Engineering Your Leadership to Generate Flow – Ep 111

In this episode, Chris Knutson, PE interviews Croft Edwards, author on GeneralLeadership.com and an extremely accomplished leader and leadership coach on how to generate flow through leadership.



Engineering Success quote:











Here are the key points from the episode:



Leadership is the authority granted to an individual by their followers.

Management is the authority granted to an individual by an organization.

Leadership flow is the melding of the emerging study of Flow with the field of Ontological Coaching which looks at how leaders show up in their use of language, moods and emotions and the body.

Leadership is a skill that can be practiced and learned.

We tend to view the human side as a system that can be controlled like a machine, but you have to realize that every person is fundamentally a human first, who has needs and issues. People have to be led, you cannot just manage people.

The fundamental tool we use as leaders is how you conduct your conversations. The mood and emotion behind the conversation is very important when approaching others.

The root of leadership flow is passion.

Time slows down when you are in the ‘flow zone.’ Leaders should also be in the flow and try and bring out the best in each individual.

If you hit a wall and don't know what to do, stop what you are doing and go and do something different. You will then most likely find the answer to the problem you had before. In Flow our bodies release all the chemicals necessary to succeed in your job.

The goal of leadership is not to produce results, the goal is to unleash flow in your team.

Leadership flow through self-mastery is expressed through three systems of action we call:



Visioning the Future

Cultivating other Leaders and Teams

Creating Culture and Expanding Capacity





Generative Leadership looks at:



The actual behaviors and if you can learn and practice them

What it means to be human

How effectively you use language

Learning what is causing emotions and how to deal with it

The body – It determines what is possible

Historical Discourse

Practices

Listening to others and treating others with respect







More in this episode…



In the Take Action Today segment of the show, Croft shares a piece of actionable advice that you can implement right away to get yourself into leadership flow.



“Leadership flows out of who we are, not just what we do.” – Don Flow



About Croft Edwards:



Croft Edwards, MCC, leadership coach and speaker, is a thought leader in the field of leadership and organizational change. He is the President of CROFT + Company, a global leadership and organizational change firm with clients spanning the spectrum from oil companies and manufacturing firms, to government entities and non-profits, to small businesses and start-ups. He has coached hundreds of leaders at all levels of organizations from front-line supervisors to CEO’s and TED Fellows.



 Learn more about Croft in LinkedIn, Twitter or his website.



Book mentioned in this session include:



Flow







Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success







The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance







Resources and links mentioned in this session include:



Croft's Website

Croft's Twitter

Croft's Linked In

GeneralLeadership

Engineering Career Summit 2016

TECC 84: Leading An Engineering Career on the Razor’s Edge

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi TEDTalk