Our underlying premise: approach Leadership practice and development from the angle of strong correlation between quality of Life, quality of Leadership and Personal Growth.
I encourage discernment also when it comes to theories and concepts.
We shall remember to use our freedom to tailor their application as we navigate in our individual context. Our Life Vision, Core Values and primary ideal Character Traits will be our guides in this process to make the best aligned choices.
Let's see through three different angles how we can hone our Leadership practice by utilising a few of the Leadership theories in combination today.
Character-building belongs to our #PersonalGrowth process.
The Trait Approach suggests that there are certain Character Traits that are typical and consistent in great, positively impactful Leaders.
One set of "top 5" are said to be:
Intelligence
Self-confidence
Determination
Integrity
Communication
reflect
How do you relate to these Character Traits?
Are they among your personal top 5 for your own Character-building?
Which other ones would you name that you find important and why?
Integrity is my personal priority as other important Traits are inherent to it like honesty, trustworthiness, dependability, having clear principles, responsibility – walking the talk (expressing views truly and consistently by action).
Compassionate, courageous, generous, wise, resilient, resourceful, Self-disciplined, inspiring, empowering, are part of the list I included into my Life Vision for my Character-honing section.
Becoming aware of our Traits, the discrepancies between our current assumed reality or actual reality (we can tell the difference by honest Self-reflection and considering feedback from people who care and care to be honest) and our ideal, will help us improve, because they are significant predictors of behaviours and attitudes. That also means we can identify Traits by observing behaviour and attitude.
Assumptions, bias, limiting filters in our Analytical Mind can lead us astray whether we are striving to build an authentic picture of ourselves or others, but that's exactly part of our Awareness practice: to peel back as many layers of them to get to the most authentic core.
To help navigate nuances in this observation, here are some ideas from Alex Lickerman :
"Personality is easy to read, and we're all experts at it. We judge people funny, extroverted, energetic, optimistic, confident—as well as overly serious, lazy, negative, and shy—if not upon first meeting them, then shortly thereafter. And though we may need more than one interaction to confirm the presence of these sorts of traits, by the time we decide they are, in fact, present we've usually amassed enough data to justify our conclusions. Character, on the other hand, takes far longer to puzzle out. It includes traits that reveal themselves only in specific—and often uncommon—circumstances, traits like honesty, virtue, and kindliness."
Character-challenging situations can reveal our core Traits most clearly, just like Time.
As Hokuma Karimova goes on to suggest in her article: it can be too black and white and limiting to put ourselves (and others) into one or the other category (e.g. labels like introvert or extrovert), instead we can better to work with scale-based assessments.
I'd even add a situational and Trust context. Staying with the example of how introverted or extroverted we behave, may also be very much influenced by who are the people we are with and what is our level of Trust to them, and what is the situation we find ourselves in (familiar or unfamiliar? completely new or routine? etc.)
That is why I like to use the word "dominant" when we are doing our Self-reflection.
"What were my dominant thoughts, emotions, corresponding behaviours today?"
We can of course zoom in on the specifics when we are working on changing, improving certain habitual thoughts, emotional states, activities, but the zoomed-out picture of what is our current dominant pattern can help with better identifying where we find ourselves in relation to where and who we want to be (the Ideal Self within our Self-concept; see the example explanation of Carl Rogers' theory on that).
What matters most to us includes the recognition of which Character Traits we feel belong into our Self-concept (as part of our envisioned Ideal Self) that drives our choice-making and expression of Self in the world.
reflect
Which of your Traits do you feel need improvement?
Which ones do you want more emphasized in your Self-expression and in form of habits?
#Selfreflection is key to make space for increasing Awareness and finding better choices.
Ask yourself:
"Which Traits do I want to be dominantly determining my Leadership practice and impact?"
We are not alone in Leadership.
We collaborate in a dynamic that can be referred to as "Leader-Follower" mechanism.
At times we lead, other times we follow. We inspire and get inspired.
We can be occupying these roles in various scenarios on various levels, but today I'd like to highlight especially the context when you have a formal Leadership position.
Alex Lyon's video goes into details and brings real and fictional examples for context for the
3 main Leadership styles:
autocratic
democratic
laissez-faire (non-intervention/"let them do it")
Instead of looking at each of them separately, let's see how dynamics can meet within one person.
[I bring fictional examples, because real-world Leaders I know personally and hold in high regard, you won't all know; headlines/public appearances of known ones aren't sufficient information for me to judge their true Character.
Fiction has the advantage of some more detachment from emotional triggers while provides scenarios deep into a character's personality – enough for showcase.]
When Kirk answers "Just do it." – in Star Trek Beyond – to Bones who asks back at a command with "why?", is an example of autocratic style, because: 1. he expects compliance without asking for input 2. he assumes full control of a decision.
We know from Kirk's character that he generally applies a democratic-laissez-faire blend (when no crisis) and even in heated situations tends to be more of a team player.
Whether members of the team are asked to step up or the situation asks them to follow command, the lead-follow dynamics remain harmonious because of a deep underlying Trust.
Laissez-faire Leaders build equally on Trust plus highly skilled, motivated people who thrive with more autonomy.
Purely autocratic power dynamics lack that. When someone leads from a disconnected, egoic place, there may be surface order, but it's a fragile structure.
With no loyalty it may lead to extreme outcomes like desertion/resignation or insurrection. People's motivation disintegrates quickly.
Top-down decisions seem only effective in immediate crisis – important: ideally with a capable and trusted trustworthy Leader.
reflect
What conclusions do you draw for yourself today from what you've read?
Are you aware which styles you apply and why?
How do you handle crisis situations today?
How do you respond to mistakes?
What are the benefits of democratic discussions and top-down decisions? And their drawbacks?
How do you relate to praise?
How do you practice reward in your Leadership?
Leading Change is part of our Leadership practice – ideally.
It's not always done well nor handled at the level of importance consciously as it would be most effective and beneficial for all involved.
Adaptability – a response to Change.
Our level of it will significantly increase with a proactive approach: embracing Change as a constant variable – we learn to improve our flexibility of mindset and how it shows up in our responses in scenarios.
From the Kirk example you could see how it can look like when we are adapting our Leadership style to best fit a situation.
On Situational Leadership a model was developed by researchers Hersey and Blanchard.
The premise: instead of Leaders having one style or approach, they should adapt to the situation based on 2 key variables: skill and will (motivation) of the Follower/Team member.
To be determined: What is the team member's readiness on these?
4 possible scenarios with high-low skill and motivation levels are laid out.
This model also builds upon previous theories on task/transaction- and relationship/people-oriented Leadership styles.
Dr. Paul Hersey suggests:
"A Situational Leader is anybody anywhere who recognizes that influencing behaviour is not an event, but a process.
The process entails assessing Follower performance in relation to what the Leader wants to accomplish and providing the appropriate amounts of guidance and support. The Situational Leader is concerned about people, concerned about results and behaves in a manner where everbody wins."
A critical point: when someone has low motivation, a directive response suggested, may not be enough.
I would always want to find out the Why – if there's mutual willingness on it.
Proactively offering space to understand as Leader: Is it temporary? Is something I can help with or do they need simply patience and time from me to sort it out themselves? Are they willing to become clear on the root causes (if not obvious), via coaching and/or Self-reflection?
All in all, you may find that adapting your approach depending on your work partner's, team member's ability and motivation levels, was already part of your practice.
reflect
Or did you sometimes find that you put the bar equally high for someone who is yet learning a skill & someone proficient at it already?
Were there learnings from any disappointments from it or a drop in motivation for one or the other?
And if we just take one main question for today to #reflect upon:
How adaptable are we in situations with our Leadership practice and are we aware of pros and cons of our current practice?
All in all, from Character Traits to understanding the dynamics of leading and following, to finding ways to adapt best to situations as effective Leader, your levels of Awareness, your Personal Growth, are inherently interconnected with how you handle this entire process of learning.
The more you understand yourself, the patterns of human nature, the more you will recognize better ways to apply your skills as a Leader. When led by Integrity and a strong Moral Compass, you will do your best to empower and inspire.
My Work mostly focuses on all of you experienced Leaders, business owners, who are currently prioritising to hone their Leadership practices, expand their Value-footprint by finding better ways for better outcomes.
My background in Business, and global experience as Leader provides access to a Mentoring quality in your Coaching Journey; though what will bring incomparably more Value than any business techniques, I believe, is when you learn to access untapped potentials of your Mind, discover and release limiting patterns, programme your Subconscious to empower rather than sabotage your behaviour, become more conscious and balanced in your choices and harness Flow for your benefit.
That is why the emphasis in our Work together is on finding your own answers to your optimal ways of conscious living, Leadership practices and style that inspire others while allow you to feel authentic and genuine. Naturally leading, becoming autotelic.
All of you who are willing to look at their Life holistically, finetune their #LifeVision to reflect primary Values and hone your Character.
Our overall aim: to increase quality of Life and Leadership.
PS: The Sea theme, with pebbles and walks and all, is something that belongs into my own lifestyle design for a quality Life. For me it represents Freedom, our vast capacity to grow and dare better, while it is also a connection to Inner Peace – as Nature showcases how to be in the right here, right now. What are your places/activities that bring you such qualities? What makes you enjoy Life more?
To explore the opportunity to work together
Reach out via message or head straight to the Coaching Session preparation form .
See you there! T.
Resources
Alex Lyon Leadership Theories Top 10 - YouTube (2021, March 29)
Dr. Paul Hersey Situational Leadership® - YouTube
Dr. Paul Hersey The Situational Leader (1984)
Hannah L. Miller The Situational Leadership Model (leaders.com) (2022)
Dr. Saul McLeod Carl Rogers' Humanistic Theory of Personality Development (simplypsychology.org) (2014)
Hokuma Karimova M.A. Personality & Character Traits: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly (positivepsychology.com) (2018, May 11)
Alex Lickerman M.D. Personality vs. Character | Psychology Today (2011, April 3)
Discernment and resources
I am more of an advocate of ideas of recent epigenetics findings and Dr. Joe Dispenza's research on how much more we are able to change than we originally thought, because even if our DNA doesn't change, our gene expression can; and (very simply put) gene expression corresponds with neurochemical production that corresponds with emotional states which then express in our behaviour.
I found some helpful ideas in both articles (like the detailed examples of characteristics and Traits, and various models as #foodforthought from H. Karimova), that's why I reference them at all, but there are also fundamental aspects, personal beliefs of predetermination in both that I see and have personally experienced differently.
Despite that, I aim to lead by example as I do my best to represent open-mindedness as a Trait and honour a primary Core Value of mine: Freedom of choice and expression for all – (always) leaving it up to you, how you interpret this in entirety for yourself –, while evolving and transcending any of my current bias.
I do believe that we are all capable of changing our personal expressions and their very roots, when we are willing to invest into increasing our Self-awareness and state of Consciousness (reference: Hawkins Scale).
That's the invitation: to evolve ourselves and lead by example.
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