Running a business can be difficult, there are many things to manage: Sales, stock, systems, finance etc. but there is one aspect that often gets overlooked. Your business is only as good as your people. How you select, lead, and manage them will dictate, to a large degree, how successful you are.

Leaders often consider their strong tendencies to be strengths, but as many of you know, someone’s greatest strength can also be their greatest weakness. The unintended consequences of this can be quite serious and are a real barrier to achieving leadership excellence.

Take one example; Being warm & empathetic is a great strength, but if it isn’t balanced with a willingness to insist on holding others accountable, it can create tension and hinder productivity. Conversely, strength in enforcing rules (Just get it done!) & Micromanaging, combined with low levels of warmth & empathy becomes all about compliance. You might get compliance but getting buy in, or commitment from the employee in this instance is next to impossible - Unintended consequences….

So, the resolution to this is simply, can you easily express both traits appropriately? In other words, can these opposites co-exist?

There are a few reasons why someone might be low in a particular trait. In the above example, the first may be as simple as “I want to be liked” or “I should be nice to everyone” and the second may be “I want my figures to look good and I’ll do whatever it takes to achieve it”. Either way, it's not good for productivity or morale.

Adopting a coaching approach is one way to resolve this paradox. The attitude is then, “I know you're capable, you can do it and I’m here to support you”. It’s not one OR the other, it’s enforcing and warmth & empathy.

Some other examples are: Are you determined, and compassionate? Kind, and strong? Thoughtful, and action oriented? Confident, and humble? Organised, and flexible? Assertive, and helpful? Frank, and diplomatic? Authoritative, and Collaborative?

Are any of these a problem for you? If so, what are the unintended/unwanted consequences and how might you change your approach?