Aha!

Most of us are aware that if we overuse a strength it can become a weaknesses. Again, continuing my recent theme, it is all about ‘balance’. Not ‘too much’, not ‘too little’ but ‘just right’ is what we are aiming for.

So how does this apply to our leadership styles. Daniel Goldman, a well known researcher and author about leadership and Emotional Intelligence, identified 6 key leadership style: Commanding, Visionary, Affiliative, Democratic, Pacesetting and Coaching.

Commanding is a “do as I tell you” style that demand immediate compliance. It’s great in a crisis or in a period of change but if overused can have negative impact on people and the climate.

Visionary is a”come with me” style that moblises people towards a vision. Great for engaging people behind a clear vision such as a change in direction. Not so good if overused in a team of experts or experience colleagues where the direction is already clearly defined.

Affiliative is a “people come first” style that create harmony and builds emotional bonds. It’s great for healing rifts or motivating people but if used in isolating can lack direction and purpose.

Democratic is a “what do you think?” style that forges consensus through harmony. It’s great for getting buy-in or consensus but it overused can be a long and frustrating process that can feel leaderless.

Pacesetting is “do as I do, now” style that is good for setting high standards of performance. Great for getting quick results from a highly motivated team but can be overwhelming and oppressive if used over long-periods of time

Coaching is a ‘try this” style for developing people for the future. Great for helping employees to improve performance and developing strengths. It’s not appropriate in time-pressured situations or with people who don’t want to be developed.

As leaders, we naturally have a leaning to one or two of these styles and it is clear that our leadership strengths can become weaknesses if we overuse them or use them on the wrong occasions (I’m assuming that we are unlikely to underuse our strengths). Goldman asserts that leaders who have mastery of four or more of the styles, especially Visionary, Affiliative, Democratic and Coaching, develop the best working climate and achieve the highest levels of business performance.

What are your strongest leadership styles? And are you overusing them?

In my last blog, I spoke about how having ‘balance’ in all areas of our  life is important for us to find fulfillment and happiness.

Continuing on the ‘balance’ theme, I went to a forum on Psychometric testing, recently, and the Speaker there Robert Kaiser from Kaplan Devries Inc was taking about how 5-point scales (“Never” through to “Always” or “Ineffective through “Extremely Effective”) can give the wrong impression in 360 Appraisals.

Take the example question “Pays attention to detail – has a finger on the pulse of day-to-day activity”. If the response to this on a 5 point scale is “Always” then we could assume that this is a good score. However, what would you score someone, on this question, if they were a ‘micro-manager’ of situations; not let their people develop or grow because they controlled how they did things?  On the 5-point scale you would have still score them as ‘Always’, which, i think you’ll agree, is misleading. Kaplan Devries solution is to change the 5-point scale to 9-point scale moving from “Too Little” to “Just Right” and onto “Too Much” (-4,-3,-2,-1,0,+1, +2, +3, +4). In the example question above, you might score the Micro-manager as a “+3″ or “+4″, giving more realistic and actionable feedback to that person.

Should you make changes to your appraisal system, so that development areas are not mistaken for strengths?

I’ve been rather fascinated by the concept of ‘balance’, recently. It struck me that life is just one big balancing act and if we get it just right we feel happy and fulfilled. Take the fundamentals in life such as eating, working, sleeping, exercising, money, relationships, self-esteem, hobbies/interests and so on; too much or too little, in terms of quality and/or quantity, in any of these areas of our lives, can have detrimental consequences on our mental, physical and emotional selves and of others around us.

Metaphorically, we are all spinning a number of plates all at the same time. Each of these plates represent an area of our lives that we need to keep spinning at just the right speed so they stay on the top of their sticks. However, because we’re human sometimes we over spin a plate causing it to spin off its stick and on another occasion we might not spin it enough causing it drops to the ground. The strange thing is because we are so close to the situation it can sometimes be hard to see which plate is wobbling or has fallen off. All we know is that something is not right.  If we’re very self-aware we might do a ’systems-check’, and then find and fix the issue – getting that plate spinning again. But sometimes we miss the signs all together and just carry on. In cases like this, it can take a real crash of plates for us to stop and take notice of the lessons being taught. Only then can we mend the plates and get them spinning again at just the right speed; giving us back that glow of fulfillment and happiness.

A client of mine provided a great example of what can happen to us if our lives aren’t balanced. He explained that he had a rough couple of months since we last met.  During this time, he had not been enjoying his work, for a number of reasons, and was relying heavily on his partner for support. Then, quite suddenly over the Christmas period, his relationship, with his partner, ended. As he put “my world, quite literally, came crashing down around me”. He went on to explain that after a period of feeling sorry for himself and self-reflection, that he has come out the other side. From my observation of him, there seems to be a new, more positive, ‘can do’ air about him and he appears to be taking much more responsibility for himself and his life. He’s certainty appears to have learnt the lessons that he had to learn and has got his plates spinning again!

If you would like to check how well your plates are spinning drop me an email at alastair@ahaltd.co.uk and i’ll send you a simple tool that will help you carry out a ’systems-check’.