The requirements to be a good leader assisted by PDA

Amazon counts approximately 16,600 books on leadership which reflects the great interest that has been given to this issue. One of the many books published is" On Becoming a Leader "by Warren Bennis, who focuses on how important it is to know oneself. In the introduction he says:

“Leaders know who they are, what are their strengths and weaknesses, how to fully deploy their strengths and how to compensate for their weaknesses. They know what they want, why they want it and how to communicate it to others to gain their support and collaboration. Finally, they know how to achieve their goals. The key to fully express leadership is knowing yourself.”

The process for a person to become a good leader is very similar to the process to develop and grow as a human being, in the broad sense of the sentence. From our point of view, we are all leaders, in the sense that the dictionary defines a leader as one who points the way, who gives the example and, based on that definition, we are all leaders ... but most are not good leaders.

This is why what Socrates said is relevant:

“He who knows himself knows what his skills are and how to apply them.

He who does not know himself, will fail to the degree of ruining his life.”

The questions that arise from this are:

How to know myself?, what should I know about me? and what impact am I causing to others?

The easiest way to get these answers is to ask those around us because they know a lot about our behaviors, strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately it is very difficult that those who know us have the qualities to: trust us, have confidence in themselves and, especially, in the case of superiors, not to fear retaliation if they speak honestly about the impact they produce. For these reasons, it is usual that things are not said as they are in reality inside the company ... or in some families. That is why we remain ignorant to a great extent on how we are and on the impact we produce on others.

Well aware of this, some scientists designed leadership programs from the second half of the twentieth century in which conditions were created for participants to "discover" the impact that their behavior produces on other people as well as their leadership styles. The first - the impact we have on others - is the complicated part. The groups that feed on these programs are integrating with people they do not know before the workshops, because in this way they can be authentic when providing "feedback" to their teammates.

 

Additionally, and this is part of good leadership programs, the process to perceive the impact a person has on others, implies intense work sessions that encourage the deployment of "normal" behaviors in those involved. That is to say, these are no "Picnic" courses - like most of the training sessions. They require long hours of work in which "superficial / social / diplomatic" behaviors are abandoned and people actually behave like they are.

 

When providing such programs I have had the opportunity to observe the tension that arises in some participants when they learn with surprise - because that's the idea – that they will receive feedback from those who have realized how they really are. There has been no lack of participants using delaying tactics to avoid the "moment of truth" and others who have preferred to leave the program before knowing about it... because they realize that they demonstrated behaviors that they don’t want to hear about. It must be mentioned that the comment I have heard more often in the closure of these seminars has been: "I had no idea that I produced this impact on others", a speech announcing a desire to overcome.

 

From our perspective, the most enriching workshops for personal growth have been the confrontational ones, which require participants to engage fully and end their positions of "spectator". They are forced to work intensely for long hours with minimum breaks to finally conclude after several days and physically tired, but with great satisfaction the fact that they have grown as a person.

 

Fortunately, other alternatives exist for those truly committed with increasing the effectiveness of their performance and leadership. The one that supplies the most information is the self diagnosis of the "Personal Development Analysis" (PDA) that we will describe briefly in the following paragraphs, as it provides important information about the different "styles of leadership."

 

PDA analyzes the following axes:

1. Result Orientation (Risk)

2. Interpersonal interaction orientation (Extraversion)

3. Patience level (Patience)

4. Adherence to rules, procedures and policies (Conformity to Norms)

5. Emotional Control (Self-control) and

6. Level of physical and mental energy (Energy Level)

 

We will briefly analyze only some features of each axis and later on correlate them with the leadership.

 

 

RISK Axis

 

High: Points to a person with strong achievement orientation, willing to take risks, oriented to power and control, willing to accept responsibilities that involve taking some risks, energetic, always ready to take the initiative. Motivated by power and prestige.

 

Low: person who prefers not to take risks, low pressure, someone steadily, although reserved, cautious and conservative. Motivated by harmony, consistency.

 

 

EXTRAVERSION Axis

 

High: sociable person, oriented to interpersonal interaction, likes to be visible to others, persuasive, convincing and strives to make others feel comfortable. Motivated by social exposure and social recognition.

 

Under: person who prefers to work alone or in small groups, self-sufficient and focused on problem solving. Differentiate clearly when dealing with "friends" and "acquaintances". Motivated by having personal space and privacy.

 

 

PATIENCE Axis

 

High: patient individual, analytical, consistent, with a tendency to routine and repetitive activities, gives importance to quality rather than quantity. Motivated by consistency and having enough time to do things right.

 

Low: person who prefers constant change, restless, impatient, dissatisfied with the relatively steady state of things. Motivated by diversity, constant change and being in multiple issues at once.

 

 

CONFORMITY TO NORMS Axis

 

High: this is a person who adheres to standards, policies and established procedures that give certainty for the feeling of a structure and direction. Motivated by clear direction and having accurate information to act.

 

Low: person who prefers freedom of action, independence, high involvement and with a global focus. Motivated by the freedom to act according to their own goals and ideas.

 

SELF-CONTROL Axis

 

High: rational individual, mature, experienced, which weighs the consequences of their actions and control their emotions or strong impulses.

 

Low: individual that handles himself spontaneously, sometimes impulsively, with little tolerance and that can at times act and/or speak without considering the real consequences of their actions or words...

 

AXIS INTENSITY

 

This indicator measures the "intensity", the strength of each axis in relation to the profile of the person. The axes sometimes become very "intense" and require the analysis of specialized Analysts in the assessment.

 

 

ENERGY LEVEL

 

This indicator allows to analyze the speed of perception of the person, the ability to work for extended periods and the level of physical and mental energy that the person can give to their work.

 

 

RELATION BETWEEN THE INFORMATION OF THESE AXES AND THE LEADERSHIP

 

Notwithstanding the brief information on the PDA axes exposed in the previous lines, the reader might agree with the leadership behaviors that can generate the following combinations example (obviously the possible combinations are many and varied):

 

• High Risk + low Extraversion + low Patience = authoritarian leadership behaviors tendencies, although it produces results, it does not generate the best attitudes in collaborators.

• High Risk + high Extraversion + high Patience = leadership behaviors tendencies that promote high involvement and commitment of collaborators. It's the right kind of leadership for the "empowerment".

• High Risk + low Extroversion + high Conformity to Norms + low Patience = leadership behaviors tendencies of strict control over collaborators.

• Low Risk + high Extraversion + high Patience + Conformity to Norms low = leadership behaviors tendencies that attach great importance to the people and less emphasis on results.

 

 

A leader who knows his behavioral tendencies in depth and knows in addition the tendencies of innate behavioral of his employees will be in a better position to lead each of them more effectively, as "good human beings" respond better to certain styles control than others.

 

All behaviors displayed by the members of a company have consequences on their integral results, on teamwork as well as on the individual and group performance. Of course, the behaviors of the leaders, because they are "models" for the majority, have a definite impact ... for better or worse. For this reason, the possibilities of the PDA methodology are valuable for executives interested in boosting productivity, quality and integral effectiveness of their organization, including:

• Defining their positions in terms of behavior, as the ideal is to match as closely as possible the demands of positions with the behavior of its occupants, either in the selection process or development of those already in the company.

• Defining their corporate skills also in terms of behaviors to identify individual potential and areas for development in the staff.

 

The resources to implement the PDA and to carry out effective Talent Management Consulting measures based on the PDA diagnostics are available as a cutting edge service of PDA International.