Natural Effectiveness™ revolves around your personal
traits and characteristics. If we can measure how you work
most efficiently and effectively (and we can), and then
focus leadership around those characteristics and
strengths, amazing things can happen. This is the core of
our Natural Effectiveness™ philosophy. It is about
defining the way you work most powerfully and positioning
you to leverage your natural strengths to meet your goals.
You don't have to figure out how to be someone else. All
you have to do is be your most efficient and effective
self, and it will give you tremendous power to lead,
achieve and develop.
At Change Agents we measure natural effectiveness based on
four basic traits: The take-charge trait The people trait
The pace trait The structure trait.
Based on your highest trait, you will likely approach
building and sustaining strategic momentum in certain
predictable ways.
If your highest trait as a leader is the take charge trait,
you might approach your team as the General. This is not to
be confused with a dictator. But your tendency will likely
be to direct, deploy and conquer. Remember, you can fight
some of the battles on your own, but you will need all of
your troops to win your vision. You are looking for and
trying to inspire allegiance to the vision and the
strategy, not necessarily to you, yourself, personally. You
must remember that people provide the energy for your
campaign. If you ask them to salute, it may make them tense
and less energetic and committed to the cause.
If your highest trait as a leader is the people trait, you
will automatically build a team. You will connect with
people individually, in small groups, and corporately to
share your passion and inspire them to want to seek the
vision you outline or the future you envision. You will
draw word pictures that explain what it will be like when
you achieve the vision. Two things that are critical to
your success are that you listen and that you take
appropriate actions when necessary. Some visionary leaders
have failed because they were considered all talk and no
action. The key is not to let your enthusiasm overcome your
good sense.
If your highest trait as a leader is the pace trait, you
will likely lead through encouragement. You will spend more
time encouraging action than you do in pushing for results.
Your strength is your ability to stay the course. Another
plus for you is the patience you have when things don't go
as you planned. Giving people permission to be human and
make mistakes allows for creativity and innovation. Meeting
deadlines can be a pitfall for you. It is critical that
your team trust you. You build that trust by doing what you
say you will do when you say you will do it.
If your highest leadership trait is the structure trait,
you will likely use systems and processes as the highways
to your strategic goal. Effective systems and processes are
critical supports in any strategic effort. Remember: people
need to know why they are being asked to follow a certain
system or process. The best way to engage them is to allow
them to create or redefine the systems and processes they
need to achieve the results you need.
As you build your strategy-focused Naturally
Effective™ organization, you will want to engage the
strengths and talents of every person on your team. The
bottom line in using your natural effectiveness™ to
maintain strategic momentum is this: work from your
strengths, employ and leverage the strengths of others, and
that will help you sustain your strategic momentum.
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About Gayla Hodges
Gayla Hodges is the President Change Agents, Inc., a
company that specializes in energizing workforces to
achieve strategic goals. She coaches executives and
managers on leading corporate change, facilitating the
development and implementation of organizational
effectiveness strategies. For more information, visit
http://www.changeagentsinc.com or call 623-362-3876.
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