| JUJITSU The Head of major Government Agency complained that his second in command was wearing on his nerves because of the constant second guessing and challenging of his decisions. I recommended that the Head should identify a unique, clearly defined, and trackable area of responsibility and assign it to his second in command. If the responsibilities were effectively discharged, then there would be multiple wins. The organization would benefit from the completed tasks. The second in command would have the freedom to call the shots and the Head would have peace of mind. LESSON Channel the pent-up energy of dominant personalities that you are charged to lead into productive work as against head butting. Wise teachers left the troublemakers in charge of the class when they left the room. Giving manageable responsibility to dominant personas is a great way to negate their potentially disruptive behaviour. PULLING TEETH A small business owner was deeply concerned about his inability to get open and frank input from his staff. It appeared as if there was a concern that they might share an opinion that was contrary to his views. He was at pains to hold back expressing his thoughts up front. However, that just resulted in the meeting dragging on without any meaningful progress. LESSON Leaders need to get honest feedback and input from team members. Whatever the manifested behaviour of the leader, team members do a disservice to themselves, the leader and the enterprise when they fail to let their views be known. We cannot assume that the leader knows or should know. You may be surprised to learn how a brief observation can open the eyes of the leader to a blind spot that they have been missing. Speak up and make a difference! STIFLED INITIATIVE The newly installed dominant leader of an export department thought that her authority was being usurped. She made it clear to the individual that in the future she should clear such actions with her. The individual who had a preference for S-Style behaviour pulled back from actions that she would normally take. She stuck to tasks that were covered in her job description. However, it went downhill as she was later identified as being lazy. I was able to break down the situation and guide the parties to reconciliation and productive coexistence. LESSON Leaders need to take time to observe the culture of the team and to get a deeper understanding of its members before making far-reaching decisions and statements. Asking questions is much wiser than making ill-advised statements. At the same time, team members should avoid shrinking and moving away from what is best for the team. The leader should be apprised of what constitutes best practice. Need I say that this does not mean that members should hold on to ineffective practices, just because that I how it has always been done. — We have been helping teams, their leaders and members move closer to their best selves for decades. I work on a platform of Behavioural DNA assessments and our DISCerning Model of Communication and Leadership. Let’s talk! info@extendeddiscsolutions.org |
3 Lessons on Dominant Leadership From 3 Case Studies
