When employees don’t feel like their abilities are being used to their full potential, work is “frustrating” and “exhausting,” according to a study that asked subordinates to rate the percentage of their intelligence they felt their higher-ups were tapping into. These questions lead to researchers defining two types of leaders in the workplace:

1. “Diminishers”: A leader who is set on their own ideas and doesn’t use the intelligence from their staff to expand on ideas.
2. “Multipliers”: A leader who uses and amplifies the intelligence around them.

In her article, “Smart Leaders Get More Out of the Employees They Have,” Liz Wiseman explains leaders identified as “diminishers” were rated as only using 48% of an employee’s intellectual capability. “Multipliers” were reported as using 95% of their intellectual capability. Data from this study, along with additional research after publication, found employers are only using 66% of their employees’ capability.

“[Companies] spend their time and money ‘grocery shopping’ for talent,” says Wiseman, “when they can simply look inside the already well-stocked refrigerator.”

Leader is a verb not a noun. An effective leader is one who can stand at the helm, while also taking full advantage of the crew’s individual talents. However, employees also have the responsibility to show their strengths to their employers and vocalize that they have unused talents.

Recently, in his article “Youth Unemployment: Is It the Bad Economy or Inability to Overcome Adversity,” Don McNay poses a relationship between today’s high youth unemployment rate and the lack of ambition and tenacity he’s seen firsthand from youth. He tells the story of one young person he knows who looked for a job for several months, then without any offers, gave up and started working in fast food. Another young person he knows seems to be waiting at his mom’s house for someone to come by with a job offer.

McNay reminisces about  leaving grad school and working for a candidate in Congress directly out of school. However, the candidate lost and McNay was on the street. His next job was on the cleanup crew at the Kentucky Horse Park. The experience showed him he needed more stability and to be his own boss, and illuminated his ample supply of tenacity and ambition. “If young people have been sheltered from overcoming failure, they may not understand that adversity ultimately leads to opportunity,” he says.

Yes, the unemployment rates are real and they are tragic. But progress takes action. Employers can work with the employees they have and employees can show their employers they are underused. If employees or employers feel stuck with what they have, they need to take action. Become the verb and not the noun.

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Sources:

“Smart Leaders Get More Out of the Employees They Have,” by Liz Wiseman. 20 August 2012. Harvard Business Review. Accessed on 22 August 2012. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/08/smart_leaders_get_more_out_of.html

“Youth Unemployment: Is It the Bad Economy or Inability to Overcome Adversity?” by Don McNay. 18 August 2012. The Huffington Post. Accessed on 22 August 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/don-mcnay/youth-unemployment_b_1803153.html

The achievement gap between low- and high-income students is 30-40 percent higher for students born in 2001 than those born 25 years earlier, according to the National Summer Learning Association. The stigma of summer school is changing as experts find that summer learning losses continue to divide opportunities between low- and high- income students and that students can’t afford to unlearn knowledge every summer as our world standing in education continues to slip.

A strong focus for summer learning initiatives is on low-income students who don’t have the same summer learning opportunities afforded to their peers from higher-income families, causing them to be at a perpetual disadvantage at the beginning of each school year. However, summer learning loss isn’t exclusively a low-income problem. All students who don’t exercise their math skills over the summer lose about 2 months of grade level equivalency in mathematical computation skills. Low-income students are more likely to also lose 2 months of reading achievement, while their more affluent peers improve (NSLA).

This summer, LifeBound held a series of summer workshops for students in middle school through high school who attend school in Colorado Springs and Jefferson County School District. Scholarships were given to outstanding students to attend the week-long training. Class titles included: Critical and Creative Thinking: Becoming an Effective Coach, Problem Solver, and Decision Maker and Success in Middle School: How to Make a Great Transition for students in 5-9 grade and Critical and Creative Thinking and Mastery of Leadership: Leading in College, Career, and Life for high school students.

Students in Jefferson County are finishing up their last week in their summer workshops this week, and we look forward to hearing about all that they’ve learned. We will continue posting student reflections on our LifeBound student blog over the next few weeks. Today we have three articles by our talented middle school attendee of the Critical and Creative Thinking workshop in Colorado Springs, Keegan. Just one tidbit he took away:

You don’t have to do something great to be a great person. Whether you create a cure for cancer, or invent some socks that never smell, the thing that makes you great is your attitude.

Next week we will have some more articles from our high school students who attended the Leadership course.

Read Keegan’s blogs:

• What I Learned at LifeBound’s Critical and Creative Thinking Summer Workshop
• Using Critical and Creative Thinking Skills In and Out of the Classroom: A Student Reflection
• What I Learned About Teamwork and Leadership in LifeBound’s Summer Workshop

Managers and parents, educators and CEOs, all have one thing in common: They influence others. What do really good leaders do that ineffective leaders don’t do? Why do some people inspire others to greatness while others promote little if any positive influence? Or worse, why and how do some people negatively influence others, bringing down entire organizations, companies, and profits? While books and lectures on this topic abound, the most effective leadership comes down to a few basic tenets:

1. Do you have integrity? As a leader, if you are not a person of your word you can’t motivate others. Or you may inspire them initially, but they won’t be with you for the long haul. If you’re a parent of teenagers, you’ve probably experienced how quickly they can let you know when you’re being a hypocrite.

2. Do you bring out the best in others and yourself? The best leaders understand the strengths and weaknesses of others, as well as their own strengths and weaknesses. They leverage the best qualities of those around them in ways that promote the personal growth of that person while meeting the goals of the organization.

3. Do you have people on your team who offer different perspectives? Research shows that successful companies, as well as strong families, allow for differing points of view. Do you have people around you who think differently than you do? Do they challenge your point of view to help you make more thorough decisions?

4. Are you a visionary? Do you have an idea of where your company can go and what your team can do to bring about wild successes? What tolerance do you have for teachable failures? What culture and climate does your vision promote? A true vision will reflect your most basic values and beliefs.

5. Do you lead by example? Are you someone who doesn’t ask more from others than you are willing to give yourself? The most effective leaders have the ability to maintain their authority while providing an example of leadership built on trust and respect.