Are you an Engaging Leader?
• Do you push for involvement?
• Do you like to make collaborative decisions?
• Do you get stressed when others don’t want to be involved?
Then you may have the Energiser Style
Leaders with the Energiser style push for involvement:
• they tend to move and speak quite quickly and expressively and appear enthusiastic and engaging
• they need to involve others and they engage them to get an embraced result
• they make collaborative decisions to ensure buy-in
• it tends to come naturally to them to persuade, energise, facilitate, brainstorm
• they facilitate the group’s process and help to raise commitment
• they get stressed when they or others are not involved in what’s going on, or if they don’t feel accepted
Engaging, energising leaders like to bring people together, to share and discuss ideas and enjoy being with others – they may also be the person who organises social events for colleagues. They come across as outgoing, enthusiastic, persuasive and expressive. They generally have plenty to say
These are valuable strengths for leaders, but there can be some downsides. Leaders with this style sometimes put so much effort into generating involvement that they and their teams lose focus on their goals. They may be seen by others as over enthusiastic or unfocused.
For leaders, this style works well when:
• You need to get people engaged
• You want to get ideas from others
• You need to get the team motivated to act
• When an upbeat, positive climate is required
It is not so suitable for situations when:
• A calm, considered approach is needed
• When other people find it overpowering
• When you need input from quieter people
• When clear decisions and plans are required
So how can you flex your style when necessary?
The framework of the four Berens’ Interaction Styles™ gives you other options. Here are two leaders (names changed) who learned to adapt their style to be more effective in specific situations.
Casie was a manager in a call centre and she created a lively and fun atmosphere in her team, she had a high regard for her team members and concern for their wellbeing. She was liked by the team and enjoyed organising social events and things to make the working day go well. She spent so much energy on engaging others, that she didn’t leave time for seeing things through to completion and her team was unsure of the priorities as tasks were not followed up. This was a blind-spot for her and she had to work on this in order to be fully effective in her role.
Tom was the manager of car dealership and his top priority was to engage the people who worked for him. He thrived on communicating and his energy and motivation when he did it was visible to others. He ran regular whole site face to face briefings, got staff involved in charity events, had regular team meetings, networked with his colleagues running other dealerships, sent personal notes to keep in touch with people, and used social media channels to communicate with staff and customers. He spent a higher proportion of his time on involving others than his colleagues in similar businesses. This sometimes meant that he missed some important tasks and deadlines. He had to consciously delegate some activities to others, and learn to be content with not always being involved himself.
So what?
Being aware of your natural style means that you can rely on your strengths for the right situations, and can flex it in other situations to have the positive impact and influence that you want.
Now what?
Want to learn more? Why not:
• Find out more about styles of leadership and influencing in my book.
• Pick up a set of my cards for specific tips for each of the four styles.
• Sign up for my monthly newsletter for insights and tips on living and working with others.
See other blogs in my Managing and Leading category.