Lead, to be followed
By Dennis Perman, DC

Most people erroneously look at leadership as a quality or behavioral characteristic that some people have and some do not. If this were the case, then leaders would always be able to lead, and non-leaders would never be able to.

This is clearly not the reality of leadership — even the most effective leaders find themselves falling short at times, and almost everyone can lead under the right circumstances.

Leadership is not a state or attribute, but rather a communications style, and this explains why leadership doesn’t always seem to work — it must be tuned to the individual or individuals being led.

Communication is always about the other party, and only those who are astute enough to broaden their leadership approach to include the various personality types and styles will reach a large audience. It’s not what you say, or think you said, or meant to say, that makes any difference. It’s what the other person gets that defines your message.

The meaning of your communication is the response you get, and it is as true in leadership as anywhere. In other words, we must lead not just to lead, but rather, we must lead to be followed.

So how can you tune your leadership to match the response style of your intended followers? The first step is to choose from among the many different ways to categorize and chunk personality, from simple analyses such as visual-auditory-kinesthetic, to more complex and in depth systems, such as Myers-Briggs or the Enneagram.

Let’s look at one of the most popular personality type systems, which divides people into four groups — drivers, expressives, analyticals, and amiables — and see how you can improve your leadership by knowing yourself and those you want to lead.

FOUR PATTERNS OF LEADERSHIP

From these four personality styles, come four families of leadership qualities that parallel the strengths of each type.

Each of the four types exhibits a characteristic set of patterns of values and behaviors that give clues on how to be an effective leader for all types from that vantage point, and on how to understand the position of each type of follower so they can feel supported in being led by you.

By drawing on those leadership qualities that aren’t natural to your personality type, you expand your base of support and broaden your appeal, and therefore your ability to influence.

• Drivers. Drivers are about certainty. They bring drive, boldness, power, and strength to their leadership.

They confront well, and tend to be confident and courageous. Their leadership style is the most obvious, because they lead by the principle that leadership is 80 percent assumed and 20 percent earned.

They specialize in direct communication, grace under pressure, and brute strength. So, they are front-and-center for leadership opportunities and feel a natural compulsion to be decisive and take control.

But the trap of a driver’s leadership is that the driver often rules unilaterally, and can be unresponsive to input or criticism. He or she feels that input breaks momentum.

• Expressives. Expressives are about energy. They bring creativity, enthusiasm, and passion to their leadership. In keeping with the name, they lead by expressing themselves well, both in creating an inspiring vision, and in generating a network of interested followers.

Expressives specialize in imagination, colorful communication, motivation, new ideas, and establishing a quick pace. Yet, expressives sometimes have more sizzle than steak, lacking follow through on their great ideas and plans.

When an expressive leader drops details, other types that require certainty and precision to be led may lose focus and commitment.

• Analyticals. Analyticals are about intelligence. They bring intellect, precision, logic, and careful analysis of all available input to their leadership. They specialize in collecting and evaluating information, practicing discernment, and supplying data for the creative and directive machine. As such, they may drag their feet and miss opportunities because they didn’t have sufficient information to meet their standard.

Analyticals also may tend to be insensitive, ruling on data before feelings.

• Amiables. Amiables are about connection — paving the way for smooth and loving relationships. Amiables bring flexibility, resiliency, diplomacy, and responsiveness to their leadership. They specialize in mediation, peacemaking, and developing a comfortable, functional environment in which to perform.

But amiables can be perceived as wishy-washy, overly democratic, or even indecisive.

GUIDING EACH TYPE

Drivers need to learn to be patient and receptive, while expressives need to honor their commitments long term and improve their attention to detail.

Analyticals need to monitor their standards of acceptable error, so they can be more proactive and mobilized. And amiables need to exert influence and trade some of their flexibility for certainty.

Are you starting to see some patterns? The personality types need to borrow from each others’ strengths to fill their weaker areas and become more complete leaders. This is essential, because each type of follower needs to have his or her values met to be led, so leaders can increase their influence by expanding their grasp of the four large categories or families of leadership behaviors — drivers (certainty), expressives (energy), analyticals (intelligence), and amiables (connection).

APPLYING THESE DISTINCTIONS

In your practice you will be called upon to lead patients, your staff, other doctors, and other leadership configurations, such as professional associations, business alliances, personal clubs and organizations, and family matters. Understanding leadership as a communication style eliminates much of the friction, as long as the leader is willing to translate between these four leadership languages to make sure everyone understands each other for mutual benefit and gain.

Therein lies the art of this approach — interpreting which leadership style applies in which situation, and refining the art of communicating in the right language at the right time, including each kind of follower in every leadership movement, to maximize impact and minimize misunderstanding.

These four personality distinctions, which take many forms in popular psychology, are only one simple way of chunking these leadership styles. You can do the same with Myers-Briggs analysis, with the Enneagram types, or other patterns of personality and behavior.

The key is realizing that in order to be led, a follower must feel a sense of rapport and that his or her values are being met. Each type of leader must recognize and respond to how their followers (and prospective followers) need to be led.

Decide if your leadership style follows one of these four patterns. If so, congratulate yourself on your natural gifts, and take note of some of the potential shortcomings, so you can look for opportunities to expand your influence to include other types that aren’t naturally responsive to you.

If you can find one such situation each month, you’ll have taken a step in the direction of refining and mastering your leadership. Each distinction you make adds to your identity as a leader, and over the years this process will transform you into the very best leader you can be.

The rewards are tremendous, and they begin with the willingness to look at leadership from this unique new perspective.

A truly complete leader will demonstrate the qualities of each of the four types, at the right time, in the right intensity, and with the right balance. This turns out to be the determining factor in defining our greatest leaders.

Ultimately, leadership isn’t about how well you lead people easily influenced by you, but rather, about how well you navigate the boundaries of the different types of people you may have to lead, and translate your leadership into a language the largest number of the best people can get behind.

If you can overcome your natural tendency to be only the type of leader you were born as, you may well be able to turn yourself into the type of leader you were born to be.

Dennis Perman, DC, is co-founder of The Masters Circle, a personal and professional development company dedicated to helping chiropractors find success through practice mastery and personal growth. The Masters Circle provides seminars, coaching, teleclasses, and audiovisual support materials. Dr. Perman can be reached at 800-451-4514 or visit www.themasterscircle.com.