Over the last year I’ve found myself talking more and more about “being intentional”. It started when I spoke to a couple of friends of mine who used the phrase on a slide at the start of a Development Centre, suggesting participants be intentional when carrying out their activities. We had a quick chat about it and left it at that. However, as the weeks and months have gone by, I’ve been referring to it more and more with leaders and people from all types of organisations, and what “situational leadership” might look like in different scenarios.
Now I’m not a prolific reader, I tend to learn by experience, reflection, and discussion. So, over the last few months, I’ve been doing all 3 in relation to ‘intentionality’. I’ve talked to others about this, discussing what it might mean to them, and how they might have used this approach, I’ve considered how I’ve used it (well and poorly) in my life and my leadership roles. I have read a little as well! So, here’s what I’ve found out.
Some people called it Situational Leadership, but I believe it’s more nuanced than that, for me it’s “reading the moment”. What is required of me in the situation I find myself in? This is a combination of many factors but the main ones for me are:
What are we trying to achieve? For example, is this a situation that requires me to actively listen? Is someone struggling and needs me to hear what they are saying? Is this a situation that needs a quick decision and action? This isn’t always what the other person or group wants, sometimes it’s what YOU believe is required in-the-moment and that can be tricky, it requires confidence.
Who is in the room with me? Either as individuals or as a group. What are their agendas? How are they showing up? What are their personal preferences? How are they behaving?
How do I need to behave? Not change who I am but react authentically, in the moment, and be intentional about what you say, do, and how to react. Your behaviour will change depending on what you believe is needed but should be consistent with your values.
There are a lot of things to consider (in the moment) but it only takes a second to ask yourself those 3 questions. We won’t always get it right, sometimes we need to change tack as things progress. Once the moment has passed it’s time for a swift review of our performance. The more I raise my self-awareness, and adapt to what is happening in the moment, the more effective I am.
Finding the much-needed consciousness to be intentional involves being deliberately aware of the values, beliefs, emotions and behaviours that are at play – both our own and the others we are interacting with. Taking mindful moments to step back, reflect and consciously choose the best behaviour for any given situation empowers us to ‘try-on’ a different, more agile mindset. The outcome? We can enhance our view of a situation and can adapt or modify our natural behaviour to give us the best chance of achieving our intention with positive interactions. The Everything DiSC® Agile EQ™ Profile, is an excellent tool to deepen and strengthen our emotional intelligence and learn how to adopt an agile mindset.
Explore more information on the Everything DiSC® Agile EQ™ Profile and download a great poster on Agile EQ mindsets.
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Stuart Preston is Head of Learning and Development at the Fruitful Group – a Leadership and Team Performance business that helps individuals and teams be at their best. We also develop other Learning & Development professionals and give them the tools to do this including Agile EQ and our new Team Coaching tool. For more information about us and our solutions visit our site here.
