Sal's Blog

Where do You Go From Here?

This series of posts started out with the question, “Are leaders born?”

Our response has been “No.” Leadership can be learned. We can learn the key competencies and capacities to elevate our effectiveness.

Here are some recommended next steps to guide your path forward.

1. Review the levels of leadership agility outlined in this article. At what level are you currently operating? At what level do others perceive you operating?

2. Review the three Limiting Internal Beliefs (Controlling, Protecting, and Complying).  If you want to be more effective at your current level of leadership agility or even move to the next level, challenge the assumptions you have about yourself that in part drive your leadership behaviors.

3. Based on the steps above, create a leadership development action plan by identifying 1-3 behaviors you will start implementing over the course of the next 30 days. After those become routine, identify 1-3 more behaviors you will implement on a regular basis.

Leadership development is really about personal growth and self-development. The most effective leaders know that it is a never-ending journey. So, take the steps today to ignite your leadership potential and the potential of the people around you.

In this series of posts, we have been exploring leadership development from two perspectives – competencies and capacities. In our last two posts, we focused on the limiting internal belief of Controlling and Protecting. Today, our focus is on Complying.

Limiting Internal Beliefs: Complying

The Complying Dimension measures the extent to which you get a sense of self-worth and security by complying with the expectations of others rather than acting on what you intend and want. Complying behavior suggests that you tend to relinquish power to others and to the circumstances of life. You tend to see the world as full of powerful people who can control or protect you. Because of this belief, you tend to submit to those in power and comply with their expectations. You do this to gain safety and win approval. You tend to equate personal worth and security with meeting and living within others’ expectations.

There are a number of internal assumptions that people with high Complying tendencies use to organize their identity.

• I am okay if people like me.
• I am worthy when others approve of me.
• I need to live up to others’ expectations to succeed.
• I can stay safe by supporting others.
• The world is a dangerous place. Caution makes me safe.
• Loyalty, harmony, and getting along to get along protect me from disapproval.

Leaders with these internal beliefs tend to have a constant need to please others, belong, be sensitive, needed, and liked. They often say “yes” when they really want to say “no,” double check with authorities before taking action, couch their language so that others will not have strong emotional responses, and cautiously manage what they do to stay in the good graces of others.

Do any of these internal beliefs above describe you? How are they impacting your leadership effectiveness? What can you do to challenge those internal assumptions? What would be the impact?

Stay tuned for our final post in this series where we’ll help you create your path forward.

In this series of posts, we have been exploring leadership development from two perspectives – competencies and capacities. In our last post, we focused on the limiting internal belief of Controlling. Today, our focus is on Protecting.

Limiting Internal Beliefs: Protecting

The Protecting Dimension measures the belief that you can protect yourself and establish a sense of self-worth through withdrawal, remaining distant, hidden, cynical, superior, and/or rational. Essentially, people stay safe by acting aloof and maintaining distance in their relationships. Safety means being above it all. This stance can come from an inner lack of confidence, self-doubt, inferiority, or its opposite superiority. It may well be that you project an air of superiority, needing to be right, find fault, and put others down as a strategy to build yourself up.

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Limiting Internal Beliefs: Controlling

To help our clients explore their limiting internal beliefs and advance through the levels of leadership agility, we utilize a tool called The Leadership Circle. It is a 360 degree instrument that not only measures twelve leadership competencies, but also has a second and deeper layer. It helps a person analyze their internal assumptions, ways of thinking, and habits that determine a great deal of their leadership behaviors – most of which decrease effectiveness. The Leadership Circle refers to these dimensions as “Reactive Leadership Styles” because they limit effectiveness, authentic expression, and empowering leadership – all key components to moving higher in the levels of leadership agility. There are three key dimensions within the Reactive Styles – Controlling, Protecting, and Complying. We’ll explore each in separate posts, starting with Controlling in this post.

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Levels of Development

Humans develop through very specific stages over the course of their lives, and along the way they can become better equipped to handle the complexities of today’s fast-paced and interdependent business environment.

By understanding the stages through which people develop, you’ll be able to set forth a path to increase your effectiveness as a leader.

One of the best frameworks for understanding these stages that I’ve found is eloquently described in the book Leadership Agility: Five Levels of Mastery for Anticipating and Initiating Change by Bill Joiner and Stephen Josephs. In their well researched book, the Authors identify five levels of leadership agility: Expert, Achiever, Catalyst, Co-Creator, and Synergist.

Let’s explore these at a high level. Please note that these are taken directly from Leadership Agility.

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