This document discusses a new paradigm for leadership development based on understanding the four functional areas of the brain and how they relate to different leadership styles. It presents a model of four types of leadership based on the brain's functional quadrants: business leadership focused on results from the left rational brain; strategic leadership providing vision from the right rational brain; social leadership focused on relationships from the right emotional brain; and process leadership ensuring procedures from the left emotional brain. It argues that most leaders only use one or two functions, limiting their effectiveness, and that leadership programs should target brain development rather than just behaviors to facilitate whole-brain leadership. Tools are proposed for developing individual leaders' brain functions and embedding whole-brain approaches into organizational systems and culture.
1. Leadership systems that
create powerful companies
Personality & the Brain:
A New Paradigm for Leadership
Development
HRPA Hamilton Chapter - October 10, 2013
Facilitated by Heather Hilliard
Leadership & Behavioural Change Expert
www.CaliberLeadership.com
2. About the Speaker
Personality & behavioural change expert with over
25 years’ experience working with individuals, teams,
leaders and organizations to eliminate dysfunction and
maximize potential
Creator, Striving Styles® Personality
System, a neuro-psychological framework
for development & behavioural change
Author, Who Are You Meant To Be?
A Groundbreaking, Step-by-Step Approach to
Discovering and Fulfilling Your True Potential
3. Why So Many Leaders Fail to
Achieve Potential
Operate from function that decides, defines and plans
in a logical, rational and objective fashion
Don’t use the relational part of the brain: struggle to
coach, resolve conflict, show appreciation,
empathize, and manage performance
Focus on doing relationships, rather than being in
them
Focus on changing leadership behaviour without
understanding what drives behavior (e.g., behavioral
competencies)
4. Role of Functions in
Leadership
Brain scientists have determined that the brain has
four functional quadrants that play different roles in
our personality
While we are meant to use all four quadrants in
various activities, most leaders use only one or two
Imagine the positive impact on your
organizational results if your leaders were
using all four quadrants of the brain!
5. Four Quadrants for Processing
Four distinct functional areas of the
brain:
left and right hemisphere,
within each hemisphere, an
emotional brain and a rational
brain quadrant
Each quadrant is specialized to
perform specific tasks very
efficiently
Functions operate in the external
or internal environment
6. Role of the Functions in
Leadership
Rational/Imaginative
Business Leadership
Set goals & expectations
Assess performance
Reinforce behaviors
Linear problem solving
Building desired future state
Process Leadership
Produce results
Followership
Process and rules
Maintain status quo
Tactical planning
Strategic Leadership
Envision desired future state
Vision & strategy
Design systems / consider context
Out of the box thinking/problem solving
Adaptable/situational approach
Social Leadership
Determine emotional needs
Relational/social experiences
Reward & recognition
How people behave
Impact on people
Experiential/Emotional
7. Failure of Leadership
Programs
Using one or two leadership approaches significantly
limits leadership effectiveness, especially when we
know we are not attending to a particular aspect of
leadership but don’t know why
Leadership development programs often take a
rational approach to relational brain development
These programs don’t help leaders learn to use their
emotional brain; keep them in their comfort zone and
fail to bring about any behavioral change
9. Exercise: Worst Leadership
Behavior
In groups of 3, discuss leadership behavior that you
have had to deal with and the impact it had on you
and your coworkers
11. Business Leadership
Focus on producing results
Goal oriented, practical & objective
Organize people, tasks, timelines to achieve a
common goal
Financial & budget
Use authority & power to ensure
accountability
12. Function of the Left Rational
Brain
Create an ideology for the way the world must be
and make sure everything conforms
Decide what something (or someone) is, where it
belongs, what its usefulness is
Plan, sort and organize experiences
Form our self-concept
14. Strategic Leadership
Provide the vision & direction for the growth/success
of an organization
Organizational transformation & change
Adaptability
Insight into markets, barriers, people
Architect of the big picture
15. Function of the Right Rational
Brain
Imagine, conceptualize and
synthesizes information and
experiences
Create a vision for the future
To “know” without “knowing
why”
Create our “self-image
17. Social Leadership
Focus on how people feel as they work
Rights & entitlement of employees
Emotional intelligence / relationships
Rewards & recognition
Organizational culture
Communication, conflict resolution
18. Function of the Right
Emotional Brain
Relate and bond to others
Evaluate experiences
Produce emotions
Store and recall negative
emotional memories
20. Process Leadership
Produce Standard Operating Procedures & policies to
ensure things are done right and objectives met
Focus on efficiency, economy of effort, cost effective
productivity
Manage performance to ensure everyone follows
processes & procedures
Logistics, schedules, resources
Focus on maintaining & performing
expected activities of the role
21. Function of the Left Emotional
Brain
Experience physical sensations
Repeat experiences to recreate
known sensations
Repeat and reproduce
activities in specific sequence
and order
Seek and experience positive
or negative emotions
24. Autocratic Behavior
Key theme of outward focused left rational brain is
“I know best and let others know”
Leading exclusively from this function results in:
Micromanaging
Overpower others
Don’t delegate authority
Critical, demanding, impatient behavior
Lack of empathy
Leader: Need to be In Control
25. Absentee Behavior
Key theme of inward focused left rational brain is
“I know best and don’t tell others”
Leading exclusively from this function results in:
Withholding knowledge, information, direction
Expecting employees to know what to do without
telling them
Avoiding involvement with employees
Hiding out in office or work from home
Passive aggressive behavior
Intellectual: Need to be Knowledgeable
26. Image-Driven Behavior
Key theme of outward focused right rational brain is
“I am the best and I let others know”
Leading exclusively from this function results in:
Using employees ideas as their own
Overly concerned with image (great guy, gal)
“Punishing” employees who publically
disagree or blindside
Speaking about “I” not “we”
Avoiding reality
Performer: Need to be Recognized
27. Don’t Share their Vision
Key theme of inward focused right rational brain is
“I see all and expect others follow”
Leading exclusively from this function results in:
Expecting employees follow without explaining where
they are going
Impatience to get to vision; don’t tolerate
others’ slower movement
Don’t follow up or hold accountable
Intimidate by asking direct questions
Rationalize poor performance
Visionary: Need to be Perceptive
28. Put People Before Results
Key theme of outward focused right emotional brain is
“I know what’s best for people”
Leading exclusively from this function results in:
Ignoring own or business priorities
Doing employees’ work for them so they don’t have to
struggle (foster dependency)
Insisting on harmony; shut down
creativity/innovation
Insisting on cooperation and consensus
building that impedes decision making
Taking employee behavior personally
Socializer: Need to be Connected
29. Don’t Assert their Authority
Key theme of inward focused right emotional brain is
“Others know what is best for them”
Leading exclusively from this function results in:
Letting others define authority & take lead
Misunderstand & personalize behaviour of employees
(focus on feelings, not issues)
Don’t expect or demand of others
Don’t give feedback; let employees make
mistakes
Do everything themselves; perfectionistic
Artist: Need to be Creative
30. Fail to Plan or Follow Through
Key theme of outward focused left emotional brain is “I
do what I want to do when I want to do it”
Leading exclusively from this function results in:
Impulsive decision making (frustrated employees)
Failing to stay with prolonged challenges
Leaving employees to figure things out
for themselves
Failure to follow through on
commitments
Lack of empathy for people of different
styles
Adventurer: Need to be Spontaneous
31. Resist Change & Innovation
Key theme of inward focused left emotional brain is
“I do what I am supposed to do when I am told to do
it”
Leading exclusively from this function results in:
Say “no” to suggestions/ideas without consideration
Lack empathy
Demand adherence to status quo, despite pressing need for
change
Critical & judgmental of people who
different
Failure to correct performance;
it themselves
Stabilizer: Need to be Secure
are
do
33. How the Brain Develops
Brain develops through experience
Using other functions requires scheduling time to
perform the activities associated with the function,
i.e.
Business leaders need to spend time in social
leadership activities daily
Process leaders need to spend time daily in
strategic activities/discussions
Competencies need to be developed
for each of the four quadrants
relative to the business or role
34. Personality & Brain Functions in
Leadership Development
The personality of a leader is expressed through the
functions of the brain
Therefore, leadership development needs to
incorporate approaches that target developing brain
functions and not just focus on behavior
Approach focuses on developing individual leaders as
well as embedding whole brain approaches into
systems
35. Tools for Whole Brain
Leadership
Leaders
Build self-awareness - understand own brain
(Striving Style) and predominant leadership style
Determine extent of use of each quadrant; determine
area that needs to develop
Provide activities that engage specific
areas of the brain
Provide expectations, coaching
& feedback
36. Tools for Whole Brain
Leadership
Systems
Do your organizational systems support development of all
4 leadership styles?
Do your systems focus on behavior instead of engaging
the whole brain
Need to incorporate approach into:
Strategy, goals, planning processes
Selection, retention, career pathing
Performance management systems
Competency systems
Values & culture
Rewards & recognition
Training & development
37. Tools for Whole Brain
Leadership
Organizational Culture / Team Culture
Determine what is the brain predominant function of
the leadership team
Identify what leadership functions will dominate the
culture
Address gaps
Provide team experiences to develop
lesser used leadership functions
38. Our Approach
Striving Styles Personality System is a neuropsychological framework for development,
behavioural change and achieving potential
Can be integrated into any development program
Audit existing programs to ensure design & delivery
reflect personality, emotions and how the brain learns
Facilitate organizational change, eliminate dysfunction
and disengagement
Build expertise of anyone involved in training,
development & behavioural change
Discover how personality, needs, emotions and brain organization influence the behaviour of leaders and how to incorporate that understanding to expedite behavioural change in leaders.
Learn all about the 8 signs that leaders are not using their whole brain as well as how to design and deliver leadership development programs that focus on leveraging the whole brain.
Take away the tools you need to apply this learning in your own development as well as in your organization.
The quadrant where your Predominant Style resides, the tendency of your Predominant Style to focus on your inner world versus outer world, and the primary direction of the flow of energy from one quadrant to another, determine which of the other Styles appear in your Squad.
<number>
Using the whole brain when creating training & development programs
Using one or two leadership approaches significantly limits leadership effectiveness, especially when we know we are not attending to a particular aspect of leadership but don’t know why
Leadership development programs often take a rational approach to relational brain development
Do not focus on building the neural pathways necessary for leaders to use the relational quadrant of their brain, leaving them acting on their emotions while seeming to be rational and logical
<number>
Eight distinct Striving Styles – 2 for each function, 1 focused inward and 1 outward
Each Style has predominant psychological need that must be met
Based on location in brain, has unique talents and abilities to get its need met
We’ve all had bosses that we’ve either loved or hated. The boss who helped you get that promotion, or the one who clipped his toenails at his desk.
Some help us advance our career, while others seem to hold us back. Different leadership styles can lead to different results for each employee. But certain styles seem to be bad across the board
<number>
<number>
Maintain control over people and activities
take charge individuals who act like they were born to lead and just expect everyone to follow.
They need to be in control and so are often found in leadership roles.
optimistic, hardworking and resourceful.
Leaders need to be “in the know”; are typically well informed and decisive.
Create plans so things are done based on what they believe to be important.
They focus externally and use reason & logic to make decisions.
Direct and oversee others to ensure things get done right.
Motivated by activities with a clear purpose, their focus on work and achieving their goals interferes with their relationships.
To the intellectual, knowledge is power. Intellectuals get excited about learning, and they approach new subject matter with excitement. Accumulate knowledge and intellectual competence. Driven by quest for perfection, competence, conceptual clarity, and self-mastery. While they do not need to have control over others, Intellectuals need to have control over themselves, and how others may touch their lives or affect their behavior
They have an aura of detachment and are more interested in observing what is happening than in participating. They can be perceived as aloof and uninterested. However, they are often lost in thought as so much is going on inside of them – analyzing, learning, understanding ideas and gathering information. They don’t mind being the black sheep, and can make a show of compliance & then continue to do their own thing. Use passive resistance.
It often feels like a battle of words with Intellectuals. They act as if they know everything, so even the simplest comment, like “You have mustard on your cheek” is met with “I know.” Contradiction is common: if you say, “I understand it’s going to rain today,” they are likely to shoot back, “No, it’s not!” without even checking the facts first. This habit is irritating to others, who lack the appetite for verbal sparring that SP Intellectuals crave.
Accumulate knowledge and intellectual competence
Plan based on own inner view
<number>
<number>
Performers
Focus on possibilities,
Sky is the limit approach
Image driven -- invent and reinventing themselves.
Natural risk takers, they have faith that things will work out regardless of how high the goal.
Seek centre stage and to ‘win’
Ambitious, energetic and driven to achieve
Want to be the ‘star’
Creative and innovative approach
Inspire and motivate others
Visionary
Seek to attain awareness and understanding as well as meaning
Focus on continuous improvement
Visionaries operate at more abstract, theoretical, and symbolic levels than any other Style, always curious about things that happen outside of the concrete realms of our human existence.
Imagining and holding the vision of what is possible
Creating the strategic approach
<number>
<number>
Build social networks, making vast connections
Gregarious, outgoing & quick to compliment
Maintaining relationships & building new ones
Helping others by being ‘super-user’
Like real life Facebooks, they have friends and connections of all ages who do all types of things. If you are looking for contacts, a Socializer is the place to go. They take great please from generating good feelings in themselves and others. They are enthusiastic, charming “people-people,” as well as social organizers in all settings.
<number>
<number>
Adventurer
Predominant need to Be Spontaneous
Action-oriented, live in moment
Curious, open-minded & seek freedom
Do whatever presents itself without planning or talking about it
Drive to experience greater levels of sensation
Explore & experiment with activities
Stabilizer
Need to Be Secure
Predictable, responsible & loyal
Task-oriented, hierarchical & guided by set of rules
You will want to be secure and do the same things you’ve experienced before
Don’t decide, just do
Detail specific steps that must be followed and make sure others do it the same way too
<number>
You are a Leader Leadership Style, and you need to be in control. You fail to delegate and insist on doing everything yourself, because it’s the only way it will be done “right.” You expect others to work at your pace and openly criticize them when they don’t. You never ask for help. You tell everyone that if they just do as you do, everything will turn out fine. You are impatient and dismissive of people who aren’t like you. Employees who need more guidance slow you down and you only delegate to those who work at your pace.
During training Leaders will test and challenge the trainer or facilitator as they don’t easily trust others to know what they are doing.
They can be intimidating, asking questions that challenge the competence of the trainer, looking for ways to discredit them. Their fear causes them to become increasingly aggressive and domineering to help them gain control over what is happening to them. Rather than showing their vulnerability and fear, they try to exercise control, becoming insistent that things be done their way, or else. Anger gives them the feeling of power and control temporarily, but it is just an avoidance of the fear they feel when they are not in control of the situation.
<number>
Intellectual Style people have a predominant fear of feeling ignorant or uninformed. To them, knowledge as power and they avoid situations where they aren’t the expert. This makes training and development challenging as they don’t want to appear to others as though they don’t already know.
Despite agreeing with their manager about performance improvement goals, they will routinely avoid group training or coaching. These sessions often turn out to be a battle of wits with the coach or trainer. They will also avoid engaging in the training process when forced to attend. During training they opt out of the exercises or find excuses to leave early. This can happen even though the subject is something they want to learn.
Because of their need to be knowledgeable, Intellectuals will read up on what they are going to be learning about before a training session so they appear to know as much as the trainer or facilitator. They fear being asked a question they don’t know the answer to leading to a loss of expert status amongst their peers as this frustrates their need to be knowledgeable and makes them anxious. They will also behave in ways that make them look as though they are experts despite knowing nothing on a subject matter. They will be dismissive of what the trainer is saying and appear arrogant and contemptuous of their peers. They are competing for the place of most knowledgeable and any situation they find themselves in where they don ‘t feels threatening to them.
<number>
Performer Style people have a predominant fear of feeling shame or embarrassment. As Performers enjoy being the center of attention, doing training and development with peers provides the opportunity to show how smart they are. They spend a lot of time asking questions and telling stories and if the facilitator isn’t well boundaried, Performers can hijack the meeting. Performers are embarrassed when questions are limited by the trainer and demonstrate their upset by acting out in a dismissive fashion. They gain recognition by disagreeing or engaging in side conversations that are disruptive to the group.
Performers have a hard time with performance feedback as they tend to see themselves performing better than others see them. They get into power struggles with their managers as they see themselves as their equals. They will argue and question things both for attention and because they feel entitled to do so. Performers will also pretend that they agree with you as they want your approval, but then they just as often do what pleases them as they are usually very valued employees. They fear feeling the shame that they associate with not being the best or coming in first. They believe that it’s easier not to try than to be seen as a loser or second best as they find this to be a humiliating experience. This makes them dependent on winning to ward off feelings of shame.
Highlights of the Performer Style
Driven by a need to be recognized
Fear feeling shame or embarrassment
Inspire and motivate others
Sensitive to & upset by criticism
Energetic and outgoing
Achievement and goal-oriented
Image-driven; approval seeking behavior
<number>
You are a Visionary and need to be perceptive. You think you are communicating your ideas and instructions precisely, but often leave employees unsure of what you actually want them to do. You don’t want your ideas challenged so you give clear expectations. Employees are intimidated by your intense style of questioning when you fail to understand why they do things the way they have. You rationalize poor performance, giving too many people too many chances in an attempt to avoid difficult conversations.
Visionary Style people have a predominant fear of feeling invisible or disengaged. With whatever they do, they need to have a clear picture of why and what the outcome is going to look like, otherwise they disengage. They have a need to understand the whole picture and their place in it for things to make sense for them. When they can’t do see themselves as a part, they start to feel as though they are invisible and disengaged from what is going on. Their sense of self as connected to the greater whole feels threatened.
Feedback to them about their performance goals is usually something they already know. They have an orientation to continuous improvement and want to know what they need to improve on. They are intense when they are learning and their very pointed questions can cause the trainer or facilitator to be intimidated by them. It is their need to perceive that causes them to ask until they can clearly see what they are looking for. Should they not be allowed to ask questions, they feel invisible, disengage and stop participating. They have a particular fear around developing interpersonal skills as they have trouble picturing themselves behaving the way they are told they need to. They are negatively affected when told they are intimidating, too direct, or that they ask too many questions as it is through questioning that they see themselves as a part of the rest of the world.
<number>
You are a Socializer and need to be connected. You are extremely personable and want to know everything that is going on with your employees. You spend so much time taking care of your employees’ needs and issues that you ignore your own priorities or business results. You help people to the point of doing their work for them so they don’t have to struggle. You favor your employees who conform and dislike those who are too individualistic. Your need for consensus and harmony can cause you to shut down creativity or the debating of ideas.
Socializer Style people have a predominant fear of feeling abandoned or socially exiled. These people have a need to help others and feel a loss of their connection when they have no one to help. They don’t like the way they feel when others try to help or counsel them as it diminishes their connection through helping causing them to feel a type of abandonment. They need harmony in their relationships and they will go along with their boss when told they need training and development even when they don’t agree. They enjoy the camaraderie of group training sessions but may end up doing more socializing than learning. Socializers start getting anxious when they aren’t helping others so they often try to assume the role of teachers assistant. They want to be the one favored by the trainer or facilitator and will try to be helpful to them by clarifying instructions to peers and telling those who aren’t doing things properly what they should be doing, much to the annoyance of their peers.
Socializers take things very personally and they can be crushed by performance feedback that they didn’t see coming or hadn’t considered. They feel as though their boss is saying they don’t like them instead of trying to help them and they end up feeling abandoned. A performance discussion can lead to the Socializer putting their boss and everyone else in the deep freeze as they disconnect emotionally. They use emotional blackmail and distort what was done to them. They tell others how rude or insensitive their boss was, totally missing that their boss was trying to help them.
<number>
You are an Artist and need to be creative. You are reserved and quiet, and wonder at times why you are in a leadership position at all. You don’t always assert yourself with your employees, and can fail to establish expectations, plans or deadlines. You don’t address performance issues because don’t want employees to feel bad about themselves. You don’t set limits because you wouldn’t want anyone to do that to you. You can finish work for others to make up for their shortcomings.
You are an Artist and need to be creative. You are reserved and quiet, and wonder at times why you are in a leadership position at all. You don’t always assert yourself with your employees, and can fail to establish expectations, plans or deadlines. You don’t address performance issues because don’t want employees to feel bad about themselves. You don’t set limits because you wouldn’t want anyone to do that to you. You can finish work for others to make up for their shortcomings.
Artist Style people have a predominant fear of feeling invisible or disengaged from others. They are perfectionist with a tendency to exaggerate their shortcomings. They are convinced that fundamentally they aren’t good enough are waiting for others to devalue them and treat them as though they are inferior. They tend to be anxious about their work and will react to negative performance feedback as though they have been wounded. Because they are predisposed to thinking they aren’t good enough they aren’t objective about the information that they are getting from their manager. Artists believe that they have to be careful all of the time, never doing anything to bother others or bring attention to themselves. They tend to keep to themselves and don’t easily fit into groups at work.
Artists feel anxious when they have to participate in group training as they might be proven inferior by something they say or do. They are hypersensitive in development activities as they fear being judged or criticized by their peers or their manager. They sometimes can’t even hear what they are being taught because their negative self-talk is so unrelenting. While no one wants to look foolish or say something that may embarrass themselves, the Artist fears that they will show their fatal flaw and be exposed as the inferior human being they believe they are.
<number>
Adventurer Style people have a predominant fear of feeling trapped or restricted. They do not like to be dominated, or to have expectations placed on them. They enjoy training and learning new things of a tangible nature and when the learning content is relative to the work they are doing. They become anxious when things are too abstract or they are expected to discuss a concept or how they feel about something. Subjects that do not have relevance to their pursuit of pleasure simply bore them. They also fear the planning process as it traps them into living an already determined course of action. During training sessions, they can be disruptive, making comments that have no relevance or telling jokes that interrupt the facilitator. They will also be vocal about how “stupid” or “worthless” the training is in order to validate their inappropriate behavior.
Performance correction with this Style is often around their impulsive behavior or because they are always trying to find a faster way of doing things in order to meet their need to be spontaneous. They can have difficulty following processes and can interfere with productivity when they take actions without letting others know what they are doing. They always have a quality of restlessness about them and they like to “fly by the seat of their pants,” often stirring the pot just to keep things stimulating which is disruptive to others. Because the don’t often reflect on their behavior, they won’t admit the anxiety they feel when they are restricted in their movement or activities.
<number>
Stabilizer Style people have a predominant fear of feeling anxious or insecure. As these individuals seek security, their energy and focus goes into keeping things the same. Whatever they learn must have a direct relationship to what they already know, without skipping steps. They don’t like learning or trying new things, nor do they like people they don’t know teaching them. They like their outer world to be predictable so it doesn’t create any emotional disruption inside of them. Performance feedback often focuses them on becoming more flexible or asking why they don’t take more training to get ahead. It is also suggested to them to take the time to build relationship with others. These “soft skills” don’t come naturally to them and they will resist these suggestions as it makes them so anxious to even think about it.
Change, uncertainty and the unknown are their primary fear as all of these things threaten their sense of stability and security. It isn’t that they can’t do what is being asked of them, they are more afraid of what they tell themselves will happen when they try to learn new skills. These people have difficulty using their imagination in an optimistic fashion and they tend to catastrophize instead. They imagine worse case scenarios, adding to their base of fear. During training sessions, these people look as though they aren’t really engaged. They don’t ask questions or participate in exercises because they are generally too anxious to do so. To others it looks like they are resistant or disinterested. They can frustrate facilitators when they don’t contribute or seem to participate.
<number>
As a learner goes through the stages of this natural learning process, the learner’s brain constructs its neural networks from the lowest twig up.
Participants need to make a personal connection to a twig already there, to something already known.
Must be personal!!!!!! With the expectation and opportunity to work on own challenges
<number>
As a learner goes through the stages of this natural learning process, the learner’s brain constructs its neural networks from the lowest twig up.
Participants need to make a personal connection to a twig already there, to something already known.
Must be personal!!!!!! With the expectation and opportunity to work on own challenges
<number>
As a learner goes through the stages of this natural learning process, the learner’s brain constructs its neural networks from the lowest twig up.
Participants need to make a personal connection to a twig already there, to something already known.
Must be personal!!!!!! With the expectation and opportunity to work on own challenges