Rotman Management Rotman Management Leader's Digest Issue: Thriving

A thriving workforce is one in which employees and their leaders are not just satisfied and productive: they are engaged in creating the future — both the organization’s and their own. Never satisfied with the status quo, thriving individuals create resources and actively seek opportunities to learn new things and develop. What organization couldn’t use more people like that? In this inaugural Leader’s Digest, we present the best thinking on thriving from Rotman Management magazine, and show what leaders can do to enable more of it in their workplace. Articles include “CoachingHigh Performance” by Roger Martin and renowned tennis coach Bob Brett; “Navigating the Realm of the High-Potential Employee” by Douglas Ready; “Neuroleadership 101”, an interview with David Rock; and Q&As with London Business School Professor Lynda Gratton and former Goldman…

OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS, we have seen dramatic interest in building sustainable organizations that have the capacity to endure and simultaneously satisfy a triple bottom line of economic, environmental and human performance. Yet, in comparison to the environmental and economic dimensions, substantially less attention has been paid to sustainability’s human dimension. An important mechanism for understanding the human dimension of sustainability is the concept of thriving at work. When thriving, employees are energized to grow and develop, and are creating resources rather than merely depleting resources. In this article, we will describe what it means to thrive and what leaders can do to enable more thriving in the workplace. What It Means to Thrive Thriving individuals are growing, developing and energized, as opposed to stagnating. In workplace terms, thriving can be defined…

IN MODERN ORGANIZATIONS, the mindful management of talent —highly-creative, uniquely-skilled, value-producing individuals — is an absolute necessity. High-performing players, whether they be star CEOs, world-class salespeople, great product developers or professional services rainmakers, exist at the tail end of the distribution in terms of ability and impact. They have high aptitude, sought-after skills and the ability to ply their trade almost anywhere around the globe. How can a leader take a brilliant, talented individual and bring out his or her very best, sustained performance? Great sports coaches — like Harry Hopman in tennis, Bill Walsh in football or Mike Krzyzewski in college basketball — are prime exemplars. They are able to draw outstanding performance from individuals and to create a legacy of sustained excellence. But how do the lessons from producing peak…

Research shows that the brain requires three things to function optimally. What are they? The first is moderate stress. People tend to think we need low stress to function at our best, but that isn’t true. Most problems related to poor performance arise when people are already at a moderate level of stress, and they suddenly experience very high stress. The second requirement for optimal brain functioning is positive affect, or emotion, which creates the right neurochemistry for our conscious and non-conscious processes to function at their best. If you experience negative emotions consistently, your cortisol levels will be too high, and you won’t experience the healing effects of positive emotions to recuperate. The third factor is a good night’s sleep, which is critical. For some of us, that means five…

You have said that an ‘enormous vacuum’ exists in leadership today. Please explain. I refer to the last 10 years as ‘leadership’s lost decade’. It all started with Enron and Worldcom, two of the first large companies to have, shall we say, ‘ethical lapses’; then we hit the crisis of 2008, where countless leaders seemingly put their heads down and focused on personal gain, not bothering to think about the bigger picture. As a result of all this, public trust in business is at its lowest level in 50 years; and in business, trust is everything. I think a lot of the bad behaviour emerged from having the wrong definition of leadership — an image of the all-powerful leader at the top of an organization, and a top-down, hierarchical approach. These qualities…

What does it mean to ‘Glow’ in the workplace? People who Glow have mastered three distinct areas of their lives: they have built deeply trusting and cooperative relationships with others; they have extended their networks beyond the obvious to encompass the unusual; and they are on an inner quest that ignites their own energy and that of others. When you Glow, you are able to create or find and flourish in what I call ‘Hot Spots’. These are times, places and occasions when whole groups or communities become highly energized and innovative. The challenge for us all is to learn how to Glow and then create, find and flourish in Hot Spots. You recommend that we ask ourselves some key question on a regular basis. Which ones? Wherever you are in your work…