Noha Hefny

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Noha Hefny

Founder, People of Impact

An award-winning, multilingual leader with 19 years of experience in communications and international affairs. She's held leadership roles in organisations like Pepsi Co, McKinsey and UNESCO.

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Tricky workplace situation handled

By this mentor in various human skills

1

The email does not communicate the change which can cause anxiety and stress in the minds of employees and lead to a spread of rumors and toxicity in the workplace. It is unclear how much time they will have to allocate to training and what the training is about. Viewing that the management has been discussing for several months the changes, there should have been a prelude to this communicate such as a face to face townhall or meetings within teams to pave the way for communicating the change in writing. The email does not seek feedback from employees which can lead to a feeling of exclusion and make some of the employees feel that their opinion is not valued. This type of communication does not create a culture of ownership for the decisions and changes to come and is top down and therefore will not yield to the results the organization is expecting especially if the impact is high on employees. It also tells employees to follow procedures but does not communicate what these are. Overall it lacks clarity, empathy, human connection, it is directive and is not informative enough, nor includes any clear call to action that people can take away except having to follow the process and that changes will be implemented which is communicated with lack of clarity and vaguely throughout.

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Dear colleagues, For the past months, I have been discussing with my leadership team how we can best reduce cost to enable our growth. We have considered several cost cutting measures that will have implications on ways of work and how we conduct business. This change is necessary for our company to stay competitive and ahead of the market, it is also necessary to ensure that we can invest in future growth through innovation. The changes will touch on policies, processes, including travel and entertainment, event expenses and phone bills. I would like to reassure you all that there will be no impact on jobs. I am sure that there are many questions in this regard, therefore we will be sending a survey shortly to collect all your questions and I will be answering all of them in an upcoming townhall, dates to be communicated shortly. We will also launch an information portal so that you can access information on new policies being rolled out in relation to cost reduction at any time. We are counting on you to lead this change, and to own it and take responsibility each in your respective functions in the best interest of our business. I will be asking department heads to seek your feedback in team meetings on upcoming policies as I would like to ensure that we capture your opinion to help us shape our direction on this matter in the coming months. Thank you for your continued commitment and hard work. Sincerely, xxxx

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7, it can be enhanced through more consistency, creating an emotional connection and using visual communication more frequently

4

It is important to make a conscious effort to pay attention, ensure you make eye contact, show you are listening, put your thoughts on hold, resist planning your response, nod, and acknowledge the other person in the conversation. Providing feedback on what the person said, do not interrupt the person speaking,

5

Active listening is important to make people feel seen and heard, this in turn leads them to feel valued, it increases engagement and a feeling of belonging and inclusion in the organization. It enhances motivation, productivity and creates better relationships within teams and in manager/employee relationships.

6

Sarah is not actively listening to Joey, she is looking for someone to hold responsible, or wants to find the gap in the process rather than being supportive and open to discuss the matter. She is also acting in a directive way, although Joey raised the issue, she says she will handle it and excludes him from the issue he raised, this is non inclusive. She is also blaming him for not raising this much earlier, she makes him feel that she does not have time for the conversation and avoids looking at him or making eye contact during the conversation. She is distracted and walks around which is disrespectful and will make him feel she is not putting much importance to what he has to share. This will only grow a blame culture, hinder openness and transparency in the workplace and make employees fearful of raising issues. She is also not offering any discussion or solutions for the problem he is raising.

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I am impressed by how he drove her to be more solutions oriented than blaming and complaining. He guided her by using questions to show or lead her to the right course of action that could be more positive in resolving this issue. He also tried to understand how she would feel if Ben heard her complaint. He made her own the problem and be part of the solution, he showed her that there are ways to deal with the situation and that there should be openness to speaking to Ben and to look at solving the problem with him. He also mentioned he would escalate the issue to the manager which showed her the weight of what she was saying and its possible impact on Ben.

8

Absolutely, they do work and yield to solutions rather than difficulties. They also contain the anger or complacency of a difficult employee

9

Try to understand the root cause of the problem and address accordingly. If insecure, make them feel heard, if they overshadow others and interrupt, create team rules that they can follow and call them out on it, always be authentic and role model the right behavior yourself as a leader

10

1) Re-adapted a strategy for my department after cost cutting, 2) External market dynamics changed with more intense competition, 3) reduced team capacity. I would like to enhance my skills by being more up to speed and knowledgeable of the latest trends in areas that are outside of my comfort zone

11

Alignment with audience expectations is key as you might encounter resistance Having a good understanding and knowledge of all the trends and dynamics as you might be presented with information you were not aware of and being able to incorporate that and acknowledge the feedback in a swift way Think of the audience and their expectations and roles, so that you can cater to that while presenting Plan your messages in a concise and clear way in 3 points for each message to be able to clearly convey your ideas and to avoid the audience being lost in what you are trying to convey Think of how inclusive your plan is to avoid some key stakeholders feeling that they are left out Look at the issue holistically and not only from your area or functional expertise

12

As an entrepreneur, change is the only constant, therefore it is important to be agile, flexible to adapt to new situations, to come with new approaches to navigate my business successful. To focus on goals but also to be able to change course when required. It is key to have a bird eyes view of the market context, trends, the dynamics that influence the business and how they are evolving to be able to address and confront challenges when they come up effectively. By seeing the whole picture, it makes it easier to foresee what might come up and to plan accordingly whilst knowing how to pivot and change plans as the context evolves

13

Authoritative, Structural because I would like to always allow people to be expressive, to have ownership, autonomy, to feel heard, included, recognized, for them to take the lead, and be able to input their thoughts significantly into a project. I believe these types of leadership styles can be limiting and also depend on the leader's personality and how far they go with authority or structure. It requires a lot of balance between structure and allowing people to unlock their potential and be expressive, authority and allowing people to have autonomy and to express their views without fear knowing their opinions will count which is challenging to achieve

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Noha Hefny

Tricky workplace situation handled

2 How would you rewrite this email?

3 On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your company’s internal communication? What are some ways this can be improved to boost performance?

4 Watch this video and answer the following question What are the ways you can show the person you are talking to that you are listening to them?

5 How does active listening impact performance and the relationship between an employee and his/her manager?

7 Watch the video and answer the questions below: State 3-5 things that impressed you about how the manager dealt with the situation and why (your opinion).

9 What other steps can you take to deal with employees who are lazy, misbehaved, and undermine your authority?

10 Name at least three instances you exercised your adaptive skills as a manager?

11 Suppose you are thinking about presenting an important plan for the company. While you certainly want a clear idea of what your ideal presentation would look like, you want to anticipate potential unforeseen problems. What are some curveballs one might encounter during his performance?

12 How does adaptive thinking impact our work?

13 Which leadership style would you never use and WHY?

Talk Show Videos

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