Prophecy Consulting Group, LLC

10/09/2023

Today’s Tip
Become a More Inclusive Leader
(Source: HBR)

Inclusivity is an increasingly crucial element of successful organizations. According to research, inclusive leaders see increases in their team’s performance, decision-making quality, and collaboration (not to mention a decrease in employee attrition). To become a more inclusive leader, focus on these behaviors.

Be authentic. To create an inclusive, psychologically safe environment where people feel free to express themselves and air dissenting opinions without fear of retribution, model curiosity, humility, and vulnerability.

Don’t just follow the rules—redefine them. Don’t be afraid to challenge well-established practices that have outlived their relevance. Be vigilant and proactive about identifying practices and policies that exclude people—and replace them with new ones that are more inclusive of underrepresented groups.

Embrace active learning. Becoming a more inclusive leader takes consistent effort. Your natural habits, assumptions, and inclinations probably contain biases and need to be constantly examined, challenged, and changed. Look for ways to actively grow and improve.

Ensure equal opportunity and equitable outcomes. To do this, acknowledge each of your individual team members’ specific needs (especially those of team members from underrepresented backgrounds), and work to meet those needs. Identify the invisible challenges faced by those team members and take steps to support them.

This tip is adapted from “What Makes an Inclusive Leader?,” by Wei Zheng et al.

Leaders play a critical role in fostering inclusivity within their organizations. They account for a difference of up to 70 percentage points in employees’ experience of belongingness and psychological safety, and inclusive leaders see a 17% increase in team performance, a 20% increase in decision...

10/05/2023

Today’s Tip: Develop Your Storytelling Skills
(Source: HBR)

Every leader knows storytelling can be a powerful tool. But what kinds of narratives are most effective? That depends on what you’re trying to achieve. Here are three types of stories you can use—and when to use them.

Trust stories humanize you as a leader. When you demonstrate vulnerability by sharing a personal story, others will be inspired to reciprocate, creating a virtuous circle of trust.

Teaching stories allow you to simplify complex topics by providing easy-to-follow models for behavior and skills. While a trust story is built around you, a teaching story can also be an indirect narrative—using someone else’s story, a fictional one, or a parable to deliver your message. Just make sure your audience can identify and empathize with the protagonist so that they want the same thing for themselves.

Action stories inspire people to do something. With these, you want to leave the audience thinking, “If we do this (insert your desired action here), then we will get that (the desired result).” Entrepreneurs can use action stories to launch new business ideas. Senior leaders might use them to inspire organizational change.

This tip is adapted from “5 Types of Stories Leaders Need to Tell,” by Nick Westergaard

Storytelling is an important leadership skill, and executives who want to succeed should master five types of narrative: Vision stories, which inspire a shared one; values stories that model the way; action stories that spark progress and change; teaching stories that transmit knowledge and skills t...

09/21/2023

What day is it folks? Do you remember?

Official HD video for "September" by Earth, Wind and FireListen to Earth, Wind and Fire: https://EarthWindandFire.lnk.to/listenYDSubscribe to the official Ea...

09/19/2023

Here's how it works.

09/18/2023

This actually makes a lot of sense....

Two words: social skills.

09/13/2023

Understand Your Approach to Collaboration
(Source: HBR)

Creativity isn’t a characteristic that you either have or don’t—we all possess it, and each of us approaches creative collaboration in a certain way. Understanding your own approach can give you the freedom to be yourself, play to your strengths, acknowledge your development areas, and partner with creative opposites who will complement your thinking style, greatly improving your work.

Here’s how to take stock of your creative type. The next time you’re in a brainstorm or a team meeting, pay attention to when and how you contribute. Are you often one of the first people to speak, pitching novel ideas and generating starting points in conversation? If so, consider yourself an inventor.

If, on the other hand, you tend to shape, refine, and build on other people’s ideas, then you’re more of an editor. These labels are imperfect, and they shouldn’t feel restrictive. But they can help you develop more self-awareness and position yourself—and your team—for more successful collaboration.

This tip is adapted from “What Is Your Creative Type?,” by Gina Fong and Vin Reed

Each of us approaches creative collaboration in a certain way — our default, as it were. Some are editors and some are inventors. Recognizing and learning more about your creative type can be immensely helpful in the workplace, especially in highly collaborative environments. It can give you the f...

08/31/2023

While Hurricane Idalia may not have changed history, she did leave a path of destruction thru FL, GA, SC and NC.

These violent storms have had far-reaching consequences that altered the course of history in surprising ways.

08/24/2023

Check out Project Humanities Fall 2023 Schedule of Events. Plan to attend at least one program. I know you will enjoy it.

Dispelling myths about being deaf. Examining poverty p**n. Reflecting on a Texas town torn apart when a mosque is burned to the ground. Those are just some of the topics that will be discussed during the fall series of Project Humanities, which kicks off Aug. 24.

08/16/2023

Winners Find Ways!

08/16/2023

Care about the people you serve as much as you care about results and profits.

08/14/2023

Gaslighters “are typically emotionally abusive people — often with low self-esteem — who wish to control others rather than engage in mutually respectful relationships that require consideration, empathy, compassion and kindness,” Vermani said. “They seek ways to undermine and overpower someone they fear losing, regardless of the damage to their target.”

Psychologists explain what gaslighting really means and how to know if that’s what someone’s doing to you.