You’ve maybe heard the saying “Correcting Your Zero”. It refers to a starting point and sight-adjustment for rifle marksmanship. In essence, at the organizational level we have a misaligned zero of personal performance revealed by the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of relationships that adversely impacts the level of organizational outcomes. An Influential Leader does not allow this to happen. However, the challenge at the heart of transforming into a leader of influence is your ability to become sensitive to and understand the dynamics of human behaviour and creating and sustaining highly effective relationships. Taking time on a scheduled and recurring basis to “correct your zero” is the means to creating and optimizing the key personal relationships that drive organizational performance.
An individual weapon can lose its “zero” as a result of the daily activities of being in a combat environment. The evidence of a misaligned weapon is apparent – you do not hit where you are aiming. That is why soldiers, intentionally and purposefully, take the time on a regular and repetitive basis to go to a shooting range, and measure their effectiveness by methodically test firing their weapons to realign their aim (their shooting effectiveness) by “correcting the zero.”
The same principle applies to leadership performance. The speed of change and the chaos of the current market environment can (and does) cause a misalignment of mission, vision and values. In the midst of this chaos, behaviours become misaligned as well. We can lose the “zero” of the effective and critical behaviour skills essential for influential leadership and driving organizational performance.
Sadly, leaders fail to recognize that in the midst of all their daily activity and effort, their aim is ineffective in producing desired and expected results. Lacking this self-awareness, leaders stay the course wedded to their behaviours they believe are most likely to generate their personal success and the performance success of the organization. In the words of the old, familiar adage, most leaders continue to do more of what they have always done hoping to get a different result.
Investing the time to understand and re-establish new behaviour habits, and then to create the high-functioning thought habits that drive success-focused behaviours, is a requirement in today’s knowledge-based, chaotic and ambiguous work environment. The skill of Positive Presence™ is your ability to adjust for and create a positive and energized mindset – it is your ability for high-functioning thought habits – that will drive the strength-based behaviour that leads to peak performance, strong relationships and organizational wellness. The skill of Positive Presence is an advanced mindset that will thrive in today’s stress-filled work places – a mindset that achieves personal wellbeing – physical, emotional, mental and social.
CORPORATE HARMONY is grateful to Dr. Michael E. Frisina for his contributions to this entry.
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.