Passion recharges stressed leaders' batteries

07 June 2012 7:21am

Executives who are encouraged to pursue personal interests are more resilient to stress and achieve greater results as leaders, a briefing heard yesterday.

Sharon Birkman Fink, the president and CEO of Birkman International , told a breakfast hosted by Directioneering that a prerequisite for authentic leadership is self-awareness, and an important element of this is "pursuing purpose with a passion".

"One of the things that we know is so critically important is to really honour those areas of interest that are strong."

These are instilled in us from birth, which Birkman Fink says is a good thing because "the natural distribution of interest and talent is what makes the world go around. It makes society a better place". (The world needs accountants who are excited by numbers as much as people who are passionate about music, she points out.)

It is crucial for leaders to "find that passion and honour it", regardless of whether they have any skill in that area.

Often, she says, an assessment will identify that a leader has a musical interest, but they'll say "I can't sing and I can't play an instrument".

"We tell them, 'That's of no importance. If you love to listen to music, it's still going to recharge you and make you feel better'.

"If you look at that in much the same way as eating nutritious food, getting exercise, and getting enough sleep, it's really in that important category."

To illustrate her point she mentions a CEO who used to enjoy playing the saxophone, but claimed he was now too busy to make time for it.

The Birkman consultant working with him said, "I'm going to argue that with you. I think that if you will make time - maybe just an hour or two a week - you're going to feel better".

"And you know," Birkman Fink says, "they tracked it over time. Once he went back to his band and started playing again, over the next six months his company - which had been doing fine before - continued to ascend."

"He felt better, and when he went into the office he did a better job. So don't downplay the importance of our interests in those passions."

Needs versus stress

Birkman Fink says leaders should be aware of three "behavioural perspectives" when managing people (both in themselves and in others).

The first, which she describes as "usual" behaviour, is visible to others and "how we describe ourselves - it's our productive style and how we move through the day... it's us at our best".

In order to maintain that behaviour and keep it running smoothly, certain interpersonal "needs" must be met.

These are different for every person, and Birkman Fink describes this perspective by saying, "If you have a garden, a cactus needs a fairly arid climate... [other] certain plants thrive on lots of water".

"People are not so different. There is no judgement there, but it's important to know."

Finally, the "stress" perspective is what happens when those needs go unmet, resulting in counter-productive behaviour that is visible to others.

"When needs are accumulatively unmet, we as human beings will tend to act out. That's our not-so-pretty behaviour."

When leaders understand their needs and ensure they are met, they can avoid stress and manage more effectively, she says.

How to manage leaders who fight feedback

When helping leaders to become more self-aware, HR professionals often run into resistance that is based on fear, Birkman Fink says.

"With most, there's a huge fear factor [about assessments]. It's like, 'What are you going to say about me?' or 'What's it going to reveal?' or 'What if I don't agree with it?'

"We train consultants to never argue with them. If they say it's wrong, then just say 'OK, that might be the case'."

It's also useful to point out that traits that are perceived negatively by the leader usually have a positive "flip side", she says. "So we can use either the positive side of that trait by choice, or we can descend into the stress behaviour."

Birkman's director of research and development, Patrick Wadlington, suggests an alternative technique for helping leaders to accept feedback about themselves.

"When I get pushback, I say 'OK, you know yourself best. If you don't think this is you, why don't you take it home and let your spouse have a look at it?'

"Nine times out of ten they come back and say, 'Yeah, my wife told me this is me'."

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