People%20Centered%20Leadership%20Post%20Graduate%20Course%20in%20Effective%20Leadership

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• People Centered LeadershipPost Graduate Course
  in Effective Leadership
• Alberto Zucconi
• World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS)
• World University Consortium (WUC)
• Person Centered Approach Institute (IACP)
• azucconi_at_iacp.it
• azucconi_at_worldacademy.org
• Inter- University Centre (IUC), March 31-April
  3, 2015 , Dubrovnik, Slovenia

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• WE live in a period of globalization and of
  growing complexity.
• In order to meet our present and future
  challenges every community needs effective ways
  to cope.

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• WE need to facilitate the emerging of effective
  leaders at every level of society
• We need effective leaders at every level
• We need leaders that are healthy, not
  narcissistic or psychopathic ones
• We need leaders that are people centered
• and emphatic
• We need leaders that are generous and not
  selfish ones
• We need leaders that empower their people not
  those that enslave them

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• Independent, resilient and
• empowered people
• are more creative
• and capable of
• effective crisis management than those who are
  just passive followers

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• How well do you listen? Listening is a key
  leadership skill
• Gail Reichert

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• Carl Rogers is a good example of a people -
  centered leader, a firm believer on empowerment
• When he was asked, "What is a good leader?" Carl
  would pull a crumpled piece of paper out of his
  wallet and read aloud what Lao Tzu had written
• When his task is accomplished and things have
  been completed, all the people say, we ourselves
  have achieved it!

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• In my early professional years I was asking the
  question How can I treat, or cure, or change
  this person? Now I would phrase the question in
  this way
• How can I provide a relationship which this
  person may use for his own personal growth?
• Carl Rogers

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• When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but
  when
• I look at people
• I am optimistic.
• Carl Rogers

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• The only person who is educated is the one who
  has learned how to learn and change.
• Carl Rogers

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• Classic economic theory, based as it is on an
  inadequate theory of human motivation, could be
  revolutionized by accepting the reality of higher
  human needs, including the impulse to self
  actualization and the love for the highest
  values.
• Abraham Maslow

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• "Of all the tools available to us in dealing with
  conflict, none is more important than attentive,
  intentional listening.
• Listening helps reduce resistance and opens our
  thinking to creative solutions.
• Listening not only clarifies the message but
  changes both the messenger and the listener.
  Listening makes it possible for both sides to
  have a change of heart."
•  Brian Muldon

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• Man's inability to communicate is a result of
  his failure to listen effectively. 
• Carl Rogers

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• It is better to lead from behind and to put
  others in front, especially when you celebrate
  victory when nice things occur. You take the
  front line when there is danger. Then people will
  appreciate your leadership.
• Nelson Mandela

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• Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the
  sake of peace
• Nelson Mandela

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•  When a person realizes he has been deeply
  heard, his eyes moisten. I think in some real
  sense he is weeping for joy. It is as though he
  were saying, "Thank God, somebody heard me.
  Someone knows what it's like to be me.
• Carl Rogers

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• "When I ask you to listen and you start giving
  advice, you  have not done what I have asked.
• When I ask you to listen and you start telling me
  why I shouldn't feel the way I do, you are
  invalidating my feelings.
• When I ask you to listen and you start trying to
  solve my problems, I feel underestimated and
  disempowered. When I ask you to listen and you
  start telling me what I need to do, I feel
  offended, pressured and controlled. When I ask
  you to listen, it does not mean I am helpless.

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• When I ask you to listen and you do things that I
  can and need to do for myself, you hurt my
  self-esteem.
• But when you accept the way I feel, then I don't
  need to spend time and energy trying to defend
  myself or convince you, and I can focus on
  figuring out why I feel the way I feel and what
  to do about it.
• And when I do that, I don't need advice, just
  support, trust and encouragement.
• Please remember that what you think are
  irrational feelings always makes sense if you
  take the time to listen and understand me." 
• Mark Brady

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• "Of all the skills of leadership, listening is
  the most valuable and one of the least
  understood.
• Most captains of industry listen only sometimes,
  and they remain ordinary leaders.
• But a few, the great ones, never stop listening.
• That's how they get word before anyone else of
  unseen problems and opportunities." 
• Peter Nulty - National Business Hall of Fame
  Fortune Magazine

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• Big egos have little ears.
• Robert Schuller

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• "The ear of the leader must ring with the voices
  of the people."
• Woodrow Wilson 

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• Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak
  courage is also what it takes to sit down and
  listen.
• Winston Churchill

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• Participative vs. Autocratic Leadership
• A growing body of research shows that companies
  with a participative management style are more
  financially successful than those with autocratic
  styles. More and better ideas, free flow of
  information, improved decisions, higher
  productivity, higher morale, less absenteeism,
  lower turnover - all have a positive impact on
  the bottom line.
• A 10-year study of 30 companies published in 1996
  demonstrated that organizations that
  consistently practice good people management
  create an environment that reduces--even
  eliminates--significant workplace stressors--have
  higher sales, profit, growth and margins
• 
  (Kravetz, 1996)

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• Leadership is a set of functions that are the
  property of the group and should be distributed
  to group members.
• The most effective leader is one who creates the
  conditions by which s/he will give up the
  traditional leadership role and become more of a
  group member. Consequently, group members will
  then carry out some of the functions of the
  leader.
• Group problems require participative group
  problem-solving.
• Leaders create the conditions in which all the
  group members feel safe to communicate their
  ideas and feelings.
• Group-centered leaders set a model of empathic
  listening ,
• Group-centered leaders convey acceptance of the
  members communication.
• Thomas Gordon

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• Emotional Intelligence
• is the ability of people to recognize emotions
  both in themselves and in others to understand
  and communicate about their emotions hear and
  understand others feelings
• and build and maintain satisfying relationships
  with others.
• Research has shown that EQ is more important than
  IQ in determining ones success in life, both as
  individuals and in relationships with others.

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• Social Intelligence (SI) is the ability to get
  along well with others, and to get them to
  cooperate with you. SI informally referred as
  "people skills," includes an awareness of
  situations and the social dynamics that govern
  them, and a knowledge of interaction styles and
  strategies that can help a person achieve his or
  her objectives in dealing with others. It also
  involves a certain amount of self-insight and a
  consciousness of one's own perceptions and
  reaction patterns.
• From the standpoint of interpersonal skills, Karl
  Albrecht classifies behavior toward others as
  falling somewhere on a spectrum between "toxic"
  effect and "nourishing" effect. Toxic behavior
  makes people feel devalued, angry, frustrated,
  guilty or otherwise inadequate. Nourishing
  behavior makes people feel valued, respected,
  affirmed, encouraged or competent.

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• Characteristics of the Most Effective Leaders
• They decrease the power differential between self
  and team members
• They create conditions for distributing the
  leadership function throughout the group
• They show respect for the intrinsic worth of
  team members
• They show respect for team members as individuals
  who are different from the leader
• They deeply feel that people arent there to be
  used, directed, or influenced to accomplish only
  the leaders aims
• They listen with empathy
• They demonstrate acceptance
• They express their own beliefs, needs and ideas
  honestly, clearly, and without blame
• They work to resolve conflicts in a win-win way
  that creates mutual need satisfaction

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• Do I really trust the capacity of the team and
  of the individuals on it to solve the problems
  facing us? Or do I basically trust only myself?
• Do I create a climate in which my team can have
  creative discussions by being willing to hear,
  understand, accept and respect all input? Or do I
  find myself trying to influence the outcome of
  discussions?
• Do I honestly express my own beliefs and ideas
  without trying to control those of others?
• When there are problems and conflicts, do I make
  it possible for them to be brought out into the
  open, or do I subtly communicate that they should
  be kept hidden?

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• Skills to meet group members needs
• 1. Behavior that increases group members
  self-esteem and personal worth.
• 2. Behavior that increases group cohesiveness and
  team spirit.
• Skills to meet organizational needs
• 1. Behavior that motivates productivity and the
  achievement of group goals.
• 2. Behavior that helps members reach goals
  planning, scheduling, coordinating,
  problem-solving, providing resources.
• Skills to resolve conflicts
• 1.The effective leader must learn skills to
  resolve the inevitable conflicts that arise among
  his team members

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• Promoting processes that protect and foster the
  development of fully functioning persons,
  families, groups, organizations and communities
  and that foster the development of effective,
  compassionate and people centered leaders is not
  only of vital importance for human survival and
  welfare but also for the welfare of the entire
  planet.

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Humanistic Psychology instead of
focusing only on pathology has studied people
that are particularly healthy and fully
functioning, investigating the common
denominators of those people
Humanistic Psychology instead of focalizing only
on pathology has studied people that are
particularlHumanistic Psychology instead of
focalizing only on pathology has studied people
that are particularly healthy and fully
functioning, investigating the common
denominators of those people y healthy and fully
functioning, investigating the common
denominators of those people
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• Kurt Goldstein described self-actualization as
  the tendency to actualize, as much as possible,
  the organism's individual capacities in the
  world.
• The tendency toward self-actualization is the
  only drive by which the life of an organism is
  determined.

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• Abraham Maslow based his theory on his case
  studies of historical figures whom he saw as
  examples of self-actualized individuals
  including Albert Einstein, Ruth Benedict,
  Frederick Douglass, Jane Addams Eleanor
  Roosevelt, Max Wertheimer, Henry David Thoreau.
  
• Maslow examined the lives of each of these people
  in order to asses the common qualities that led
  each to become self-actualized.

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• In general he found that these individuals were,
  accepting of themselves and of their life
  circumstances very creative focused on finding
  solutions to cultural problems rather than just
  to concentrate on personal problems open to
  others' opinions and ideas had a strong sense of
  privacy, autonomy, human values and appreciation
  of life and a few intimate friendships rather
  than many superficial ones.
• They also all reported the frequent occurrence of
  peak experiences . These occasions were marked by
  feelings of harmony and deep meaning feeling at
  one with the universe.

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• For Carl Rogers human nature has a fundamental
  tendency, the actualizing tendency where
  self-awareness generates self-regulation.

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• The research of Carl Rogers and his group on the
  fully functioning person found the following
  common denominators
• Self aware, integrated, in touch, deep,
  authentic, trusting, creative, good capacity for
  affiliation and communication, balanced and
  realistic
• Psychological health, maturity, existential
  depth, effective self- regulation, respect for
  themselves and others
• Openness to experience (instead of the rigid
  defense stance of the person feeling under
  threat)
• Personality mature, fluid, absence of rigidity /
  fundamentalism
• Maximum of adaptability
• Trust in themselves, their organism, intuitions,
  feelings and values
• Sense of direction, purpose, leadership qualities

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• The process of the fully functioning person is
  seen by Rogers as a challenge
• This process is not, I am convinced, a life for
  the faint-hearted.
• It involves the stretching and growing of
  becoming more and more of one's potentialities.
• It involves the courage to be.
• 
  
• 
  (Carl Rogers 1961)

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• Carl Rogers research over the last 70 years has
  identified specific qualities in relationships
  which promote the development of fully
  functioning people as well as the healing of
  partially functioning people
• Respect
• Empathic understanding
• Authenticity/congruence (deep contact)

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• People that are related to in this nourishing way
  tend to reproduce these qualities in their
• new relationships.

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• We need more people and especially more
  leaders that relate to themselves, to others and
  to the planet with more
• Respect
• Empathy
• Authenticity/congruence (deep contact)

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• By fostering the conditions that protect and
  promote individuality, people centered leadership
  in all the processes of the construction of
  reality, identity, social roles and behaviors.
• By relating to others in respectful, emphatic,
  genuine and congruent ways in the fields of
• Parenting
• Schooling
• Workplaces
• Community
• Society
• Culture

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• We will be part of the solutions
• and not of the problems afflicting present
  society

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• Thank You!

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• Alberto Zucconi
• azucconi_at_iacp.it
• azucconi_at_worldacademy.org
• World Academy of Art and Science
• www.worldacademy.org
• World University Consortium (WUC)
• www.wunicon.org
• Person Centered Approach Institute (IACP)
• www.iacp.it