From Ineffective, cumbersome and costly practices such as:

To Effective Leadership: Achieving the vision and sustainable business results you want to create, with greater elegance, ease and grace, and much less effort and wasted energy.

Controlling: (Gift of Will)

The most common phrase uttered by people who have controlling as a primary strategy is something like this: "If I want it done right, I might as well do it myself." Others who work with these folks quickly learn there is no point in even attempting to do something, because the controlling person will grab it and run with it. Results are often extraordinary, however in leadership roles, this type of person will find themselves burned out, with a trail of disempowered and disillusioned people in their wake.

Achieving and Systems Awareness: (Gift of Will)

Purposeful leaders who can see and hold a broader strategic view of the system they operate within, who inspire others to feel invested in the goals of the business through their clarity of vision and decisiveness. People who work with these leaders report a high degree of career satisfaction. Sustainable results are achieved and created with ease, grace and much less effort than the controlling operating system.

Complying: (Gift of Heart)

The desire for harmony and happiness combined with a strong aversion to conflict keeps people who have complying as a primary strategy conservative, passive and content to “go along to get along”. The cost to the organization is that the great ideas these people might have never get spoken, resulting in lost opportunities for innovation and rich collaboration.  Authentic conversation is rare and the real conversations usually take place in the parking lot instead of the boardroom.

Relating and Self Awareness: (Gift of Heart)

Caring, connected and interpersonally intelligent leaders with a high degree of self-awareness who are willing to speak their truth, even when they suspect their opinion might not be popular.  These leaders are willing to tolerate the discomfort of not being liked by others because they know that out of conflict can come solutions much more effective and sustainable than the cheap harmony of the complying operating system. These leaders are strong mentors, and foster authentic collaboration amongst their teams. 

Protecting: (Gift of Intellect)

The certainty that “I am right and everyone else is wrong” keeps the protecting person distant, critical and arrogant.  People in the organization are reluctant to include this person on teams, as their caustic criticism is a cold splash of water that fizzles out any enthusiasm.  These folks are often relegated to individual contributor roles, or rise into positions of leadership where they are feared and “worked around” by subordinates.

Authenticity: (Gift of Intellect)

Courageous and compassionate, these leaders offer their insights and awareness. Operating with a high degree of integrity, they speak their truth for the sake of the vision of the organization and use their gift to contribute to sustainable outcomes while sustaining a strong connection to their bosses, stakeholders, peers and direct reports, rather than distancing themselves as the protecting operating system would.  Whereas the protecting strategy is to point out how everyone else is wrong/failing/mistaken, authentic leaders include themselves in both the problem, “How did we create this together?” and the solution, “What will we do to make things right?”