Gaining Power by Flexing Your Style

The YES! Leader can use the ExploreFlexSupport model – derived from the world of improvisational theater – as a guide to thriving in the modern organizational world of “permanent whitewater.”  Exploring new possibilities, flexing your attitudes and behaviors to meet each new situation, supporting others on the journey … these are essential skills for the performance improviser and the YES! Leader alike. (You can learn more about the ExploreFlexSupport model here.)

The Flex part of the model is echoed in many other models of effective leadership, communication, and interaction – for example:

Situational Leadership. The Situational Leadership model is premised on the concept that one size does not fit all when it comes to leadership.  Situational Leadership recognizes that every individual has different needs that must be met for him to do his best work. For example, some people need close instruction and monitoring, while others need a light supervisory touch and a loosening of the reins. A leader who takes the former approach in all situations will quickly (and deservedly) get a reputation as a micromanager. A leader who always takes the latter approach in all situations will gain an equally strong reputation as an “abandoning” leader. A Situational Leader continually shifts her style and applies the right mix of task behavior (such as giving direction and setting standards) and relationship behavior (such as providing encouragement and inspiration) to meet each individual’s distinct needs.

Emotional Intelligence. Two components of Emotional Intelligence are the ability to recognize how one’s behavior is impacting others and the ability to regulate one’s behavior when interacting with others in order to achieve a mutually desirable outcome.  By contrast, many emotionally unintelligent leaders adopt a “what you see is what you get” attitude that expects others to mold themselves to the leader’s personality. Rather than do the more difficult work of navigating through the needs, expectations, and emotions of others, these leaders take an inflexible, one-note approach to interactions, not knowing or caring (or both) how they’re coming across.

The Leadership Challenge. In their book The Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner describe the “paradox of power” that exemplary leaders recognize: You become more powerful when you give your own power away.  It works like this: Providing others a degree of autonomy and decision-making authority gives them a chance to develop their skills and leads to more commitment to their work – which in turn creates better results for everyone, including the leader.  Leaders who deny or ignore the paradox of power tend to become nearly obsessed with gaining and maintaining control over people and situations. This in turn renders them rigid and intractable – the very opposite of a “flexing” leader.

REFLECTIONS FOR THE YES! LEADER

Certainly there is a time and a place for drawing a line in the sand and holding firmly to your beliefs and opinions.  But whenever you find yourself taking an unbending stand, ask yourself: Am I truly acting from a clear sense of my values? Or am I just refusing to consider an alternative perspective because it will take too much mental “heavy lifting” to incorporate it into my worldview?