This decade has started with a bang all right! Having witnessed everything from droughts and floods to bushfires, a global pandemic and, most frightening of all, the #ToiletPaperApocalypse, our nerves are justifiably on edge.

Throughout the turmoil, the one word that shows up time and again in the global vernacular is ‘constructive’. The Queen used it to describe her discussions with Harry and Meghan; Unions are using it to describe progress on pay negotiations, and only last week Prime Minister Scott Morrison used it to describe how big Australian companies should navigate this pandemic. What’s more, it’s now commonly used to label a leadership approach.

Loosely translated from Latin, constructive means ‘heaping together’ for ‘beneficial purpose’ (taken from the Oxford Dictionary).

So how might you, as a leader, heap together and be constructive in these unprecedented times? Or, as poet Rudyard Kipling said, how do you “keep your head when all about you are losing theirs”?

Constructive behaviour – a key to leadership excellence

Being constructive can unlock an abundance of opportunities for you, your team and your organisation. For us here at Human Synergistics, it’s one of the most important and powerful words of all.

We use ‘constructive’ to describe four styles of human behaviour that have been validated as helping people to achieve fulfilling lives.

These styles (achievement, self-actualising, humanistic and affiliative) are part of the Human Synergistics Circumplex, a tool that provides insights into the thinking and behavioural styles driving the performance of people and groups in organisations, as well as the organisations themselves.

Leaders who demonstrate constructive leadership styles:

• encourage the attainment of organisational goals through people development
• promote teamwork and synergy
• enhance individual, group and organisational adaptability and effectiveness.

Using the four constructive leadership styles, here are some questions for you and your team to consider as you ‘keep one eye on the steering wheel and the other on the horizon’ in this ever-changing business environment.

Achievement style:

• Where can my efforts right now make the biggest difference?
• What are my goals this week, this month, this year? How am I holding myself to account in achieving them?
• What’s holding me/we back from achieving my/our goals? What needs course correcting?

Self-actualising style:

• What’s all this helping me to work toward?
• Five years from now, where do I want to be?
• If I backed myself without fear, what might I do?

Humanistic – Encouraging style:

• How can I coach as opposed to criticise?
• How can I help this person/situation move forward?

• What can I learn from this person?

Affiliative style:

• Where am I at with my key stakeholders?
• What relationships need focus?
• How can I achieve mutual benefits for both parties?

If you’re keen to learn more about unlocking the abundance of constructive opportunities, get in touch. Our new IN-Sights: Leadership webinar series is aimed at developing your leadership capability and arm you with the insights, skills and strategies to grow constructive thinking and developing a high performing culture.