Personality at Work has introduced broad research showing strong links between a leader's personality and outcomes--sometimes, extraordinary.
Organizations are shaped as much by the personalities of their leaders as by product innovations, marketing prowess, or technical ingenuity, yet identifying personality attributes that promote or inhibit organizational effectiveness has been an elusive goal, despite the existence of assessment centers and executive coaching.
In Personality at Work, author Ron Warren says, "people actually think about complicated interpersonal issues in language...words...not graphs and charts. He highlights the personalities of leaders like Alan Mulally, who transformed Ford Motor Company, as well as the pilot of Qantas Flight 32, that appeared doomed yet landed safely with 469 aboard due to the crew's leadership, teamwork, and communication.
"There are significant advantages for professionals to develop average behavioral skills to replace deficiencies -- especially for professionals filling leadership roles that demand behavioral competence in areas that do not come to them naturally," says Warren.
Each of us has choices: we can turn off our "behavioral autopilot" and make conscious choices to raise our effectiveness and satisfaction at work.
The ten dysfunctional behaviors that leaders most often conclude they need to start, stop, or improve to be more effective:
- Start giving people attention
- Start asking tough questions
- Stop yelling
- Stop over analyzing
- Give more verbal recognition
- Improve listening skills
- Start working more closely with subordinates
- Be more tolerant
- Start to delegate more
- Start to be more assertive
Whether a senior executive, aspiring professional, organizational psychologist, HR professional, or someone interested in what makes organizations effective, Personality At Work provides theory and powerful tools for making conscious choices to manage behavior to drive effectiveness and satisfaction at work.
Source: Ronald Warren: Personality at Work: The Drivers and Derailers of Leadership