The business and professional climates that we work in today are getting increasingly more complex, more ambiguous, more demanding, and in continuous fast-paced change. Each day the markets in which we compete grow as technology increases the reach of our industries. These rapidly changing environments are causing ambiguities and confusion about the roles and responsibilities of leaders. In this increasingly competitive environment how do we guide the performance of our teams – specifically productivity, innovation, initiative, team work, problem solving, and adapting to constant change?
Arising from the research being done in the neurosciences, the idea of individual behaviour, group and team behaviour, and overall organizational behaviour has taken on a new importance. Behaviour is the most tangible evidence of organizational culture that there is. It is also a key performance indicator for mind health. And it is the tangible result of human energy flow. “An organization cannot become what its people are not. The performance of an organization is the result of the collective performance of its people.” This quote comes from organizational expert Tim Kight – The R Factor.
Like most things in life, if you want to become really good at something, you have to work at it. Hard work, independent learning, pushing on through painful experiences, rigorous effort, receiving coaching and so on, is what is needed to train yourself to achieve greatness in your job, a task, a profession, or a life pursuit. Traits of a strong mind can be described as confident (not arrogant), effective, focused, determined, the ability to take on challenges, and the ability to successfully achieve goals. “It will not be power, influence or the money in your pocket that will help you create a fulfilling life. It will be your strong mindset.” Author Unknown.
Take comfort in the fact that this new ‘mindset’ is attainable by all and easily learned. It’s within you even as you read this – and it’s not difficult. It is just waiting to get started. In fact, in some people, the necessary thought habits are already there. Learning the skill of Positive Presence – the ability to create and adjust a positive and energized mindset through conscious thought processes to result in effective behaviours — is actually quite easy, given time and practice. And building a culture of Positive Presence necessary for obtaining optimum performance, creating strong and lasting relationships and experiencing good health, is just a matter of management science.
The truth is that the so-called soft skills of behaviour are really the hard skills that create the measure of influence for performance success. Time and again the fundamental problems related to the lack of engagement and work performance enhancement is related to how people consistently experience their leader’s and peers’ negative behaviour. These failures can be directly linked to the absence of consistent, positive behaviour.
In a moment of self- reflection, ask yourself the following question, “Are my current habits and behaviour getting me to where I want to go?” If the answer is “No” you need to consider making some changes. Far too many people are unaware of how they are perceived by family, friends, and professional colleagues. We all know and it is easy for us to recognize other people with bad habits, disturbing, and disruptive behaviours. The harder thing is recognizing those same bad habits and behaviours in oneself. While it may be true that what we think about our behaviour is personal and intimate, our behaviour itself is never private. Remember this – behaviour lapses are obvious to everyone except the person who commits them.
There is a fundamental truth about organizational performance. The majority of people you know, yourself included, have a legitimate need for highly effective, functional relationships – personal, familial, and professional. Here is the reality check. Few people are willing to do the hard work at the essential level to create and sustain those relationships. When you ask yourself the question of how you achieve a “collaborative performance driven culture,” you have to begin by treating culture like any other performance indicator. You achieve this by developing and sustaining highly, effective and functional relationships among key leaders and their teams within the organization. 
Gone are the days when a paycheck, the employee of the month award, and the gold watch at retirement were sufficient motivators for people to perform at their best or to remain loyal and dedicated to the organization. Just as technology has increased the borders of our markets, it has also increased competition for the best and brightest employees. Employees today seek to work for a company and leaders with whom they feel proud to be associated and who treat them like active contributors, not passive producers. 
Neuroscience has proven that positive emotional energy is necessary for the kind of behaviour that fosters collaboration. That kind of behaviour skill requires not only a huge amount of self-awareness and understanding of one’s personal behaviour preferences and how you affect others, but also a deep understanding of your team members’ behaviour preferences, and how you will be affected by them. 
Collaboration in any organization requires three elements – effective communication, a cooperative attitude, and integrated teams. All three of these elements are based on the principles of human factors psychology which is the study of human behavioural patterns and thinking patterns and their influence on creating a better workplace, product, system and so on. Furthermore, the task of creating and sustaining collaboration is in essence informed by human factors psychology. In other words, human factors psychology explains how people work, why people must work together, and how people relate to each other and their environment.
While accountability is effective in establishing behaviour based expectations for performance, the key is to remain focused on improved and effective behaviour change. Repeating ineffective behaviour that is revealed in feedback and accountability ultimately creates a great deal of damage to any relationship. Acknowledging a mechanism that identifies a behaviour you need to change is only of value when you commit to actually changing the behaviour. The key is to move out of the past and focus on the change you desire. 
Accountability is a practical instrument that leaders use to keep themselves and those around them honest, focused and productive. Good leaders know that an organization devoid of accountability is nothing but a collection of people who shift blame, feel victimized, procrastinate, and disguise their incompetence. 
Leaders that have high-level skills in