Focal Leadership

Leadership

3 Reasons to be a Passionate and Patient Leader

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yin yang

Being a passionate and patient leader embodies a combination of virtues that demonstrate a very powerful style of leadership. Taking each of these virtues to the extreme, with the exclusion of other complementary attributes, could have damaging outcomes. Just demonstrating passion can mean being overly excited, over-powering, or having a disregard for others. Just being patient can mean being slow, unfocused, or lacking drive. Here are three reasons why passion and patience are such good companions.

  1. Be intentional about both

    Leadership is never about just one style, one approach, or one dominant behavior. It is about different attributes working together. Emphasizing these behaviors at different times and being intentional about practicing them in the moment. For example, passion is so important when people need to see a vision, need inspiring, and motivating. Patience is so important when people need to be listened to, understood, or change is not immediately evident.

A passionate and patient leader can balance these attributes in a skillful way to demonstrate energy and drive while simultaneously showing the capacity to engage, listen, and wait for others to get on board. An agile leader can show more passionate leadership when the need is to enthuse and inspire, while practicing patient leadership when the need is to help others understand implications or when events need to align before progress can be made. Great leadership is being able to consciously flex styles and not to be overcome by personal impulse or preference, nor to be swayed inappropriately by external events.

  • Increase your emotional intelligence

    Being emotionally intelligent is to understand your own emotions and their impact on others, and also to understand how your own emotions are influenced by those around you. Where this plays into passionate and patient leadership is to grow a personal level of emotional intelligence and understanding that consciously impacts behavior. For example, if a leader knows that they are particularly passionate, then knowing whether to let this come across full-bore or to moderate it is an emotionally intelligent state. Alternatively, a particularly patient leader will know when to raise the pace and move the agenda forward rather than slip into procrastination or indecision.

    Others may want a leader to be more passionate or patient at any given time. Reading the situation and understanding the source of this insistence is also how an emotionally intelligent leader decides whether to adjust their style or not. Passionate people may wish for a passionate leader. The same goes for patient people. But wholeheartedly passionate or patient people may need a leader with different attributes to get the best from them.

  • Be future-focused and present-conscious

    Agile leaders can often plan to adapt their levels of passion and patience depending on the circumstances. For example, if a leader is giving a presentation about future vision, a passionate description of the future might need to be accompanied with a more patient representation of timeline expectations. Or a patient conversation with an underperforming employee might need to be accompanied with a passionate commitment to their development and confidence in their ability to deliver better performance.

    Mindfully developing a passionate as well as a patient response to circumstances is the mark of a leader who understands that leadership is not just being in the moment, but who also understands the impact their leadership has on future engagement and commitment.

Passion and patience are just two leadership attributes. Comparing and contrasting them in the manner above demonstrates how leaders need to flex behavior to be at their best. During the Covid-19 pandemic, both passion and patience are essential leadership attributes – passion to bring energy in finding ways through current difficulties, and patience to lead those who are inundated by circumstances beyond their control.

Emotional Leadership

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Emotional leadership probably triggers many different images in your mind. Enthusiastic? Unhinged? Tears? Mood swings? Passionate? Oppressive? Authentic?

Reflecting on leaders in the public eye, there are many different emotional styles of leadership. There are leaders who do not display much emotion, those who are known for demonstrating a lot of emotion, and those who control the emotional content and style of their leadership.

Why consider emotional leadership as a topic in the broader consideration of leadership? There is already a lot of commentary on emotional intelligence, executive presence, and leadership impact.  Leaders with high or low emotional content in their leadership have an impact on others with varying degrees of significance. Emotions in leaders are critical as they are a major influence on the emotional response of those they lead.  And the importance of emotions is well noted – in addition to impacting mental health (commitment, stability, feelings), emotions also have a profound impact on the immune system. Scientists have found that negative emotions reduce antibody levels and lower the ability of the immune system to ward-off sickness and disease. Hence, poor leadership that invokes a negative emotional response results in lower engagement and lower employee well-being.

A leader who exhibits a lot of emotion as part of their leadership, either arising from their personality or convictions, should expect different reactions. Some people may be inspired, energized, and motivated. Others may be switched off, unimpressed, or unconvinced. But is there anything wrong with showing emotions as part of being an authentic leader? No! In an increasingly virtual world, connecting on an emotional level has never been more important. Engaging hearts as well as minds is so important. Having to lead through a laptop screen instead of in-person, is stretching leaders more than ever. People need to feel valued, inspired, and connected. When the laptop screen reverts back to an email or document following an interaction with a leader, what are employees meant to feel? If they are not self-motivated, they need regular emotional sustenance from their leaders to connect them with the wider world and infuse them with energy and purpose. Now more than ever leaders need to discover the power of emotions in leadership.

Building and maintaining positive emotions is like a drug for many – a supply needs to keep on coming. Leaders are in the floodlit zone of providing emotional sustenance. A leader who just turns up without consciously or sub-consciously doing a self-inventory of personal motivation and emotional health, needs to reflect on the impact they are having. Being indifferent to the emotional legacy a leader delivers is poor leadership. Turning up with a positive mindset, a buoyant attitude, and credit in your own emotional bank account will leave a positive legacy.

What about controlled emotional leadership? In my opinion, this can go two ways. First, a leader who knows how to control their emotions, how to accentuate them, and how to suppress them appropriately, is a skilled leader. A skilled leader knows how to use emotions to motivate, communicate, and liberate others. They know how to keep disappointment or frustration in check – sharing if it is appropriate, and with a sensitivity for how it might impact others. But leaders who control their emotions so much that they come across as void of feeling, empathy, or authenticity, need to understand the lack-luster impact they are having.

Emotional leadership does not mean over-the-top exhibition of random emotions. It is the appropriate demonstration of emotions as part of communicating, connecting, and changing. Emotional leadership is above all the mark of character in a leader – appreciating that people need an emotional connection as well as cognitive. It is an aspect of leadership that has never been more critical.

Culture change is more than an event!

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dnaChanging an organizational culture is never achieved by only designing a creative event or workshop to inspire leadership of the desired change.

For some, the temptation of designing a culture change workshop and hoping that this carries momentum, is too enticing to resist. Effort is placed into designing innovative and high-impact activities that it is hoped will bring about transformation. Only too often, these high-cost and high-profile events deliver hype and not culture change.

In essence there is nothing wrong with culture change workshops, but these need to be considered as part of an integrated program that impacts the DNA of the organization for change to be lasting.

The model of changing culture provided by Connors and Smith in Change the Culture shows the deeply embedded activities that need to be considered, i.e. results, actions, beliefs, experiences.

When planning a culture change program, attention needs to be given to all parts of the organization. These include leadership, processes, and day-to-day practices. Starting from the top is always the most appropriate first step, given that leaders are ultimately accountable for the culture of the organization.

Leaders need to know “why” the culture needs to change. Without this beacon of purpose, culture change lacks meaning and impact. Embracing the reason for culture change is often triggered by the need for greater competitiveness, differentiation, diversification, or integration. Sometimes this occurs post-merger, or frequently to build cohesion following numerous acquisitions. It can be instigated to achieve business advantage or sometimes to address a high attrition rate. Whatever the reason, leaders need to have a passionate and authentic story to tell the organization and every stakeholder. Just to embark on a culture change program because it’s what many organizations are doing, is no reason to invest in this type of initiative.

Conducting assessments and reviewing organizational analytics are often part of a culture change program. These activities can be very helpful in understanding the data that lies at the root of why changes are necessary. They are possibly the easiest part of a culture change program. It’s not hard to inspect data. It is however much more challenging knowing what to do about it.

Leaders often need to change the way they communicate and lead in general. Most of all, leaders need to coach and engage employees in a manner that gains their trust, discretionary effort, and belief. When leaders lead well, employees are engaged. When employees are valued, rewarded, and empowered, the energy in an organization is palpable.

The best culture change programs are well thought out initiatives that span the whole organization and which also address the processes that underpin the operating model. The best laid plans need to be defined from the get-go, not incrementally defined as the process gathers momentum. Engaging employees from the inception of a culture change program, communicating openly, and investing in actions that do indeed speak louder than words, is a great combination for achieving culture change.

Culture is often defined as “the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization”. The emphasis of “shared” sets the tone for an integrated culture change program where everyone is involved, impacted, and inspired.

Why character always matters in leadership

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characterCharacter is a much-debated aspect of leadership. There are many who consider exemplary character to be important for good leadership. There are also many who don’t care, as long as a leader is delivering results.

Let us consider the trajectory of each argument:

• Important: Leadership with an integral moral code based on integrity, honesty and transparency will develop a culture that reflects this. In fact, the whole argument concerning the importance of character is about outcomes. Leadership with these character traits requires followers to consider values, standards, and behavior as significant in the way results are achieved.

• Not important: Leadership that considers a good and upright character as optional, will encourage followers who regard the end as always justifying the means. Values, morals, or methods do not matter. By definition, this type of leadership will develop an “anything goes” type of culture.

An interesting case study is the recent scandal consuming the Australian cricket team. Leaders decided that cheating is ok in the pursuit of success. A culture of spitefulness, abuse, and aggression develops in that sort of environment, or maybe this culture spawned cheating as an acceptable strategy. Not that all other national teams are paragons of virtue – far from it! Has the need to win at all costs resulted in the death of good sporting behavior? Thankfully there are still leaders in the sporting world who maintain a virtuous character.

Politics is a murky world that I’d rather not delve into too much. But leaders who lie, deceive, and besmirch, rather than show a passion for truth, integrity, and praise, do not endear themselves to many. Maybe that’s why voting often seems to be either, (a) the lesser of evils, or (b) policy regardless of leader.

In the business world, the character of leaders has the potential to impact many. Not only members of the leadership team, but all employees, customers, and suppliers. Leaders of good character will encourage a good culture. These leaders develop a way of working and relating that has a moral foundation. Those who interact with these leaders get to know and understand their basis of operating. Recruitment of new employees requires a standard based on good character, not just competence.

Character isn’t just a moral consideration. Character is also defined by how people serve, speak, and show-up. Character can be described as personality, pedigree, or practice. It is the “whole person”, not just what a leader does or achieves. Character is rarely aligned with charisma but is often associated with caliber.

There are many examples of leadership character being excused when results are good. It takes a lot of courage to challenge character even when results are outstanding. Thankfully, there are also examples of organizations where character is paramount in the way results are achieved.

Bringing the spotlight onto character cannot simply be achieved by adopting a competency model or defining a set of organizational values. Although both are excellent. When leaders of character are promoted, honored, and rewarded, organizations and everyone connected with them benefit. Keeping the focus on character will ensure high caliber leaders in the 21st century.

Building diversity into cultures

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diversityThere are many examples of well-defined organizational cultures that bring significant clarity to brands, values, and behavioral expectations. There are also examples of organizations where the culture has been defined extremely well, but where this has in fact led to stagnation and homogeneity rather than rich diversity.

Edgar Schein points out in his book Organizational Culture and Leadership that, “culture is deep, wide and complex. Leaders should avoid the temptation to stereotype organizational phenomena in terms of one or two salient dimensions, and they should be sensitive to the power they have to influence the groups with which they work.”

This specific case study illustrates this:
A successful financial services company was facing the challenge of diversifying its products to remain competitive. The company was over 100 years old and had a deeply embedded culture of financial rigor (thankfully!), pragmatic decision-making, and pride in robust legacy products. The challenge of innovating and diversifying did not come easily to the senior leadership team. A comprehensive profiling of this senior team revealed some of the reasons why. For example, using the Myers Briggs profiling framework, everyone was an ST. For those unfamiliar with this vernacular, everyone was focused on solid facts and data, thoroughly analyzed in consistent and logical ways. Not a bad thing for a financial services company one might think! But there was very little customer understanding, creativity, interest in trends, or inspiration. The leadership group had become so consistent in their narrow cultural and behavioral alignment, that they had squeezed out diversity and innovation.

Bob Garratt, in his book The Cultural Contexts, cites Argenti when he suggests the main reasons for corporate collapse are, “too many people of the same sex, age, education, and nationality at the top, with too little authentic information about the changing environment, and few managerial information systems.” Given that this insight is now over 40 years old, shouldn’t lessons have been learned?

Organizations who narrow their focus on cultural imperatives should also be mindful that cultural diversity can expand and not threaten the success of their business. Defining a differentiating culture does not mean that diversity is jettisoned. Culture is often about behavioral norms and not the rich tapestry of a diverse workforce. A well-known insurance company conducts an employee engagement survey every year. Comments such as, “run by old white men”, should cause the company to consider deeply the demographics of the senior leadership team and the implications for its culture.

The challenge of creating inclusive cultures that are also distinctive, can also be seen in organizations such as churches. A large suburban church defined by its all white and all male senior leadership team, faces a challenge of diversity. Organizations such as this can develop over many years with leaders who tend to see things in a similar way. Just by hiring a senior leader who may have a different background, doesn’t necessarily change the culture. In fact, changes arising from an external hire can be very unauthentic if not integrated in a very careful way. It is important to grow an organization authentically, develop leaders from a diverse spectrum, and foster a risk-comfortable environment of constantly growing a culture dynamically.

Cultures that embrace diversity are more likely to lead to long-term success and fulfilment than those that hold onto a narrow set of cultural principles.