My family loves to play games, and we have found a new one that everyone can play called Ticket to Ride. Ticket to Ride is a fast pasted game where you try to connect cities by building railroad routes. What I love about the game is its underlying premise. When it is your turn, you can do one thing and one thing only. You can:
Draw train cards
Draw route cards
Lay down trains
Discard route cards
The winner is the one who has a firm strategy to connect their cities with train routes, then implements this strategy by doing the best “next one thing." The ultimate goal is to gain the most number of points by completing route cards and trying to get a bonus for being the player with the longest train.
It is Nine Arch Bridge near Bandarawela, Sri Lanka
Sometimes it is in your best interest to draw train cards and sometimes you find yourself wondering if you should “waste” a turn by discarding a route card, which will count against your point total if you do not complete the route.
I receive no commercial endorsement from the publishers of the game, but if you are looking to build some family time this is an excellent game to do it, as long as the kids can tell colors and read cities they can probably play. (I will leave it up to your family culture as to what level of competition the game should take with young kids).
Application to Leadership
I love the idea of thinking about leadership as a game. Games change all the time. Different players have different strategies that constantly have an impact on your strategy and implementation.
With games in mind, I really like the Ticket to Ride approach of focusing on the "one thing" you will do that will make the most impact and be the most strategic that moment. What would be that one thing, one move, or one change? Let me give you an example of what I mean by telling you Bobbie's story.
Bobbie was a participant in a recent Emotional Intelligence 360 training program I facilitated.
In this program, Bobbie received feedback from
Her manager
4 of her peers
3 of her direct reports
4 vendor partners she works with on a regular basis
4 family members
Bobbie's feedback was centered around the Bar-On EQi 2.0, which is a trait assessment of emotional intelligence with 5 structured domains, each with three sub-competencies. (Domain: Sub-Competency)
Self-Perception: Self-Regard, Self-Actualization, Emotional Self-Awareness
Self-Expression: Emotional Expression, Assertiveness, Independence
Interpersonal: Interpersonal Relationships, Empathy, Social Responsibility
Decision Making: Impulse Control, Reality Testing, Problem-Solving
Stress Management: Optimism, Stress Tolerance, Flexibility
Here are the major takeaways from Bobbie's assessment:
Her strength was her interpersonal relationships and the level of empathy she shows.
She rated her level of self-regard much lower than her manager or her peers did.
The rating she gave herself showed that her self-regard was much higher than her assertiveness.
Everyone, including herself and her family, rated optimism as her lowest competency.
Her level of stress tolerance was significantly below where most leaders are, which is putting her at risk for derailing as a leader.
What To Do
Like most people who get any kind of 360 feedback, a feeling of being overwhelmed quickly came over Bobbie. In our one on one debrief of her assessment, she lamented what most do when trying to digest 360 feedback, “I don’t even know where to begin!"
This is a very common feeling when a leader is faced with feedback. Many times this feedback can be paralyzing, and not knowing what to change the leader will just “freeze” on the development and default to doing what they always do.
I said to Bobbie, who was pouring over the pages in her report trying to make sense of it all, “Let's put the report aside for a moment. Take a deep breath….and another one…and another one...let's just breathe for a minute and relax our minds."
As we did this, a sense of calm came over the room. Bobbie relaxed. (I even relaxed!)
I then asked her, “From all the feedback you received, what is the one thing your heart is telling you that needs to change?"
Why the Question
This becomes the fundamental question for leaders who get feedback and want to develop. What is your next step? What skill do you need to enhance or develop or initiate? How do you need to balance Emotional Intelligence competencies like self-regard and assertiveness?
Finding the one thing out of the myriad of options can bring a settling calm and a real peace about being able to achieve the objective.
In their book on change, It Starts With One, Black and Gregersen make the case that the individual must SEE the change before the change can ever happen.
Way too many people who get feedback never process what the feedback is saying or take the time to SEE it. They move right into action and never really embrace the change.
Do you know what your “one thing” is to move on in your leader development plan?
Note to my family: Look out! I have my Ticked to Ride strategy in place and plan on winning this weekend.
Homework
What is the “one thing” you are working on in your development? Have you taken the time to process and SEE the change you need to make? Are you actively working on intentionally developing yourself as a leader? Change is intentional and it takes one step at a time to win the game.
*If you want to know more about doing an EQi 360 feedback in your organization, or you want to do one for yourself, click here for more information and contact us today!