Rational Leadership

My last two articles were about Self-Awareness and Managing emotions. These are both critical attributes of strong leaders. This article address Rationality, another critical attribute. Rationality is a very important attribute for those who lead.

Rationality is how well someone analyzes situations, processes information, and their emotions. Rationality allows us to make logical and thoughtful decisions.

Of course, if one is to show rationality, he/she must also have self-awareness and be able to identify and manage emotions.

Why is it important? Leaders and managers need to process information thoughtfully, reflectively, and logically. This includes processing and understanding their own emotions and the emotions of others. Leaders need to recognize that emotions are an important source of information. Leaders who lack rationality sabotage their own goals. They also sabotage the mission and vision of their organizations.

Poor rationality leads to a deterioration in team performance. it also creates increased turnover and poor morale. Many of us have experienced this firsthand.

Someone with strong Rationality:

• Gathers all the necessary facts to make well thought out decisions.

• Tests their ideas and viewpoints for consistency.

• Considers that the full range of options and actions before deciding.

• Checks the logic of their thinking and evaluates if their ideas and viewpoints are believable.

• Carefully measures their emotions and reactions before expressing them.

These are some of the attributes of leadership included in The Lions Leader Manager Assessment. Ray Hoskins and Associates uses this assessment. It helps our clients assess their leadership competencies. We then work with clients to help them identify which changes they can make to lead, and indeed, live more effectively. It does all begin with knowing yourself.

Managing Stress-Keeping Yourself And The Environment Stable

A few years ago I worked in an environment where a key leader carried a constant load of high stress due to both historical life events and being in an environment where the CEO believed keeping people a bit nervous about their jobs was a useful motivational tool.

The CEO actually managed personal stress well, but her supervision of this leader led to a high level of anxiety and stress whenever staff knew they would have to meet one on one with her.

Ironically, the intent was to keep staff mission-focused, but the fear and decisions she made created unnecessary turnover and high stress

It was very uncomfortable for me, as I was training and trying to help staff be competent and feel confident. I couldn’t succeed as everyone knew the other leader was more directly connected with the CEO. The team was constantly stressed due to the work dynamic.

This leader and the CEO didn’t understand how stress impacts keeping everyone focused on the mission and performing. People under unnecessary stress do not perform optLeaders need to skills to manage their stress in order to do this. Leaders who are unable to manage stress create cultures in which stress is a constant, and in which self-care is not valued, or actually frowned upon.

Managing stress refers to a leader’s ability to deal constructively and effectively with the pressures and challenges that life throws at him or her. It also includes the ability to maintain a healthy work/life balance.

Why is it important? Stress, setbacks, and emergencies are a part of life. Understanding the cause of personal stress and developing effective coping behaviors is critical for leading and living healthily and effectively. A leader with this skill: • Controls personal negative reactions to stress and coaches others to do the same. • Stays positive and learns from mistakes and setbacks and creates a culture in which this is the norm. • Says no to unreasonable work demands and avoids making unreasonable demands of others. • Maintains a healthy work-life balance and encourages it in the culture. • Practices healthy physical and mental activities to remain in balance.

If you have trouble with this skill, then your leadership success and the performance of your organization will suffer. If you want to be a great or even good leader, you need to be skilled in this area.

This is one of the attributes of leadership included in The Lions Leader Manager Assessment. Ray Hoskins and Associates uses this assessment. It helps our clients assess their leadership competencies. We then work with clients to help them identify which changes they can make to lead, and indeed, live more effectively. It does all begin with knowing yourself.

Apprehension-Creating A Comfortable Environment

Have you ever worked for or tried to lead with someone who maintains high levels of apprehension? Perhaps you have had the experience of a paralyzed team because of one or more people who worried. I know I have. I remember situations where stayed stuck because of members who were constantly apprehensive.

Apprehension is the amount of worrying, fretting, strain, and uneasiness leaders take in. It is about the amount to which they beat themselves up over things they cannot control. It is the fear of uncertainty. Successful leaders and managers keep their levels of apprehension low.

Apprehension is also about how leaders identify and respond to issues that could cause them to worry and fret. Good leaders have the ability to see issues and challenges in perspective. They are able to lose too much sleep over things they cannot control.

Why is it important? Too much apprehension and worry disrupt a leader’s effectiveness. Effective leaders and managers keep issues and challenges in perspective. They do not lose too much sleep over things that they cannot control. Their apprehension also affects others in the environment. High levels of apprehension are contagious and spread throughout the team.

Effective leaders also worry little about what others think or say. This is not helpful or productive and it drains one’s physical and emotional energy.

Leaders with low apprehension levels:

• Handle criticism and challenges without becoming defensive or protective.

• Stay aware of what others are saying, but, pursue the consistent priorities in line with goals.

• Focus energy on achieving goals and avoid distractions from things they cannot control.

• Stay open and honest rather than jumping to being protective or defensive.

If you have trouble with this skill, then your leadership success and the performance of your organization will suffer. If you want to be a great or even good leader, you need to be skilled in this area.

This is one of the attributes of leadership included in The Lions Leader Manager Assessment. Ray Hoskins and Associates uses this assessment. It helps our clients assess their leadership competencies. We then work with clients to help them identify which changes they can make to lead, and indeed, live more effectively. It does all begin with knowing yourself.

Leadership Presence-Do You Have It?

Have you ever tried to follow someone who lacked a sense of authority and direction and needed to fit in with everyone else? Perhaps you have had leaders who shied away from the risks and challenges of leading. It is difficult to follow someone who does not want the responsibilities of leadership and is not inspiring. 

One of the attributes of a strong leader that we usually recognize right away is what we call “leadership presence”. Leadership presence is someones:

• self-confidence

• sense of authority

• appearance of competence

• ability to enjoy being in charge

These leaders inspire people to follow them and they lead by example. This attribute is important.  People in positions of influence need to own and show a presence of competence and confidence. When other leaders and followers do not see these traits, it can lead to mistrust, fear, frustration, and confusion.

To develop into a strong leader, there are some desired Behaviors. Strong leaders:

• Possess and show a sense of authority and direction

• Attract and inspire people to follow them

• Like the risks and challenges of leading

• Understand and own the responsibility of leading well

• Have a way about them that others recognize as leadership

These are all attributes that we can and need to develop if we either want to lead. They are important if we want the kind of success in life that requires being able to lead.

If you have low levels of this skill, then your leadership success will suffer. So will and the performance of any group you lead. If you want to be a great or even good leader, you need to be skilled in this area.

Leadership presence is one of the attributes included in The Lions Leader Manager Assessment. Ray Hoskins and Associates uses this assessment. It helps our clients assess their leadership competencies. We then work with clients to help them identify which changes they can make to lead, and indeed, live more effectively.

Hiring The Right Leadership

I have recently observed the struggles of two nonprofits. While they work in two different service areas, they have similar struggles. Both agencies have hired, for leadership positions, people who lack crucial leadership skills.

In over 20 years of consulting to nonprofits, I find this to be a recurring and all too frequent issue. As a friend of mine is fond of saying, “there are lots of people in leadership positions, but there are few leaders in leadership positions.” That is true in both of these agencies. It is an area in which improvement is relatively simple. Here are some guidelines for nonprofits in addressing this issue.

First, develop a set of standardized interview questions about how people lead. Include how they handle leadership scenarios. Work with your best existing leadership to develop the questions and scenarios. This will make the interview more realistic.

Second, develop a series of leadership-related questions to send to references. The fact that someone is a reliable worker in one situation doesn’t mean they can lead in another.

Third, have final interviews be with a team of existing leaders, who need to have a consensus before you hire.

Finally, use a leadership assessment like those used by Ray Hoskins and Associates. Our behavior and competency-based assessments can help you identify leadership strengths and challenges. Then you can develop custom staff development strategies to develop your best leaders.