Free Leadership Course Helps Leaders Gain Self-Awareness and Cope in Crisis

As the novel coronavirus continues to spread, the stress can cause us all to struggle to be our best selves at work. But for leaders, the failure to manage their emotions can have a severe negative impact on teams stress levels and overall performance.

To help, DDI is offering a free, short online course, Leading Self in Times of Crisis. The course helps leaders understand and identify their personal tendencies that could derail their effectiveness. More importantly, it offers practical tips to recognize and address these derailers.

“It’s incredibly hard to lead during times of crisis and nearly everyone is struggling with significant personal stress,” said Tacy Byham, Ph.D., chief executive officer of DDI. “For leaders, it’s important that they are aware of how stress affects them personally, and can hinder them from leading effectively. A crisis sometimes triggers negative tendencies, such as an argumentative attitude or irrationally acting on stress-induced impulses. Once they recognize these tendencies, it’s easier to manage them.”

Research found most people believe they are self-aware, but only 10 to 15 percent are truly self-aware of their behaviors. But behaviors are influenced by experience, knowledge, underlying abilities, motivations and deeper personal tendencies. These tendencies are also influenced by current condition and environmental factors.

Personal tendencies dictate how someone reacts to their environment and stressors. Crises present stressful conditions that cause rational thinking, judgement and actions to be overridden by strong personal tendencies. For example, in a crisis, leaders who naturally prefer to avoid conflict may find themselves focusing on unimportant details, rather than addressing big problems head on.

The course provides leaders with an opportunity to understand their leadership brand, personal tendencies and the risk of derailing in times of crisis. Derailing behaviors may not always be clear. For instance – someone could see themselves reacting with a sense of urgency and passion, while others may view their actions as unpredictable and overly emotional. That’s why it’s critical for leaders to understand how their actions may be perceived, especially during a crisis.

Leading Self in Times of Criss includes:

• A self-evaluation tool for leaders to understand personal tendencies, such as emotional stability, affability, confidence, attention to detail and more
• Tips to effectively identify personal derailers and address and manage each one
• A guide to help address personal derailers and minimizing the effect on team productivity

This course comes after DDI offered free access to its Leading Virtual Meetings online course.

For more information, including access to the course, visit Leading Self in Times of Crisis.

DDI is a global leadership consulting firm that helps organizations hire, promote and develop exceptional leaders. From first-time managers to C-suite executives, DDI is by leaders’ sides, supporting them in every critical moment of leadership. Built on five decades of research and experience in the science of leadership, DDI’s evidence-based assessment and development solutions enable millions of leaders around the world to succeed, propelling their organizations to new heights.