There is good leadership and there is bad leadership. There are leaders that can take you down a good path and leadership that can take you down a bad path. History is replete with examples of good leaders and bad leaders. Someone said, “Leadership is about influence and nothing else.” It’s how you influence a group of people. And in any given situation if you have people in a room you can see the influences at work. They are the people doing most of the talking and can influence a group to follow their path or their own ideas or the things that need to be done from their perspective.
I was reading an article by Valerie Kampmeir entitled ‘Are you a Stable Pack Leader?’ Though pack usually refers to pack animals, here the question being asked is: “As you lead, are you providing stability or uncertainty?” She says, “I’ve experienced several types of unstable pack leaders:
Decisiveness: being able to lead decisively, clearly, strategically and incisively. That’s a good thing to have in our leadership style. But even as I thought about that, my mind went back to Valerie Kampmeir and one of the traits of unstable leadership was the impulsive leader. There’s a fine line between being decisive and being impulsive. Impulsive people jump the gun. More often than not, they act out of reaction, without thinking through issues. But this is not decisive; it’s just emotional.
Olivier Madel-Felicite wrote an article ‘What do Great Leaders Know about Emotion that you should learn as well…?’ and a key thought outlined was “Don’t act like a child. When a child is angry, it will hit people or break things. This is an emotional reaction. Some of us don’t know how to stop reacting impulsively to our emotions and it carries into adulthood. Be careful about reactions. Decisiveness is not reacting. Decisiveness is taking time to think through the decision-making process and making the right decision.”
Wise leaders avoid the trap of acting impulsively, or acting on the spur of the moment, one out of emotion or secondly you can act out of anxiety.
What does it mean to act out of anxiety? We’ve all sent emails or said words or done things; once it’s done we wonder why we did it. We realize that we did it because there was a certain anxiousness within us to respond immediately. Anxiety pushes us to fix the issue quickly. It is to act as if we are in control but actually we are out of control. I know that. I’ve been there. When the pressure comes to me and I think that decisive is being impulsive and I react rather than weigh every consequence before taking a decision.
Anxiety is such a motivator in making us take decisions but it can be the wrong motivator. A good rule of thumb is that the higher the anxiety, the more important it is to wait before responding. In our anxiety to fix situations we often forget that time is our ally. Waiting takes discipline, self-control and both are traits that good leaders nurture.
“Anxiety over situations ought to be a signal that we need to wait, to think, to seek counsel if necessary, but not to respond in the moment but out of circumspect thinking.” Says T.J. Addington of EFCA.
There are so many occasions when I thought that I was being decisive; when really speaking, I was being impulsive. I realized how important it was for me to take time out to stop and say, “Is this the right thing that I am doing?”
Edward Robinson, writing a post “Daily Leadership thought #101: 8 steps To Avoid Impulsive Decision Making” says that there are 8 steps that you can take before jumping into any major business or life decisions.
Good thoughts on impulsiveness v/s decisiveness.
In our Scriptures, there’s an account of Jesus with some very religious people. (John 8:1-11) As he was teaching, they came to him with a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. She was trying to cover her nakedness and these people were trying to trap Jesus saying, “You talk about love, you talk about justice. But how do these two come together with this woman because according to the law, she should be stoned.” It’s amazing what Jesus did. The Bible says that he bent down and began to write something in the sand. He didn’t respond impulsively, just bent down and did something else. And then when he came back up again, he said, “Whoever here has not done anything wrong, go ahead and pick up the first stone and throw it.”
What a wise statement to make! And because he acted decisively and not impulsively, nobody could stand there. They all went away and the lady was left alone. Then he told her, “Don’t do these wrong things any more. I don’t condemn you but don’t do these things again.” Decisiveness v/s impulsiveness.
My prayer for each one of you is that you will know the difference between being decisive and acting impulsively and that your leadership will reflect more decisive than impulsive.
God Bless You All.
I was reading an article by Valerie Kampmeir entitled ‘Are you a Stable Pack Leader?’ Though pack usually refers to pack animals, here the question being asked is: “As you lead, are you providing stability or uncertainty?” She says, “I’ve experienced several types of unstable pack leaders:
- The neurotic or borderline leader who is all saccharine sweetness one moment and a howling banshee the next.
- The conflict-averse pack leader who is unwilling to deal with issues among the pack.
- The weak leader who wants everyone to like them and will do anything to achieve that.
- The impulsive leader always changing their mind.
- The passive-aggressive leader who won’t tell you what to do, only point out what they don’t like once you’ve done it.
- The icy cold leader who is impersonal and punitive.
I read her list of unstable pack leaders and hoped I didn’t fall into any of those categories. I guess you are thinking the same thing, as you provide leadership in your sphere of influence, that you don’t fall into one of these unstable kinds of leadership styles. We want to be good leaders, one who will be able to lead people down the right path.
What would be the qualities of a good leader? This is a huge topic and one on which much has been written. But today I want to talk about just one quality that is important.
Jim Stroup writing in an article entitled ‘The Strategic Role of the Senior Executive’ says that this particular quality is decisiveness – taking a stand. Decisiveness is a key ingredient of leadership; to know what you have to do and be able to communicate it. There are 2 things that are essential about decisiveness.
What would be the qualities of a good leader? This is a huge topic and one on which much has been written. But today I want to talk about just one quality that is important.
Jim Stroup writing in an article entitled ‘The Strategic Role of the Senior Executive’ says that this particular quality is decisiveness – taking a stand. Decisiveness is a key ingredient of leadership; to know what you have to do and be able to communicate it. There are 2 things that are essential about decisiveness.
- It resolves matters and clears the decks for action. When people are wondering what to do, where to go, how to go; you come in with decisiveness and the result is clarity of purpose and action, giving course and direction to pent up organizational energy.
- It is very individual. It is about ‘you’. You must make the final decision; one which is both culturally homogenous for the firm and also in line with the values of the firm.
Decisiveness: being able to lead decisively, clearly, strategically and incisively. That’s a good thing to have in our leadership style. But even as I thought about that, my mind went back to Valerie Kampmeir and one of the traits of unstable leadership was the impulsive leader. There’s a fine line between being decisive and being impulsive. Impulsive people jump the gun. More often than not, they act out of reaction, without thinking through issues. But this is not decisive; it’s just emotional.
Olivier Madel-Felicite wrote an article ‘What do Great Leaders Know about Emotion that you should learn as well…?’ and a key thought outlined was “Don’t act like a child. When a child is angry, it will hit people or break things. This is an emotional reaction. Some of us don’t know how to stop reacting impulsively to our emotions and it carries into adulthood. Be careful about reactions. Decisiveness is not reacting. Decisiveness is taking time to think through the decision-making process and making the right decision.”
Wise leaders avoid the trap of acting impulsively, or acting on the spur of the moment, one out of emotion or secondly you can act out of anxiety.
What does it mean to act out of anxiety? We’ve all sent emails or said words or done things; once it’s done we wonder why we did it. We realize that we did it because there was a certain anxiousness within us to respond immediately. Anxiety pushes us to fix the issue quickly. It is to act as if we are in control but actually we are out of control. I know that. I’ve been there. When the pressure comes to me and I think that decisive is being impulsive and I react rather than weigh every consequence before taking a decision.
Anxiety is such a motivator in making us take decisions but it can be the wrong motivator. A good rule of thumb is that the higher the anxiety, the more important it is to wait before responding. In our anxiety to fix situations we often forget that time is our ally. Waiting takes discipline, self-control and both are traits that good leaders nurture.
“Anxiety over situations ought to be a signal that we need to wait, to think, to seek counsel if necessary, but not to respond in the moment but out of circumspect thinking.” Says T.J. Addington of EFCA.
There are so many occasions when I thought that I was being decisive; when really speaking, I was being impulsive. I realized how important it was for me to take time out to stop and say, “Is this the right thing that I am doing?”
Edward Robinson, writing a post “Daily Leadership thought #101: 8 steps To Avoid Impulsive Decision Making” says that there are 8 steps that you can take before jumping into any major business or life decisions.
- Consult colleagues or peers; get some kind of input from other people.
- Solicit feedback from people who will be directly affected by the decision.
- Think through the pros and cons of the issue and decision.
- Consider the worst possible outcome and what you would do should this happen.
- Make sure the decision is aligned with your core values and the core values of your company.
- Do your financial due diligence.
- Make sure that your personal capacity to provide the leadership required and a plan to address any potential knowledge or performance gaps, are in place.
- Have an exit strategy – what would make you pull the plug?
Good thoughts on impulsiveness v/s decisiveness.
In our Scriptures, there’s an account of Jesus with some very religious people. (John 8:1-11) As he was teaching, they came to him with a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. She was trying to cover her nakedness and these people were trying to trap Jesus saying, “You talk about love, you talk about justice. But how do these two come together with this woman because according to the law, she should be stoned.” It’s amazing what Jesus did. The Bible says that he bent down and began to write something in the sand. He didn’t respond impulsively, just bent down and did something else. And then when he came back up again, he said, “Whoever here has not done anything wrong, go ahead and pick up the first stone and throw it.”
What a wise statement to make! And because he acted decisively and not impulsively, nobody could stand there. They all went away and the lady was left alone. Then he told her, “Don’t do these wrong things any more. I don’t condemn you but don’t do these things again.” Decisiveness v/s impulsiveness.
My prayer for each one of you is that you will know the difference between being decisive and acting impulsively and that your leadership will reflect more decisive than impulsive.
God Bless You All.
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