DANCE OF LEADERSHIP
A vision without a task is just a dream.
A task without vision is sheer drudgery
But with vision and task together,
One can change the world.
~Black Elk
DANCE OF LEADERSHIP:
MASTERING THE ART OF MAKING A DIFFERENCE USING YOUR AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP STYLE
If you’re reading this, then you want to make a positive difference in the world – in your way, using your skills, not as a clone of many of the leaders we hear about today. You also want to influence others to achieve shared goals. That’s leadership!
Leadership is the intentional use of power and influence to initiate, empower, encourage, and direct action that has impact for the achievement of shared goals.
Dr. Robin’s talks, programs, and coaching identify leadership styles and role models from a wide range of multicultural leaders. She also discusses strategies to nullify behaviors that hamper leadership effectiveness – including glass ceilings, muddy floors, and sticky walls. These barriers might be invisible communication style differences or stereotypes that cause people to miss or discount their own or other people’s leadership because their way of leading is not familiar. Or maybe the barrier is internal because you are not leading from your authentic self.
What we have learned from almost 500 years of investigation into leadership is that predicting leadership effectiveness is as difficult to do, as leadership is ubiquitous in the world. We know good leadership when we have it. We find it everywhere – all through time, all kinds of people, many different styles. We have strong views about who has been a really effective leader. So leadership is ubiquitous – ever-present, everywhere.
Yet, leadership defies our ability to accurately define and predict it.
Gender won’t tell us.
Culture won’t tell us.
Age won’t tell us.
Intelligence won’t tell us.
Interests won’t tell us.
Personality alone won’t tell us.
Charisma alone won’t tell us.
Position won’t tell us.
Passion alone won’t tell us.
No one trait will tell us if someone will be an effective leader.
All of those traits – Gender, culture, age-experience, intelligence, interests, personality, charisma, position, and passion have been researched thoroughly for their ability to predict leader effectiveness. Without success!
While traits and characteristics can all help a leader be effective, traits alone do not predict leader effectiveness. What does seems to matter for leader effectiveness is an alchemical blend of the person, their skills, and the call of the situation.
Effective leaders know who they are, what they do best, and when to do it!
Who is Personality and Purpose. We are born with certain characteristics, traits, interests, predisposition, and intelligence. And we are born for a purpose – our life has meaning. This is the born part.
What is learned though acquired skills, role modeling, training, and experience. That is the made part.
Your leadership STYLE is a blend of your Who and What. Defining and developing your unique leadership style is the major focus of Dance of Leadership – Helping you know, at a core level, who you are and what you do best … Your authentic leadership style.
When is the situation that calls forth the true-you with your unique skill-personality mix, your temporal, physical, emotional, geographic context. No single leadership style is effective across all situations. So it will be important to know your style, learn to flex when you must order to be as effective as possible in a range of situations. Sometimes you are called to lead by followers - they see your potential before you do and decide to follow you. Leadership is inherently relational. if you look over you shoulder and no one is following, you're not a leader - no matter what your title or position. Leadership is in the eye of the followers. And the followers may call you to lead when they believe you have the character and skills needed to make a positive difference in any given situation.
It is my wish that after encountering the Dance of Leadership approach you will be more clear about who you are, what you do well, and be willing to answer “YES!” when you’re called to make a positive difference.
There are many different leadership styles. These leadership styles can all be effective when used in the appropriate situations. The Dance of Leadership model identifies 5 styles with multicultural role models and strategies for being effective in appropriate situations with each style. The 5 Styles use names from Gabrielle Roth’s Rhythms of Life. They are Flowing, Staccato, Chaos, Lyrical and Stillness.
The Flowing leader takes things one step at a time—seeing how each
movement informs and causes the next. These leaders take their time to
assess where the movement is in their organization. They think through their
and behaviors and move their organizations slowly, yet inevitably
towards objectives. These leaders avoid blocking the flow, knowing
the power required to stop movement is much greater than the power needed
to channel it into desired directions. Their goal is to guide the energy of
their organizations to move in ways consistent with the organizing purpose.
As a leadership style, Staccato is a very extraverted “push” style. Staccato leaders assert, direct, coerce, and tell folks what needs to be done. They
break rules, take risks, experiment, challenge the status quo, go for the gold,
take action—in short they do! Some Staccato style leaders love dramatic flair
with their actions; they come in, shake things up, and get everyone
energized and moving. Direction of movement is not always as important as
taking some action, doing something!
Chaos style leaders know they do not have control, do not have all the
answers, cannot save everyone, maybe not even themselves—but on some
deeper level they believe in people, they believe in their purpose (even a divine
purpose), and they have a deep trust in the Universe-God-Spirit-Divine
Organizing principles. Chaos leaders often take a degree of pleasure in
smashing the boxes and boundaries many of us hide in so that we feel safe
and in control. They show us how the categories we live with may be
comfortable at times, but way too tight if we really want to grow and/or solve
our more complex problems. The Chaos leader lives-thinks out of the box, and
encourages followers to do likewise.
As a leadership style, Lyrical tends to be more introverted and involving—you
might call it more of a “pull” style if you were to contrast it with the more
assertive “push” style of Staccato. The person using the Lyrical style is likely to
encourage, engage, inquire, and empathize with others, drawing them out of
their shells and/or into the Lyrical leader’s orbit. Often these people exercise
influence behind the scenes—for which they are sometimes acknowledged,
sometimes not.
Leaders who resonate to stillness know how to use silence, how to listen to
Leaders who resonate to stillness know how to use silence, how to listen to both the inner and outer voice, how to role model the behavior they want
others to emulate, and provide information that helps followers to listen to the
guide within and move from following that guidance. Stillness leaders seem to
be evident and effective in situations that call for values/belief changes. There
is something about their ability to tap into our deeper, shared desires that
allows them to get below the surface disagreements and bring our places of
shared value to light.
Using the Dance of Leadership approach you will learn when to flex your style, and when to hold firm in order to maximize your influence for achieving your leadership goals.
If you’re ready to be a mover and shaker in the world using your authentic leadership style, call 909.626.2200 or email Robin@DrRobinJohnson.com.