As a leader you are responsible for giving your people reasons to follow you. You do this by understanding what they want and need to fulfill their work requirements and contribute to a mutual and beneficial meaningful purpose in their work. During a downturn in an economy, many leaders acquired what the professional literature calls ‘learned helplessness’. And then came the pandemic. Everything is negative – we have a “new normal” and the positive and optimistic qualities of leadership seem to be caught in this self-fulfilling prophecy of scarcity and mediocrity.
You may have experienced this attitude in leaders at some point in your career. As leaders infect this mindset into their teams, productivity and other performance factors wane. The team members get caught in a brain-funk … they simply do whatever the leader says to keep their jobs and stay out of trouble with the boss.
The reality is that inwardly, people still want to make a difference at work. They want leaders who will give them control and emancipate them to do their jobs and solve problems at their level. For some of you this may seem like a radical idea –giving control away – and a deviation from the historical “top-down” driven approach to leadership. However, if you want to connect, if you desire to become an influential leader, you have to begin to change from the outdated and ineffective practices of the past that limit your leadership capacity. As leaders we should be asking ourselves daily, is the behaviour I am engaging in, drawing people towards me or away from me?
Research in the neurosciences indicates that without a positive and energized connection to each other, people will be limited in what they can do. Developing a positive and energized connection to each and every one of your followers requires deep thought and consistent behaviour on the part of the leader – behaviour that will inspire and motivate for a trusting relationship. Research has also proven that what inspires and motivates one person will not produce the same results with another.
That being said, as a leader you must learn to be a chameleon of behaviour competency so that the right ‘connection’ is being made to all of your followers. Understanding the elements of what endears each one of your team members to you is essential to understanding the great impact that connection has in driving performance in the workplace. To learn more about research coming from the neurosciences insofar as human connection and leadership, look at the skill of Positive Presence and the Positive Presence Behaviour Competencies.
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.