by Hugh Massie

“Leadership is not domination, but the art of persuading people to work toward a common goal.” – Daniel Goleman

What is your definition of leadership? What are some of the attributes of great leaders you have experienced? Who are some great leaders that are role models for you?

When it comes to leadership, everyone seems to have a different opinion on whether leadership talents are natural or learned and which talents are more important than others. Opinions also differ around how to develop leadership abilities, what makes a good leader and the best way to lead people. This is not surprising given the complexity of people and relationships, and the fact that each person has a unique perspective on leadership based on who they are.

Many leaders have recently experienced remote working, maybe for the first time. Now is a good time to consider what has gone well and what has been a behavioral challenge.

If you are unfamiliar with your behavior and responses you could well be inadvertently causing problems with your teams. Using the insight of the Business DNA Natural Behavior Discovery, you will gain a deep understanding of your natural hard-wired behavior which is at the core of your leadership talents. This insight is the starting point for informing how people are likely to relate to your leadership style and what you need to understand about yourself to manage those relationships.

The data enables you to personalize your leadership to the individual, remembering that one size of leadership approach does not fit all.

Using our 200+ actionable insights into each person’s behavior, strengths, struggles, communications keys and more, puts you in the driving seat to be able to interact with others on terms that improve their relationship with you and the business, and this inevitably leads to increase in productivity and success.

People who feel ‘seen’ and valued in the workplace – are more effective. This is critical to your leadership approach.

Discovering the Impact of Your Leadership

We have a unique “inside-out” approach to the development of leaders. When you are more aware of your natural behavioral talents for leadership you will be able to understand if you are a result or relationships-based leader. Generally, most people are one or the other. The goal is to develop the appropriate balance between managing results and relationships.

One of the interesting responses we have noticed in working with industry leaders is the importance from their people that leaders have integrity and can be trusted.

In the work we do with leaders and their organizations we firstly use the Business DNA Natural Behavior Discovery tools to understand leadership behaviors. We then use our sophisticated Business DNA Leadership 360-degree discovery to establish how your leadership style is actually impacting the people working with you. This analysis will reflect your “learned leadership behaviors”. It reveals:

• What kind of working environment you are creating?

• Is there a productive energy?

• Are you communicating effectively to build great relationships with your teams?

Developing your leadership style is a continual process. Everyone has some blind-spots, and even biases, but being aware of them is critical. Awareness of your limitations or pressure points gives you the opportunity to manage them. Remembering that being able to manage differences in behavior effectively is what produces an organization focused on goals and success.

Great leaders who are behaviorally insightful into their own and others personality and tend to have an equally discerning understanding of their emotional intelligence. They navigate the behavioral differences they face. They understand theirs and others pressure points. They know getting these right builds trust that leads to successful leadership.

So, understanding your behavioural style is the foundation of your leadership abilities. Of course, we need to recognize that there are many other aspects of leadership to learn as well, execution delegation, communication, time-management, to name but a few. But this basic understanding will set the platform for developing the rest of these areas.

Behavioral Insight Influences the Bottom Line

Quality leadership affects the bottom-line. Effective leaders are thirteen times more likely to outperform their industry competitors. The difference in the impact of a top-performing leader and an average performing leader is 50%. In the area of key metrics like financial performance, organizations with the highest quality leaders were 13 times more likely to outperform their industry competitors.

Organizations with higher quality leadership higher employee retention and engagement rates (up to three times that of their competitors). Source

Having behavioral insight in real-time on any device makes leadership and interaction with people significantly more effective. Simply being able to compare two (or more profiles) in advance of a meeting puts leadership in a strong position to manage conversations effectively.

Why not try it free or talk to one of our consultants â€“ or both.