Key Leadership Skill: Adapt Your Style to Unlock Performance

Adapt Your Leadership to Employee Needs

Leadership is a complex art, often requiring a delicate balance between inspiration and guidance. However, even with the best intentions, leaders can sometimes miss the mark when it comes to drawing out the best in their team members.

By leveraging key principles based in brain science, leaders can unlock their people’s potential and fuel great customer experiences, innovative ideas and deliver great business results.

WHITE PAPER

The Engagement Paradox

Traditional employee engagement strategies aren’t working anymore. Scores are plateauing (in some cases even declining) leading to a crisis of belief for both employees and leaders.

This white paper offers a new path forward – one that blends the energy employees want with the customer experience and business results leaders need.

Leading from the Front vs. Leading from Beside

Has your leadership ever missed the mark in terms of pulling out people’s best despite their best intentions?

I encountered a similar situation not too long ago. My daughter, Rachel, was preparing to participate in a triathlon despite having recently broken her toe. Understanding the challenges she would face, I made the decision to run with her to the finish line. With the scorching heat adding to the difficulty, I thought it was crucial to lead the way, guiding her past any obstacles and providing the necessary support to keep her going strong.

Two thirds of the way through the run she said to me, “Dad, this is really demotivating, feeling like I always have to be catching up to you. Could you just run by my side?”. I said, “Okay,” and we had an incredible finish when I led her that way.

Providing Support vs. Empty Assurances

Have you ever been in a career conversation where someone expresses self-doubt and you take on the role of a cheerleader? You say things like, “you’ve got this, I’ve seen you do this in the past!” However, as you say this, you see their physiology shrink down and their facial features turn downcast.

They are not looking for a cheerleader. This comes across as empty assurances. Instead, they need somebody at their side, helping them chunk down the challenge to feel like they’re reclaiming their agency. You have provided leadership like that, where people attain things they never thought were possible.

The Right Leadership Approach at The Right Time Unlocks Performance

Do you know where to lead from? Let’s take a look at three ‘triangles’, each representing a leadership dynamic:

Top-Down Leadership

This first triangle shows the leader at the top, shouting down orders and leading the charge. This does not work very well.

Servant Leadership

What if we flipped the triangle? With the leader at the bottom, this becomes servant leadership. Tons of autonomy is given to the employees, but there isn’t enough mentoring. Employees need coaching and guidance. They need a leader’s support at their side. So this doesn’t work very well either.

Dynamic Leadership: Leading from the Front, Beside, and Behind

What if we tipped over the triangle? This gives leaders the chance to lead from the front when they need to. There are times where leaders must make unpopular decisions, and must see the company’s vision clearly.

There are also times when you need to lead from beside. Being a co-creator and helping to chunk down a challenge brings a sense of collegiality with your team.

There are also times when you need to lead from behind, giving lots of autonomy and allowing people to fail and learn from their mistakes. Show people there’s acceptable failure here and you’ve got their back.