A Case for Balance
Have you ever been drawn in by a compelling vision? It was so exciting you couldn’t look away and you had to be part of it?
What happens when the compelling leader loses focus and you find yourself and the project adrift?
I’ve been on both sides of this equation AND I have come to appreciate the value of balancing clarity and focus with a compelling vision.
The energy that accompanies inspiration can be addictive and even overwhelming–a natural high of sorts. I recall situations early in my career when my enthusiasm during the hiring process – I always loved every candidate for one reason or another – would leave every single person I interviewed with confidence they would be offered the position. I was perplexed when they called for feedback, almost angry with me. Some even accused me of leading them on. It was a very important leadership lesson that extended to many situations over my early career. I was over-using the trait of inspiration. It felt good for me to encourage each candidate; I was affirming them and supporting their development as a result – that’s what I told myself. In fact, what was happening was I built them up only to let them fall. It didn’t serve either of us well in the end.
Interestingly it was a very different hiring experience years after learning my lesson that taught me the power of balance. In my effort to curb my enthusiasm in the interview process I made a point of challenging candidates for their choices or claims. I told myself that by doing this I would see how they handled adversity and criticism. At least they wouldn’t accuse me of leading them on any more. And it did accomplish that!
Then came the moment when the Director who reported to me informed me Helen (not her real name) turned down our offer of a position BECAUSE she didn’t think she could work with me. I was shocked. I was absolutely excited to have a chance to work with Helen; she was the perfect candidate for the new position we had created and she didn’t want to work with me. I immediately picked up the phone and called her. Helen was very clear with me on the phone that she had worked in organizations with leaders like me and it had never been a good experience. After a lengthy phone call she agreed to meet with me in person. We had a 1:1 for more than 3 hours. I wanted to hire her more after that conversation and she finally agreed that she had misjudged me – which I believe now, was completely my doing. I was never sorry for taking the additional time to build this relationship and as it turned out she proved me right and accomplished exactly my initial vision for the new position within 18 months of accepting the challenge.
So the question remains – how to balance the leadership traits of both inspiration and focus.
Mastering Leadership Podcast Series
If you haven’t listened to Part 1 in this series Episode 28 I recommend you do that. In this episode I introduce the foundational story and the characters I reference in every episode – Marley, Pete, Alan and Cynthia. The are actual people but these are not their real names. In the related Blog Post I describe them in more detail and I offer a 2-part assignment to help you get more out of the series.
In Episodes 29 and 30 we discuss 4 of the character traits that influence your leadership style – to get the most out of this series listen to those when you get a chance.
A couple of helpful points to remember:
- You do not fit neatly into one style. I hope my reflections in the podcasts and accompany posts make this abundantly clear. In this post I share how I moved between inspiration and focus in the way I designed and conducted interviews–while the transformation didn’t happen immediately, it is an example of how we are not stuck in one trait as a FIXED strength. In my earlier examples I also make the case that change for change sake is not the answer to improving performance. Both my over-use of Inspiration and Focus, while years apart, failed to serve me or anyone else well.
- Don’t fall into the trap of a label. Frequently when talking with clients I hear complaints about how many of the typologies or assessments seem to attach labels. I am intentionally not focusing on labels in this series but rather on behaviours, patterns, tendencies and preferences. Yes tilt has language to help us understand these and I will share more about those in time. Labels are helpful and even necessary for understanding, however when we trap ourselves in labels we lose sight of our free will to grow and shift as wanted and needed. REMEMBER THIS.
The Learning
Recognizing my pattern as a result of the generous feedback I received, allowed me to adjust my approach. I will admit my first reaction when hearing my enthusiasm and encouragement during interviews wasn’t appreciated was disbelief and annoyance. As I became more self-aware, I recognized how it could be off-putting and even destructive to relationships. I suspect somewhere between my over-use of inspiration and over-use of focus I had a few years where I may have been balanced and I continue to reflect on what shifted me to over-use again – albeit in the other trait – as I suspect their is some meaningful learning in this for me.
A few things you can do to join me in learning more about yourself and your influence:
- Reflect on your own behaviors and follow along today to see where you lean and whether it is in service of your ultimately goals and supports the kind of influence you desire.
- Observe the impact others have. When you see someone like Cynthia or Marley pay attention and consider the impact and kind of influence they have as a result. Some times it’s easier to first learn from observing what works and doesn’t in the performance of others.
- Monitor yourself. While you may need to do some Monday morning quarterbacking initially, in time, you will be able to notice your impact as it happens AND eventually you may even be in a position to anticipate the play and adjust on the fly. Be patient with yourself because you can’t become the Peyton Manning or Wayne Gretzky of leadership over night.
- Identify an area of focus and develop yourself in this character strength. You will be delighted to see how with focus on one trait you will improve your balance in ALL traits.
Inspiration
As you may recall from the podcast, leaders leaning into inspiration as a character strength will demonstrate enthusiasm and even a zest for life that draws people to them or to their compelling vision. In the podcast we discussed how this, while manifested slightly differently could be observed in both Marley and Cynthia. Both were driven to make things better – to move toward something they envisioned as better. For Marley it was about serving people and for Cynthia it was about honouring and bringing new and innovative ideas to life.
In politics we see this in action in the success of the Canadian Liberal Party in the 2015 election; Prime Minister Trudeau captured attention and caught our collective vision for our country. Bernie Sanders in the States may do the same thing for them; in his recent ad he demonstrates his understanding of the influence of inspiration and while I have my own criticism of the ad, it is powerful. Simon Sinek, in his famous and inspiring TedTalk, talks about what makes leaders who can capture and inspire us. His Golden Circle illustrates how important the big WHY is – what gets us out of bed in the morning and inspires us to do more than we thought possible. His message is at its core: powerful leaders grow from the inside out. He is talking about the ability of the leader or the message to inspire.
Focus
We describe the character trait of focus as a discerning and mindful approach; one that seeks the clear path forward based on knowledge and understanding. Alan and Pete, who best exemplified focus in Episode 31, cared deeply about designing and evaluating the most considered moves. Pete emphasized a slow and steady pace to be sure to get it right while Alan demonstrated the value of building a well-defined set of actions and then decisively and fearlessly putting them into action.
Back to my example from politics. While Trudeau and the Liberals appear to be enjoying a slightly longer than usual honeymoon in public opinion, they are plagued with questions about the implementation of their messages/promises. Their results, which will require focus, will ultimately determine whether they are able to deliver on the inspiring message that swept them to a surprising and impressive majority government – mind you with only 39% of the vote. (Worth pointing out their approval rating once in office, and before doing anything substantive, was much higher than their vote count on election day.) As for Bernie, he might just be elected based on his ability to inspire, but then again wasn’t Obama? We know that being elected on inspiration doesn’t ensure you can turn it into meaningful action. Recent Gallop Polls suggest Obama’s approval rating is 48%…not bad but did he deliver on the message that helped him defeat first Clinton and then Romney? Now as a Canadian looking in from the outside, it sometimes appears many if not most US voters appreciate the obstructionist approach of his opposition, which seemed to tear into Obama’s focus and created gridlock. This illustrates how leadership may have a different measure of success in politics than in other areas where presumably we wouldn’t appreciate obstructionist approaches preventing the progressive vision of a business or organization. (I feel compelled to offer though, that healthy debate, even creative conflict at the board and leadership tables of any organization are useful. I just wouldn’t describe Washington as creative or healthy at this point. Again, I must admit, I am an outsider with a biased perspective.)
“Where attention flows, neuro firing goes.”
Daniel Siegel
In my experience, and that doesn’t make it true for everyone, focus is more available to me when I feel inspired by a compelling purpose and when the two intersect I experience flow; this is how I have come to understand flow for myself and I believe it aligns with Mihaly Csikszentimihalyi description of flow. AND this would suggest you need balance in both to accomplish flow. So then, that would mean flow actually follows focus rather than passion or inspiration–that is a BIG aha for me this week. I am committed to to reflecting on it further. If you want to join me on that journey one author and speaker I intend to tap into is Daniel Pink. Also, a very recent You Tube Video from two influential voices on the subject Goleman and Siegel. You can find more from them on You Tube.
Over and Under-using Inspiration
You’ll recall in episode 31 we discussed that when Marley was over-using the trait of inspiration she opened her self up and was sometimes overly enthusiastic about what people were asking for and would take up their case and create a bandwagon effect. At the extreme, this can set people up for disappointment. It’s not that leaders behaving like Marley plan to, or want to disappoint. In my experience, they have the best of intentions – they are motivated to bring everyone to that great place and only when they value and lean into focus, in balance, do they have any hope of achieving the compelling vision. In Marley’s case, when she was out of balance she would come to our meetings with outlandish and sometimes was accused by her peers of being gullible and other times for setting them up to make her promises a reality – for which they resented her. In the case of Cynthia, because her enthusiasm was for the big impressive idea, she was accused of being insensitive to the impact of the dramatic change she was requiring. In my observation it was extremely hard for her to see or hear the reasons it just wasn’t practical.
In an attempt to bring both these very capable leaders into balance I learned not to directly challenge their passion and vision – that always resulted in wasted time and energy. (Listen to Episode 31 for more on the resulting behavior.) Instead, I invited them to dig deeper into their own solutions or ideas and complete a cost-benefit analysis or, in some cases, put together a team to build a business case (including SWOT analysis and an assessment of ROI). By not dismissing the potential or feasibility of their ideas directly, together, we found a healthy balance. (BTW, once I made the mistake of inviting Cynthia to explain her idea in more detail to Peter so he could do the analysis. That just resulted in both of them digging their heels into their particular perspectives.)
Over and Under-using Focus
Pete had a unique ability to cut through what he perceived, and sometimes described, as ‘fluff’ and he used questions, much liked a skilled litigator, to challenge and scrutinize the ideas or needs expressed. If you haven’t noticed, the adversarial approach by someone over using focus is rarely productive. Alan’s over-use of focus had a similar result but looked more like distain and intolerance. He was more prone to challenge passively – it may have been even a bit passive-aggressive – and Alan was often accused of being disrespectful and demeaning toward his peers in these moments.
When the pendulum swung too far the other way Pete’s challenging approach looked uncomfortable, emotional and clearly without clarity of thought. He would often berate himself to me soon after these meetings and express his embarrassment or he would just shut down entirely. With Alan it was more that he would speak more – even blather about – without considering the impact of his, almost flippant, remarks.
Final Remarks
No matter your preference or developed leadership style, it is your responsibility to find balance so you can bring out the best in your people and organization. We’ve talked about it and it bears repeating – you can’t make the impact you want if you fail to be self-aware. 90% of your ability to effectively lead comes from the inside, so it’s directly related to your ability to self regulate and adjust yourself in the moment.
It is essential that newly minted leaders have the support of their organizations in the first two years in role to develop a deep awareness of themselves, their teams and their ability to influence the future of the organization.
When you, as a leader, are willing to do your own work to improve your thinking, mindset, performance, way of seeing and being in relationship with others, you will be ready to make a difference and to be a leader of influence.
NEXT EPISODE IN THE SERIES: Boldness and Consideration. What if you are so considerate you can’t get anyone to move boldly on your vision? Don’t miss it – you can find it HERE or on iTunes (just look for ImpactBank: the Kickass Koach podcast) – the new episode will be uploaded on Friday February 5th at noon EST.
Background on the Building of this Series
While the observations are mine alone and they are coloured by my own journey and many of the tools I have learned along the way including MBTI, Enneagram, Kersey-Bates, DISC, Colours, StrengthsFinder and more… this series was inspired largely by a new tool and my own very specific reflection exercise or case study. To increase my comfort with and ability to apply the tool with clients I created a case study for myself in 2013 to further my own learning.
The Tool
A number of years ago I was introduced to a progressive model called Tilt 365–a positive influence predictor. It combines a 360 degree assessment with a framework for leadership development. It uses the 21st Century language of strengths with a focus on interests or as the founder and research scientist behind it, Dr Pam Boney would say, interests or preferences.
In a recent mastery call with her, Dr Boney reminded us that leaders can be really intelligent, competent and driven but if they don’t attend to their character strengths, no one will follow them…at least not when it matters. Dr. Boney talked about how when a leader over or under uses their strengths or preferences, they steal energy, making your teams and organizations less creative and productive.
Not being a proponent of the typical 360 experience I wasn’t immediately interested in Tilt 365. Based on advice from a mentor I trust, I decided to invest in learning more and I earned my Certification as a Tilt 365 Practitioner and Coach.
My Case Study
The next step for me was to do my own case study, based on my own experience to see how I could and would have used the learning as a leader AND to develop leaders reporting to me. One day in 2015 I realized how much my reflections during the completion of the case study had strengthened my ability to apply Tilt 365 AND how often I saw its application to the leadership experience of my clients.
Interestingly, as much as I learned from the exercise of the case study, creating this series has only enhanced my comfort in and belief about the tool.
The story, that forms the foundation of my case study, and the people do exist (not their real names of course) and are part of my leadership journey.
If you are interested in learning more about Tilt 365 or would like to explore how I can help you in your leadership journey using Tilt 365, please contact me for a complementary conversation.