As a leader, awareness of self and others is the most critical factor there is. This awareness translates into a knowledge and understanding of the different types of people personalities and the way they will typically interact with each other and within a team or group.
Just as there are different people personality types that we must acknowledge and adapt to, there are also differing dimensions of emotional behaviour that every leader must be aware of. Human emotion (aka feelings) is our response to our thinking and mental patterns. Our thoughts (mental patterns), in turn, predict our behaviour. A leader’s emotional behaviour style can compel followers to either connect or engage or to turn away.
My good friend and mentor, Dr. Michael Frisina, in his book “Influential Leadership – Change Your behavior, Change Your Organization, Change Health Care” (page 73), talks about emotional awareness and recognizes that emotionally aware leaders can acknowledge their gut reactions and prevent possible emotional meltdown. Emotionally aware leaders also are aware that negative responses are counterproductive to peak performance. He goes on to say, “… our behavior style can stir up emotions in others.
Behavioral style, or social/communication style, is the way we conduct ourselves in front of other people, particularly in the workplace. Are you friendly and warm? Are you reserved? Are you assertive? Are you in full control? Your behavioral style (which is different from personality) either attracts or repels other people, and vice versa. Sometimes we cannot articulate why we like or dislike someone’s behavior, because these types of preferences are unconscious.
Four categories of behavioral styles are generally recognized. Note that each researcher assigns different names to the attributes ….
All of us have a dominant style, but we also have habits that fall into the other three categories. Each style has it strengths and weaknesses, and important consideration in team formation. ….
Identifying your own style and being aware of others’ behavioral style contribute to your leadership success in several ways. First, this recognition improves your interaction and communication with others…
Second, it allows you to showcase or model (and thus teach) the combination of behavioral styles that works best. Third, it gives you an opportunity to play to your strength …”
Dr. Frisina stresses the need for leaders to be flexible. Awareness of the four categories of behaviour styles tells us when to flex and adapt our style to be more effective in response to different people and different situations. One style is not effective for all situations. A rigid style will get us into trouble; style flexibility will help us be more effective. Twenty-five percent of all situations are perfect for our own personal style….it is the other 75% of the time that we need an awareness of emotional behaviour in order to adjust our personal behavior style to move towards others and build trust.
Performance excellence is possible only when we are keenly aware of our own behaviour tendencies and habits (many of which exist at an unconscious level). There are three primary domains of workplace behavior – Self-awareness, Collaboration, and Connection – that comprise ten interdependent behavior principles common to each and every one of us. Behaviour training in the three domains of self-awareness (which is a fundamental behaviour competency), collaboration (which is a relational behaviour competency), and connection (which is an operational behaviour competency) is a systematic, programmatic methodology in real time on the job, and is best supported by coaching.
The skill of Positive Presence equips us to cultivate a positive emotional behaviour that will move us toward others to combine for a positive and energized synergy in the work environment around us.
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.