and even if they aren’t they’d probably not want the speaker to know that.

The bottom line: Nobody’s perfect but think about checking in with yourself from time to time to see what kind of messages you're sending with your “off-stage” presence. You can find a link to a worksheet on being a good "audience of one" here. It might also be worth asking a co-worker to observe you in a meeting or ask for feedback from the speaker after a presentation.


Alyssa Galeros Keefe is the Marketing & Communications Manager at The Ariel Group...and a work in progress.

Ariel InterMission: Leadership Lessons from Great Actors

When I ask participants in our Leading with Presence program, “Who is the actor or actress who most moves you or engages you?” three names inevitably come up: Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep and Al Pacino.

DeNiro is famous for his preparation (remember Raging Bull?), and so are Streep and Pacino. They all come from a school of acting called 'The Method', which requires an actor to be completely present and available to the moment. DeNiro achieves this presence, this authenticity, by getting to know deeply the character he is playing – everything from their favorite color to what values they hold most dear.

Meryl Streep prepared for her role in The Bridges of Madison County by living on the farmhouse set for a week. She was playing a housewife who had lived there for thirty years. As she put it, she needed to know how many steps there were from the sink to the stove and how sticky the refrigerator door was.

When asked what his number one piece of advice for young actors was, Al Pacino said, “Learn your lines.”

So what does all this have to do with leadership? If you want to be the DeNiro, Streep or Pacino of leadership, follow their best practices (adapted for the business stage):

Best Practices from the Greatest Actors:

• Know your character. Do the self-reflection required to know who you are and where you come from, and what your strengths and values are. That preparation will enable you to show up and be a present leader, and to be available to the moment.
  
  
• Walk the stage. You don’t have to live in the boardroom for a week before the presentation, but do what stage actors do. We walk the stage before performances so we know how many steps it is from chair to coffee table. If you walk the boardroom, you’ll know how to avoid the LCD light and which chair is most likely to trip you.
  
  
• Learn your lines. What’s your message? What do you want people to walk away with from your meeting or presentation? Make sure it’s brief and “sticky”. Think of the business version of “I thought I was out but they pulled me back in!” You’ll be quoted for years afterwards.

All of these techniques will allow you to show up and be a present, authentic leader. And, if all else fails, give ‘em an offer they can’t refuse.

What lessons have you learned from "the greats"?

Kate Nugent has over 15 years of experience as an actor, director, educator, consultant and executive coach.

From the Beach to the Office: Three Leadership Lessons

As we return from summer holidays to leadership and management roles within our organizations, we may have new insights and discoveries about ourselves, our relationships and, indeed, our presence that will have real value to the people we serve.

For myself, spending “quality time” with my wife and son, as well as with my closest friends, can be at once deeply rewarding and profoundly challenging.  As I return to my schedule of travel and teaching this fall, I am reminded that the executives who come to me for leadership coaching are usually filled with implicit knowledge from their own lives which they have yet to transfer into tactical and practical skills in their roles as managers of people.  

The ability to glean learning and value from our experiences is what defines growth and development—whether at home or in the office.  Most organizations pay lip service to the ideal of “work-life balance.” Some are even effective at enforcing policies that allow employees to at least pursue that ideal.  

• But what is the real value and importance of time away from work?


• What are the core principles of human communication and leadership presence that cross the boundaries of work and play?


• How can we learn to “leverage” the value of our “down” time into real and practical skills that will support our effectiveness when we are back in the office?

Spending time at the beach or cottage -- alone or with family and friends -- often affords a window into deeper truths about human nature.  Returning to work is a stark reminder that, when measured across the full year, many of us actually spend as much or more actual time with our business associates than we do in our personal relationships..  

In my practice as an executive coach, I have found that three core principles of human presence and communication are useful for executives to keep in mind as they cross between home to office:

Between Home and the Office: Three Core Principles of Presence and Communication

1. Create spaces for rest and renewal in your calendar
   Remember that wonderful moment in the middle of your holiday, when you finally relaxed enough to actually experience a feeling of space and peacefulness, which led, perhaps, to a moment of insight or creative thinking about a problem you were trying to solve?  Perhaps it only lasted a few seconds, and then was gone again with a clap of thunder calling you to bring in the lawn furniture or the buzzing of your blackberry reminding you to catch that flight home.  But the moment was there, and it was real.  That moment might never have come if you had not removed yourself from the office for long enough to change the frame of your experience.
   
   Everyone needs a place for rest and renewal. The point is to give these moments a priority and importance -- do not let them slip off the calendar because the demands of work seem so all-important. 


2. Be open to the feedback you receive from your friends and family
   It is a truism to say that it’s lonely at the top.  Many of my most senior clients speak about the challenge of getting honest and actionable feedback, especially from those that report to them.  The demands of corporate culture often require that we speak and act with a certain formality, especially when faced with challenging situations such as communicating unpleasant news or managing poor performance.  In our attempt to be clear and objective at work, we may, without meaning to, appear cold and uncaring. The goal, of course, is to strike that balance between speaking the truth and retaining our compassion for others. What’s different at home, of course, is that usually our friends and children will not hesitate to give us feedback on the spot about how we are communicating!
   
   What better place to practice and get valuable feedback about how we are perceived, than home with friends and family. It is said that leaders who score highest in measures of emotional intelligence are those who seek feedback consistently.  Start with your friends and family.  What they say may be the most valuable information you receive about how you are really perceived at work.


3. Remember that leadership is about service
   There were times during my holidays this year when I wondered whether I was really getting the vacation from work that I had wished for.  The demands of family and friends often required as much or even more energy than a typical day at the office.  And sometimes the demands of the office itself intruded to the point that I realized that I was actually just as busy on my blackberry with my colleagues and clients as I was before I left for holiday!
   
   But maybe that is the nature of work and life—perhaps a holiday is not meant to be a free ride, a complete shut down.  Maybe time away from the office is just a reminder that we are always, in a sense, at work.  Perhaps work is a good thing—an act of service to others.
   
   The concept of “servant-leadership”, first coined by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970’s and reiterated by leadership theorists from Steven Covey to Peter Senge, reminds us that leadership is fundamentally not about the leader, but about those he leads.
   
   And what better reminder of this principle than some time away from the office, where we may indeed learn again that we are always in service to somebody, and that our presence as a leader is fundamentally based on our ability to be fully present to those we serve.

 

Chris von Baeyer is an actor, educator and consultant specializing in the integration of theatre and human development. He is also a Director of Client Relations at The Ariel Group.

On Empathy, Emotional Intelligence and Leadership

At the very core of The Ariel Group's mission is our determination to help leaders establish “enduring improvements in their ability to connect with others.” We know that it is impossible to succeed in this goal unless we can heighten our empathic qualities. But what do we mean when we speak of “empathy”?  How is it related to emotional intelligence and how can it help leaders develop successful companies?  Empathy is not a “skill” so much as the imaginative capacity we all have to grasp, on a physical, emotional, and intellectual plane, the experience of another person.  

It turns out that we are hard wired for empathy. One of the great scientific discoveries of the past ten years indicates that all human beings (and higher primates) are constantly firing “mirror neurons.” Essentially this means that an absolutely central biological force within us drives us towards deeper connections (on many levels) to others. (See for example: David Dobbs' article in Scientific American Mind, May/June 2006).

Central to Daniel Goleman’s notion of “emotional intelligence” is the recognition that the more emotionally intelligent we are the more enhanced is our empathic sensibility.  We also know from Goleman [and many others] that the more developed this empathic sensibility, the deeper the connections one can make to others --a central requirement for a leader who hopes to build loyal, strong teams.

Developing emotional intelligence-- and our empathic sensibility-- to the fullest extent that we are able is a life-long task.  As a result of both our training in the theater and the overwhelming supporting scientific evidence we know that our capacity for empathy can indeed be developed through training and ongoing coaching. We also know that the pay off for developing empathy is huge, in that our private and professional lives are likely to become more fulfilling and meaningful as our empathic sensibility grows and deepens.

What has all this to do with successful leadership?

Recently, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company with which we work, said to his most senior leaders:

I hope you do with your people what I used to do when I was in your position:  I would sit next to them (not across from them) and ask them to tell me what their life dreams are.  I [did this] because I wanted to help them achieve meaning in their working lives and to do so I needed to know these dreams.

This CEO is exhorting his senior leaders to lead with empathy.  It should come as no surprise that apart from its huge financial success, or perhaps partly because of it, this company generates extraordinary loyalty among its employees at every level of the organization.  

...

Dr. Ron Goldman is a Senior Consultant at The Ariel Group, a psychologist, an actor and a management consultant. He helps organizations and individuals better fulfill their potential by developing emotional intelligence and greater understanding of group dynamics.

Ariel InterMission: Never Mind the Economy. How Are YOU Recovering?

In our workshops we ask participants to help us generate a list of the skills of the actor. The list often includes the following:

-Letting go of mistakes/ Dealing with nerves
-Recovering gracefully and moving on
-Improvising / Thinking on one's feet
-Self-confidence
-Empathy / Understanding another person's point of view
-Being expressive
-The ability to read an audience

We then ask participants which of these skills are also leadership skills. Inevitably the answer is "All of them!"
 
Lately, however, when I ask, "Which of these skills are also the skills of the leader?" there has been a focus on recovering gracefully. People are wondering: as the economy recovers how does a leader recover gracefully too?

For the past two years many leaders and companies have been in a reactive mode. They've been dealing with adversity. They've had to put out financial fires and make hard decisions about what costs to cut. This has been stressful and taxing on everyone; staff and leaders alike.

After some pondering, I thought of another core quality that actors have and leaders need in order to recover from all this stress: the ability to be resilient.

Life is full of challenges. And each is an opportunity to let go of old ways of thinking and stretch toward new solutions. From my experience with organizations I've observed that successful leaders harness the power of adversity much like sailors harness the power of the wind.  How a company and its leaders respond to hard times may be a better predictor of their strength than market penetration.

What Are Your Resilient Qualities?

How do you harness the power of adversity and recover gracefully?  To get you thinking, try answering these two questions.

1. What is the one quality you like the most about yourself when faced with a challenging or adverse situation?
Perhaps you are adaptable. Or loyal. Or you are dogged and see things through to the bitter end. Whatever your quality is, it's core to who you are.

2. When in your life did you first discover or develop this quality?
The answer to this second question will likely reveal that you already know how to recover well.

We suggest that you share the answers to these questions with your teams and listen carefully to their answers too. The more people who are resilient work together, the quicker they can recover with grace.

 

Carol Lempert is both a professional actress and a communication and leadership specialist with over 15 years of experience in the field of Training and Development.

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Let's connect!

Learning About Leadership

As some of you may know, I am the newest member of the Ariel Group Executive Team.    I have spent the last 15 years focused on how to leverage relationship management skills (negotiation, communication, coaching, managing change, influence) for better business results.   As I turn my attention to building on this base of knowledge, and expanding it to include leadership theory, I am discovering some interesting themes.

1. Leaders need a global mindset.

James Kouzes,  Chairman and CEO of TPG/Learning Systems, and the co-author of The Leadership Challenge, writes, “While the content of leadership has remained the same over the past twenty years, the context has not.”   I have worked in a professional services firms for most of my adult, post graduate school life, and we used to think (way back in the day!) that being “global” meant getting on a plane from our home office and going wherever it was on the globe that our clients were located.  We have come to learn that this is nowhere near the expectations of what “global” means in today’s marketplace.  

A leaders’ global mindset encompasses everything from the tactical – for example, not always scheduling cross geography conference calls at 9am EST which makes it 9PM in AsiaPac – to the more strategic:

• How are we managing cross region so that we are not a headquarters-centric organization where strategy is pushed to the regions without their input?
  
  
• If the organization is US or UK based is it an English-only rule for conducting business?
  
  
• Have we considered our impact on the local community of our presence in region – is it all positive (job creation) or is there is also some perceived downside and how are we attempting to mitigate or manage that?

As you think with a global mindset what leadership questions are you considering? 

 

2. Leadership strategy as business strategy. 

There seems to be a shift in focus to the collective development of leaders in an organization, with a goal of enabling them to address real-time enterprise-wide business challenges, as opposed to instilling a set of competencies.  Targeting leaders’ attention at issues the organization is facing, not attributes an individual requires, is resulting in leadership development strategies that seem to be more closely integrated with business objectives.    

The Ariel definition of PRESENCE is: the ability to connect authentically with the thoughts and feelings of others in order to motivate and inspire them toward a desired outcome.   As such,  PRESENCE allows leaders to “attune their ears” to the issues of the day via careful, flexible communication adapted to their  specific audience; listening carefully not only to words spoken, but also to the underlying messages shared; disseminating information in ways their teams, colleagues, customers and partners can understand , engage with, integrate and ultimately act upon.   PRESENCE can be the foundation upon which leadership strategy and business strategy come closer together over time, creating leaders who are agile strategists, thinkers and implementers.

 

Gabriella Salvatore comes to the Ariel Group with fifteen years of business experience encompassing facilitation, design, client management and leadership.

Innovation & The Non-Conforming Mind

"All new ideas begin in a non-conforming mind that questions some tenet of the conventional wisdom." --H. G. Rickover*

And therein lies a challenge for many of today’s business organizations:

1.   How to develop non-conforming minds (i.e. minds that think outside the box) and then

2.    How can a leader create the space for people to be able to question conventional wisdom? 

Left, Right or Whole Brain Competency

Before we look at what a leader can do, I’d like to say a word about the non-conforming mind, about right vs. left brain development and the idea of whole brain competency. Though the science continues to be debated, there are two distinct aspects to innovation that loosely map to the concept of left and right brain thinking: the linear process necessary to implement innovation that is more closely aligned with left brain thinking, and the creative sandbox that more closely represents the right brain’s activities.

A “non-conforming mind” is not something we are born with. It is something that can be developed by working on the abilities associated with the right brain – that side of the brain that focuses on aesthetics, feelings, ideas and creativity – elements that are generally missing from most corporate, left-brain oriented, cognitive training programs.

At The Ariel Group, our out-of-the-box, experiential learning focuses on creativity, emotional connection and stretching the boundaries of each individual’s own possibilities. This approach to learning expands the capabilities of the right brain and opens up the potential for more out-of-the-box thinking.

Innovative Culture: What is a Leader’s Contribution?

So what can a leader do to create a space for people to be innovative?

1.  Establish Collaborative Forums | Unlike invention, which is usually a solitary activity, successful innovation is a collaborative process in which people act with and support each other.

2.  Build Relationships | The strength of relationships between the team members and a leader and between the team members themselves will determine the amount of risk people are willing to take in suggesting ideas. 

3.  Build Trust | If a team member is going to challenge status quo, then he or she needs to trust that a leader will listen and be open to hear new ideas and alternative perspectives. The team member needs to be able to predict how a leader will react if what is suggested is unpopular, counter-culture or challenges the leader’s own point of view.

4.  Promote Team Member Engagement | Since the best ideas often come from deep within the organization, from the people closest to the action, the level of team member engagement is directly proportional to the quality and quantity of innovative ideas generated. 

5.  Inspire a Vision | A leader must be able to articulate a vision for innovation that inspires his or her team members, not only in terms of organization success, but also in terms helping individual team members envision their own contribution towards innovation.

In Summary

• Invention is isolated; innovation is connected
  An inventor works alone to create an idea while innovation is a collaborative process in which people act with and support each other
  
  
• Engaged people make for better innovation
  Increased discretionary effort promotes creative thoughts and new ideas…leading to innovation
  
  
• Creativity can be stunted in an organization where no one wants to look bad or admit defeat
  It must be OK to make mistakes
  
  
• Listening is critical to innovation
  It’s a collaborative process. It starts at the top--unwavering support from leaders is essential
 to nurture the kind of behavior that sparks innovation

 

* Admiral H.G. Rickover is best known as the father of the nuclear navy and of civilian uses of nuclear power.

Ariel InterMission: The Good Boss Model: PCIR

From a distance Peg could seem a little severe and stern. She managed five production editors who produced a total of 150 professional journals. It was a high-pressure, deadline-driven environment and emotions could often run high.

Debra, a reliable and high-output editor was about to get married, and the pressure of looming publication dates and looming high-maintenance relatives was getting to her. She kept it all together but Peg noticed something was up.

Without making a fuss Peg dropped a Nerf gun on Debra’s desk with a note: “If anyone at work, or any of your relatives gives you any crap, shoot them with this!” A small, funny gesture that acknowledged what Debra was going through. Peg couldn’t remove Debra's anxiety but she did notice, empathize and reach out in a supportive way.

Unknowingly, Peg was using a framework for employee engagement we at Ariel call the PCIR Model. It stands for being Present, Caring, Inspiring and Rigorous:  

• Peg was Present enough to notice not just whether the deadlines were being met but also what else was going on with a key employee.
  
  
• She was Caring in her small gesture that inspired loyalty in Debra.
  
  
• She was Inspiring in her confidence in Debra to get through all the pressure and achieve her usual levels of success.
  
  
• And finally she was Rigorous. She didn’t let the deadlines slip or accept sloppy work. She held Debra accountable but gave her the encouragement and understanding that allowed her to relax and handle the extra pressure.

We teach this model and I try to employ it internally with my staff. Think about how you manage your team (or how you are managed) and ask the following questions based on the PCIR model. Are you a Peg? Is your boss?

The PCIR Model

Are you Present? Do you bring your full energy and focus to the conversation?  

Are you Caring?  Do you make personal connections with your direct reports and demonstrate that you care for them?  

Are you Inspiring? Do you authentically share a compelling vision for the company and/or for your direct reports?  

And are you Rigorous?  Do you hold your direct reports accountable for specific behaviors? Are you both courageous and careful in giving feedback?

We also have a mini paper assessment available for download that you can use to rate how well you used PCIR in a given situation or conversation. The first page allows you to rate yourself, the second is for your direct report to rate you.

Ariel InterMission: A New Perspective on Empathy and Leadership Presence

I want to take an opportunity to introduce you to the newest member of the Ariel ensemble, Gabriella Salvatore.  Gabriella is joining us as VP of Client Solutions.  In that capacity she will be partnering with our clients to map their business needs to our learning solutions. 

I had the opportunity to sit down with Gabriella and, by way of introduction, wanted to share with you some of her thoughts: 

Sean: What does Presence mean to you?

Gabriella: To me, presence is the ability to “roll with it” in any given situation. It may be a hard conversation or a strained relationship; a herculean project or a small interaction.  Presence is the anti-reactive; the anti-judgmental; the anti-jump-to-conclusions.  Presence is when you are able to draw from within you the insight and resources required to reach out to those around you (your team, your boss, your directs, your colleagues) and connect so as to serve at all levels - individually, organizationally, strategically.


Sean: After 15 years in the learning industry where do you see the need for presence show up most? Where is it most lacking?

Gabriella: Presence is needed from top to bottom in an organization, as a "greaser of wheels," to support the everyday, everywhere interactions that make businesses go. At the end of the day, every decision in an organization comes down to a group of people sitting in a meeting room or emailing across time zones sharing ideas. In this process, ideas are sometimes complementary and oftentimes in conflict.  The real work of an organization gets done when people can navigate through that "mess" and come out on the other side with an answer.

I have often heard it said that what makes a good leader is the ability to connect with others, to inspire and mobilize them to action.  I like to think of leadership as sourced from all directions in an organization - each person finding a way to be a leader in their distinct role - whatever that might look like. So for all of us, regardless of where we sit in the business, the higher the stress, the more we need presence.



Sean: Empathy is talked about a lot. Where is it most needed in business?

Gabriella: Truth be told, I think empathy is not an "everywhere" skill.  I think when overused or used in a moment that doesn't require it, empathy can cause the recipient to feel like they are “being handled."  It can feel insincere, like a relationship tactic, as opposed to a relationship benefit.

In my mind the role for empathy is pretty clear-cut.  If the person or people you are interacting with are faced with bad news and there is nothing you can do to change that reality, empathy is your best and only bet.