The hardest part of becoming a better leader is changing behaviour to implement best leadership practices that we read about or learn in leadership training programs.
Change in behaviour begins with better understanding of oneself and others. Without self-knowledge we cannot effectively implement new skills in leadership and team development, nor can we build trust and effective relationships.
For example, the leadership skill of delegation is essential for leaders to master in order to grow their departments and develop people in their roles.
Know Yourself, Know Your Type
A leader who is a type motivated by accomplishment would need to understand that their restrainer to personal performance as a leader is ineffectiveness. We call this a key fear. Because this type of person or leader fears ineffectiveness, when things aren’t going quick enough towards accomplishing projects and goals they can easily become impatient. If the person they are delegating to is an emotional dominant type and thus more sensitive, the impatience of the leader might cause them to become stressed and afraid of failing.
Another type of leader who is dominated by intellect and motived by truth might approach delegation differently. Because their fear is mental confusion, they might tend to over explain things and cause the team member to become confused.
Work on Controlling Your Key Fear
When learning the skill of delegation in a training program each person learns the same techniques. I have covered these techniques in pervious articles and videos and this information is easily found in books on leadership.
However, without understanding your type and your main motivation and fear, it becomes more difficult to apply the skill of delegation because to do so requires a change in your behaviour. The restrainer being your fear combined with the principle of habit will make it very difficult to effectuate change.
Set a Personal Goal
Once you learn your type and identify your fear or restrainer, you can use goal setting to help you become more conscious of your tendencies related to your fear and minimize the frequency of the tendency such as in the example of impatience. By setting a goal to become more patient when delegating work, this type of leader would be better able to apply the skills of delegation and also build trust and a better relationship with their direct reports.
Learn about Yourself
To learn about your type, I recommend the book CrazYZoo! Know-Thyself Made Easy by Fritz Glaus in which he tells a story using animals to represent each of the six classic types. Through the story Fritz also has you choose your type and learn how to use this knowledge for personal development and to coach others.