Josep Puyuelo: «The current leader is agile and has emotional intelligence»

The last decades have brought about a great change in the culture of many companies. The implementation of new technologies, and the rise itself of companies dedicated to the creation and optimization of software, has revolutionized companies in many crucial ways.

An important part of studying the group psychology is dedicated to these processes of change in organizations and, specifically, to the Leadership styles more effective that can be developed according to the context and certain conditions.

Interview with Josep Puyuelo, Project Coordinator at Escuela Europea de Coaching

We have gone from a rigid and hierarchical corporate culture to companies governed by very different values. One of the most interesting aspects of all this social and organizational change is precisely knowing how this new ecosystem has affected leaders. Are today's leaders different from the leaders of a decade, two, or three decades ago? What are the key skills in leaders in the current context?

We have met with Josep Puyuelo, Project Coordinator of EEC, to know his vision on this subject.

Bertrand Regader: How has the concept of what it means to be a leader changed in recent decades?

Josep Puyuelo: Due to the fact that technological environments and markets are in constant change, in recent decades we have gone from leadership hierarchical to the need to have agile leaders, who generate in their team the vision of continuous adaptation, and with leadership at the service of the same.

Organizational structures are increasingly flat, which requires intra-entrepreneurial, committed and adaptable teams. This agile leader must be in a digital and multigenerational context, in which agile tools are generating an authentic revolution as a management philosophy.

From your experience with people who are training as leaders, what are the most difficult skills to learn to be able to effectively lead teams of people and organizations?

Although it always depends on each professional, empathic listening is one of the skills to which we dedicate most efforts in training. This is a skill that helps the leader throughout the entire employee journey, helps to strengthen the bond, build trust, enhance the understanding of the other and, therefore, improve our communication. Empathic listening is essential to give feedback, taking into account that the leader needs to generate continuous and agile learning environments.

If you had to highlight the importance of three skills that a leader must have, which ones would you choose?

As I have commented previously, empathic listening. It is essential for the leader-coach to turn the collaborator into a protagonist through understanding and accompanying her decisions and thus contributing to her development. However, we tend to listen more to answer than to understand the other.

The question is another tool that allows the leader to open a space for reflection, understand the other and generate responsibility and different possibilities of action. And finally, the leader must have “respons-ability”, understood as the ability to take charge of their own “capacity to do” and leave room for that of others.

What role does coaching have in the training and theoretical formation of managers, department directors and other positions that occupy a high or intermediate position in the organization chart?

Executive coaching training serves as the lever from which the professional begins to identify ingrained limiting beliefs that are making it difficult for them to meet their challenges. Questioning these beliefs produces the discovery of new approaches that until now remained outside the field of vision.

Executive coaching also helps to navigate the emotions that are blocking reach a vision and help to distinguish which emotions are going to be that facilitate achieving results. In this process, and anchored with the new "insight", the leader puts into action new dynamics that allow him to achieve his objectives.

Many times it is said that a resume is not as important as it seems if there are no social and communication skills to support it. Can you lead with only technical and practical knowledge of the work to be done, but without being too skilled in dealing with others?

In my opinion, there are very few environments in which to achieve results only depends on technical skills and does not require collaboration and coordination with others. People are the most important asset of organizations and proof of this is that HR Departments They have evolved in their name and are currently Departments of People, People & Culture, etc.

We can even find Happiness Managers in some companies. Leaders can be better or worse technicians, being able to rely on people from their team for certain matters or details, but they must be highly developed. soft skills to inspire, lead by example, empower, align and drive change.

Sometimes the fact that there is no work without workers, and that these are human beings like others, with emotions and feelings, is also obviated. What role does Emotional Intelligence play in team management?

Emotional management It is essential to lead ourselves and to lead other people. Knowing and understanding my emotions and those of others helps in our communication and to improve relationships at all levels.

Be aware of what emotion is driving or stopping our own actions or those of team members, is a differentiating element in the transition towards that transformative leadership to which he referred at the beginning of the interview. A leader is one who is capable of generating the emotional space necessary to achieve results. If the team is afraid of making mistakes or changing, it will be difficult to obtain sustainable results over time.

Do leadership skills tend to be noticed only in the area in which you hold a position of authority, or are they also expressed in other areas of life, even if unintentionally?

We all have the possibility of having the leadership of our lives. This implies taking responsibility and acting based on our personal values ​​with authenticity and coherence between what we think and what we do. We always have the freedom to choose how we want to live, taking charge of the consequences of our choices and being aware of our emotions. If you change, the world changes.

What do you think the leaders of the next decade should look like?

The leaders of the future must operate in a context of accelerated change and increasing complexity. This is already a reality in today's organizations. Agile Leadership is a trend that revolves around three fundamental concepts: communication, commitment and collaboration. The ultimate purpose of this leadership style is adaptation to change and transformation. For this, it is critical that leaders have consolidated digital skills such as collaborative learning, networking or strategic vision.