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Leadership from the Inside Out
July 01, 2008
By Karen Leland
Top Advisors
This emphasis on emotional learning and developing an integrated sense of self, has drawn many leaders in the fields of business and education to the process. The list of directors and advisors listed on the Hoffman Institute Web site speaks for itself, and includes Blanchard, best-selling author (with Spencer Johnson) of The One Minute Manager; Giles H. Bateman, cofounder of Price Club; Dr. Joan Borysenko, cofounder of the Mind/Body Clinic at Harvard University; Stephen Seligman, former CEO of The Learning Annex; and Dr. Michael Ray, professor of Creativity and Innovation at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Blanchard, himself a Hoffman Process graduate, refers to the famous Johari Window model (created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham) as a way to explain why he feels the Process has such a powerful impact on helping managers get to know themselves better.
"In the Johari model, there are certain things about yourself that are both known to yourself and are also known to others. This is your public window," explains Blanchard. "Then there are things that are not known to yourself, but are known to others. These are your blind spots."
Blanchard feels that the most effective leaders are those with a very open public window and reduced blind spots. "With the best leaders, what people see is what they get," says Blanchard. "The way to reduce the private window and expand the public one is through disclosure. What Hoffman gets at is that private window. It also helps you push the blinds back through self-observation and feedback."
David McCue, founder of McCue Corporation, the world’s number-one-selling line of protective and decorative bumpers for retail counters and checkout areas, says that attending the HQP has greatly enhanced his ability to be an authentic leader. "I have an increased connection with the truth of who I am," says McCue. One example is that prior to the Process, McCue had two senior executives to whom he was adapting and making do. "During the Process, I saw that their nonperformance and lack of cultural fit were one and the same, or at least indivisible," says McCue. "I knew that it wasn't working, and I became proactive and asked them to leave." McCue says that since Hoffman, he can make decisions involving people with a clear intention of integrity and care, but without feeling personally responsible for their feelings as a result of his decision.
Taking the Process to the U
Beyond its impact in the private sector, major educational institutions have also become interested in the HQP. In 2006, the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government invited the Hoffman Institute to conduct the process on-site with several groups of graduate fellows from the center. "We were really interested in ramping up our leadership development programs," says Loren Gary, associate director for leadership development and public affairs. Gary explains that a faculty task force had identified seven different competencies essential for public leadership, two of which were, understanding one’s strengths and weaknesses, and enhancing one’s interpersonal skills. The Center for Public Leadership saw the HQP as one offering that could potentially address both areas. "Although Hoffman is focused on the individual, it's an easy connection to see how the insights people get—such as realizing negative patterns, their origin and how these patterns play out in the individual's life—impact how they behave as leaders," says Gary.
Liza Ingrasci, managing director and vice president of the Hoffman Institute (and Charles' wife of 29 years), says that one of the benefits Harvard fellows report post-process is an enhanced ability to listen.
"People tell me that they have become more able to listen fully, with a deeper understanding," says Ingrasci. "They feel they can respond to what is really happening without letting their anticipated conclusions or judgments get in the way. In my experience, this is a key quality in leadership excellence in both the private and public sectors."
While skeptics of the process question how a singular approach could be effective with all participants, longtime HQP teacher Ed McClune, also a practicing Marriage and Family Therapist, says that the beauty of the process lies in its ability to address the individual needs of the participants. As McClune points out, the reason the process is so successful at working with such a seemingly diverse group of objectives is that it focuses on the important questions. Why am I doing what I am doing? What is important to me? What do I care about in my life? "Being away for eight days helps people get clarity about these questions and a deep experience of what the answers are," says McClune. From that place, he believes businesspeople connect more deeply to their own charisma, make better decisions, ultimately achieve more results and authentically express the leader within.
And The Research Shows…
In the spring and summer of 2003, Professors Michael R. Levenson and Carolyn M. Aldwin of the University of California at Davis presented their findings that participants in the Hoffman Quadrinity Process experienced significant and lasting increases in positive affect. These included such attributes as emotional intelligence—a key in leadership excellence—and significant and lasting decreases in negative emotional affect, such as anger, anxiety and depression. For additional information, contact the Hoffman Institute at www.hoffmaninstitute.org.
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