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.
Tom Rath and Barry Conchie have classified leadership strengths into four domains:
(1) executing (driver),
(2) influencing (persuader),
(3) strategic thinking (analyzer), and
(4) relationship building, (stabilizer).
So what does each of these domains mean? Suppose you identify with being an “analyzer,” or someone who is good at strategic thinking. People will experience your behaviour as cautious, careful, consistent, and diplomatic. It is important to recognize that each of us has a behaviour preference that can be represented into one of these four domains, and we have the ability to flex outside of our preference into other domains, once we first acknowledge our own behaviour preference and the preferences of others.
You determine your behaviour preference by how you choose to see the world around you. Your strength domain increases your potential for success by bringing what you believe to be true from your inside into a congruent alignment to your daily outer world of life events. Managing this alignment between internal belief and external behaviour is the key essential in leading others under times of stress, change, fatigue and chaos. Our behaviour strengths connect us to who we are, what we believe, and how we choose to behave. Your behaviour as a boss or a leader shapes the way you function in the critical areas of performance, such as communication, visioning, processing information, thinking creatively, managing emotions, aligning of core value and beliefs, and relating to others.
Influential leaders discover their individual behaviour strengths and use them when they are seeking optimal outcome in relationships and performance. Furthermore, if you are going to become an effective influential leader you must understand the power of collaboration and connection so you can create a team composed of people who have strengths in all four domains. In this blend and balance of strengths, you will be able to propel those around you and your organization to a higher level of performance.
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.