Performance is the product of what we are capable of doing (technical skill) multiplied by what we are willing to do (motivation). In health care delivery, as in other high-risk industries, a gap between these two elements of performance can result in poor work quality that causes harm, suffering, and even threatens lives.
Influential leaders are aware of these dire consequences. They hold themselves and others accountable for closing this performance gap. They model and teach the appropriate behaviours that strengthen both technical skills and motivation. Neuroscience research has shown in recent years that the best leadership skills are rooted in how people think. Thinking leads to emotions that together make it possible to focus on higher order brain function for performance: productivity, quality, initiative, team work, problem solving, and response to change and stress.
A critical problem in management generally (not just in health care) is the scarcity of leaders who possess the influential leadership behaviour traits that propel organizations to greatness and guide organizations through their significant challenges. We have plenty of managers and leaders who have superb technical, operational, and financial skills and an acute understanding of system processes. But we lack managers and leaders who have the motivation to go beyond those skills to enable the organization to exceed (not just meet) expectations; keep patients safe; and continue to improve processes, quality, and satisfaction.
This shortfall of leaders with a deep understanding of the link between behaviour and peak performance poses a huge opportunity for organizations of the future. The opportunity to learn, to understand, and to change is not a complex undertaking – it is a slow and steady process of continuous improvement of mindset and behaviour. The skill of Positive Presence and the use of the Positive Presence philosophy as a business process improvement strategy will, without a doubt, enable your organization to create the essential positive emotional energy to reach peak performance, sustain strong working relationships, and improve organizational wellness. In essence, it will take you from good to great.
CORPORATE HARMONY is grateful to Dr. Michael E. Frisina for his contributions to this entry.
Think about all the people who have had leadership responsibility and authority over you. Who inspired, believed, and encouraged you? When I reflect on this question, several teachers— from grade school to graduate school—come to mind. These teachers pushed me to try things I did not think I was capable of doing, supporting, coaching, and mentoring me along the way. 
Practicing self-awareness and identifying your behaviour strengths will help you manage your behaviour choices and help you form effective collaborations. These are the key steps to becoming an effective and influential leader as you stop being merely a boss. Achieving the goal of effective leadership requires daily practice of managing yourself well within your behaviour strength domain. This requires the motivation to change and to acknowledge how your behaviour impacts others around you. You use your “behaviour smarts” to connect to why it is you choose to behave the way you do. In this awareness you can make a conscience choice to change aspects of your behaviour that are hindering your effectiveness as a leader. 
Have you ever wondered why you choose to behave a certain way? Have you ever wondered why other people’s behaviour rubs you the wrong way? A core belief of an Influential Leader is that the people they lead want to make a difference and they want to be part of a mutual, beneficial, and meaningful purpose. Influential Leaders also understand that their behaviour must be such that it consistently motivates and inspires each one of their followers toward the mutual, beneficial, and meaningful purpose of the organization. Knowing your own behaviour strengths, and then adjusting them to effectively lead someone with a differing behaviour strength is crucial.
British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery said that, “Leadership is the capacity and will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence.” If you desire to have a stronger, more productive organization where your people are achieving desired performance outcomes, you have to stop treating your people as a fundable commodity that you manage as a resource. You must begin to inspire your people, through enhanced individual leader behaviour, to achieve the mutual, beneficial, and meaningful purpose of the organization. No one goes to work to be managed by a boss; people want to be inspired, trusted, and valued by a leader who will emancipate and resource them to achieve the desired objectives of the organization. 
Think back to the first time you heard the word “leader.” Now think of the words or phrases you attribute to a person you consider a leader. Some examples of the words or phrases we attribute to a leader include: honesty, communicator, integrity, approachable, creative, a positive attitude, visionary, compassionate, motivational, and inspirational. Take note that these examples are all behaviour attributes. 
“To lead them you have to be with them.” In his award-winning best seller, We Were Soldiers Once and Young, Lt. General Hal Moore spoke this basic leadership lesson to his junior officers. While operating rooms, shop floors, assembly lines, distribution warehouses, board rooms, and business suites are not battlefields, the parallels in basic core competencies of engaged leadership are strikingly similar. All new leaders must realize that for people to truly follow your lead, they first must believe that you, as their leader, have their best interests at heart. In a word, they simply must trust you as their leader in moral character, in technical competence, and in personal responsibility to their welfare. There are four skills essential to building followership:
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.
In today’s professional world, people are craving effective leadership. Middle level managers and their team members are overburdened and uninspired by individuals holding titled positions of leadership providing neither effective leadership nor effective management. The issue is not change resistance. Peter Senge said it well, “People do not resist change. They resist being changed.” Knowledge based workers (people that are highly educated and combine their expertise with others to obtain goals) desire true leadership that capitalizes on collaboration, communication, and connection to accomplish their work-related goals and objectives.
We live in a time of great excitement as we watch the world we grew up in literally changing before your eyes. This is the first time in the history of man that we are able to watch the evolution of society in real time as it moves through the technological age, through the knowledge age, and through what some are calling the Age of Connectivity … and beyond. Every profession on earth is being challenged to lose the beliefs of the past in favor of new and emerging paradigms – or be left behind.