You have probably heard the saying, “A truly great leader is hard to find, difficult to part with, and impossible to forget.” The same adage holds for bad leaders too, at least the “impossible to forget” part — this also holds for colleagues as well. Did you ever wonder why?
True story telling time: So Debbie (not her real name) is having lunch with a colleague. She has not seen her old boss in three years when suddenly, he comes through the door of the restaurant. Debbie quickly hides behind her menu. Her table mate is confused by her behaviour. Debbie is frantic that her old boss, whom she left three years ago, might have seen her. She is relieved when her table mate informs her that he dropped his keys on a table and went to the men’s room. Debbie quips out loud about her temptation to grab his keys and throw them in the trash. Her table mate is flabbergasted when Debbie informs her that they have to leave the restaurant! This really is a true story. So what is behind Debbie’s irrational behaviour?
Your brain drives all of your behaviour. From a neuroscience perspective, you might be surprised to learn that your memories are actually controlled by the way your brain works regarding memory storage and recall. This fact adds greater significance to a science based understanding as to why a leader’s behaviour is the singular most important predictor to a team’s performance. It is also a key predictor to employee engagement and individual performance as well.
You can have immediate and vivid recall of past bad leadership experiences because your brain doesn’t recall memory with an associated time stamp. The hippocampus is the part of your brain responsible for memory storage and recall. Working with a memory pattern recognition system, when you experience a new episodic event similar to a previous traumatic experience (Debbie seeing her old boss after three years), your brain recalls associated memory complete with all of the negative feelings that go with it. It’s like you reloading a document from stored computer memory, only without a time and date stamp on the memory and the emotional baggage the memory produces.
Learning the skill of Positive Presence will ensure that you are always aware of how your behaviour impacts all those around you. You learn how to read the energy in the room and the behavioural nuances. You learn the power of a positive mindset and the behaviours of collaboration and connection that are necessary for success in any workplace.
Catherine is the President and CEO of CORPORATE HARMONY, providing virtual solutions for leadership development and organizational culture change. Her leadership and coaching experience as a Project Manager in an ever-changing, fast moving technological organization with unrelenting demands drove her to the realization that a positive mindset and strength-building behaviors are essential for today’s complex and chaotic organizational systems. CORPORATE HARMONY’s virtual platform of programs, coaching and performance measurement, is an innovative online technology of tested proprietary content. The world-class content of CORPORATE HARMONY’s Positive Presence Program develops the skill of ‘Positive Presence’ and the necessary ‘Positive Presence Behaviour Competencies’ for maintaining a positive and energized mindset and increased performance in today’s complex work environment, and leading to a culture of collaboration and connection. Catherine’s vision for Corporate Harmony is to bring the skill of “Positive Presence” to the corporate world as it becomes more complex, ambiguous and chaotic. Catherine is uniquely positioned to impact organizations’ productivity and long term success, with her powerful vision of eliminating bad stress from every workplace around the globe, bringing purpose into the people equation to promote healthy, productive and meaningful work cultures and turn the tide on the neglect of mental health on a global scale. Catherine is author of the book: “CORPORATE HARMONY – The Performance Link for Today’s Modern Organization” Catherine can be reached at: Catherine.Osborne@corporateharmony.ca or go to ‘contact us’ on our website www.corporateharmony.ca. Catherine is available for consultation, and can be reached by 519-695-3407.