By Michelle Serra

Agiledge

There are many trade-offs that need to be managed to be an effective influencer and leader.  For managers, one of the most important is the paradoxical tradeoff between providing direction and achieving understanding (and planning).

Think about it!   If you have an overly strong orientation toward giving direction and a weak one toward planning and achieving understanding,  we'd expect that you're going to get ahead of yourself, giving more direction than you 've "planned for"  resulting in mistakes and over time, a loss of respect.   On the other hand, having a strong planning orientation and a need to have a near complete understanding  and a lesser tendency to provide direction could potentially lead to paralysis by analysis  and a lot of effort that is doesn't lead to any action.

Effective managers and influencers have a strong balance and can adjust the balance situationally.   How can this be achieved?   When you are consciously aware of this tradeoff, you can make strategic adjustments that make you a more effective influencer.   But being consciously and cognitively aware of the tradeoff is only part of the answer.    The other part is understanding your own natural tendencies and styles that typically take over when you are in the moment of getting things done.  

Let's look at some of Dr. Dan Harrison's research with global organizations.   The orientation toward Providing Direction is heavily influenced by a strong desire to lead, a strong need to persuade others, a tendency to take initiative, a strong challenge-motivation, a desire to better oneself and a healthy appetite for risk.     Consider which of these best describe you and which do not.   A strong planning orientation, on the other hand,  involves an analytical bent (both tendencies to look at facts and figure and consider what might go wrong in the future, a strong motivation for research and learning, an experimenting mentality, persistence and a healthy level of optimism. 

Conscious self-awareness and the effective use of this awareness  can greatly increase your success in accomplishing things through people.