A recent survey by Great Place To Work® (a leading authority on workplace culture) highlighted the leadership attributes most valued by employees (of all levels). They concluded that great leaders 1) are transparent and strong communicators, 2) provide vision and clarity, and 3) display empathy and approachability. Whilst agreeing with these conclusions, they do raise the question “How do leaders do this in practice?”
I thought it would be interesting to answer this through the lens of Whole Brain® Thinking, a framework we use every day at Miradorus.
1. Great leaders are transparent and strong communicators.
The Whole Brain® Thinking model is based on the four brain quadrants and thinking styles: Blue (logical, data-driven, objective), Green (organised, detailed, sequential), Red (interpersonal, emotional, supportive) and Yellow (creative, visionary, holistic). We all have stronger preferences for one or two of these. What one person responds to strongly another person will not respond to.
If one of your team’s thinking preferences is predominantly blue and you communicate with them in a clear, concise, fact-focused way they will hear it and you will gain their trust. But for another member with a strong bias in the red quadrant, the communication needs to be more personal, and reflect the impact on them or their team and how people may feel (rather than think) about it.
How to communicate with each quadrant
2. Great leaders provide vision and clarity
Vision and future strategy requires Yellow quadrant thinking. To ensure there is clarity about how this will be achieved requires a level of detail which is the speciality of Green quadrant thinking.
3. Great leaders display empathy and are approachable
Empathy and approachability are key characteristics of the red quadrant. This means leaders need to relate to every employee and demonstrate their sincerity when saying that their people are the most valuable resource in the business; listening attentively and taking every opportunity (and medium) to communicate and collaborate.
What is common is that the most effective and influential CEOs and Leaders demonstrate all the Whole Brain® qualities, and adapt their leadership style to the needs of both the organisation and the workforce. In other words, they adopt a Whole Brain® approach in all their actions, and realise it is their responsibility to flex to their employees. Their role is to create an environment that will unlock the potential of every member of the team.
After working with leaders for many years, it is clear to me that, with practice, everyone is capable of flexing to their less preferred thinking styles, and adapting to the thinking preferences of others. Understanding your team and their thinking preferences is very powerful, especially when used to unlock and accelerate results.
If you are interested in finding out more please contact us at info@miradorus.com and one of the Miradorus Team will be in touch to discuss.