LEADERSHIP SIMPLIFIED SERIES
Last week we concluded that self-awareness is a leader’s best friend because it introduces us to ourselves. This week, we continue with the topic of self-awareness and discover how we can lead team members who have different personalities and skills they bring to the leadership table. We highlight the value of leveraging different perspectives that come as a result of embracing diversity.
One of the roles of an effective leader is to ensure that they create an atmosphere that fosters creativity and enhances productivity. There are many tools on the market today that we can use to establish the personalities of those that we lead. However, for purposes of this article, I will stick to the one I am familiar with, where I am certified to train and offer a behavioural assessment – the Maxwell DISC Assessment.
Maxwell DISC Assessments and reports are designed to raise the awareness of individuals by helping them to understand themselves and those they lead better. The assessments divide personalities into four groups which make up the acronym DISC. D stands for Dominant or Driver, I for Influencing or Inspiring, S for Stable or Steady, and C for Compliant or Correct.
One of the areas that the assessments focus on which we will dive into this week is communication. Effective leadership calls for communicating in a way that is clear and results in connection which produces better results. In his book Everyone Communicates, Few Connect, John C. Maxwell reminds us that “anyone can learn to connect better because connecting is a choice. It is a mindset that can be learned”.
Last week, we created our leader P a General Manager and some of P’s attributes are being easy going and direct with high standards for themselves and those they lead. P is also visionary and is good at motivating team members to get results. P has areas of growth which include, sometimes caring more about the results than the effort it takes to get the results. P has also been known to want results yesterday for an assignment given today. Sometimes they can also take uncalculated risks. P also needs to work on being a more patient person and give others time to digest a directive before they decide how they will carry it out.
With this summary in mind, we will now proceed to look at how P can be able to communicate and connect better with team members who are wired differently. Let us make use of the Maxwell DISC Assessment, consider the four D.I.S.C. personality categories, share the general attributes that people in each category tend to display, and then look at how P can communicate and connect better with the team members.
Team Members who display the D personality may be decisive, risk takers, self-starters, and strong willed. The value they bring to the team is their innovation and vision. Their areas of growth include avoiding taking on more than they can handle. In addition, they need to learn how to handle work that is routine and mundane.
While communicating with Ds be brief and direct and avoid details and analysis. Stick with the big picture and focus on the results you want instead of the process.
The Is tend to be sociable, enthusiastic, and optimistic which makes them a great asset to the team as encouragers, and creative problem solvers. Their areas of growth include giving more attention to details and focusing on work instead of being more concerned about their popularity with the other team members.
Due to their talkative nature, when communicating with Is, allow them to share their ideas but give them specific instructions in a concise manner. Also ensure that you follow up on what you want them to do.
The S category tend to be good listeners and friendly which makes them good team players. Their patient and empathetic nature makes them good at reconciling conflicts. Areas of growth for team members with an S personality include being more open to change and taking constructive criticism better.
S personality ighly value being appreciated as part of the team. When communicating with S, avoid confrontation, keep your tone conversational, and commend them for their dedication and loyalty to the team. Avoid making sudden changes. Give them sufficient notice to allow them time to adjust to changes.
Finally, C team members tend to be analytical, conscientious, systematic, and precise. Their conscientious nature makes them valuable to the team. Cs have very high stands and tend to be hard on themselves and those they lead. The areas for them to work on include not getting bogged down with the details, facts and figures, speaking up more instead of holding their feelings inside, being more open to collegiate working with divergent views.
When communicating with C personality, it is advisable to be detailed and share as much information as possible. In addition, acknowledge the competency they bring to the team. Sometimes, they may stay quiet even when they have valuable information to share so its important that a leader finds ways to draw this information out of them.
We conclude this week with the fact that as individuals with different personalities, we respond better when we are communicated to in a way that honours our differences. It is therefore incumbent upon leaders to do the work of discovering who their team members are so that they can effectively communicate and get the results they need.
This week, spend some time getting to know the personalities of your team members and communicate to connect.
The author, Rosette Wamambe is a transformational leadership coach with the Maxwell Certified Leadership Team. You can contact her at rosettewam@gmail.com