This document discusses a new paradigm for leadership development based on understanding the four functional areas of the brain and how they relate to different leadership styles. It presents a model of four types of leadership based on the brain's functional quadrants: business leadership focused on results from the left rational brain; strategic leadership providing vision from the right rational brain; social leadership focused on relationships from the right emotional brain; and process leadership ensuring procedures from the left emotional brain. It argues that most leaders only use one or two functions, limiting their effectiveness, and that leadership programs should target brain development rather than just behaviors to facilitate whole-brain leadership. Tools are proposed for developing individual leaders' brain functions and embedding whole-brain approaches into organizational systems and culture.

1. Leadership systems that
create powerful companies
Personality & the Brain:
A New Paradigm for Leadership
Development
HRPA Hamilton Chapter - October 10, 2013
Facilitated by Heather Hilliard
Leadership & Behavioural Change Expert
www.CaliberLeadership.com

2. About the Speaker
 Personality & behavioural change expert with over
25 years’ experience working with individuals, teams,
leaders and organizations to eliminate dysfunction and
maximize potential
 Creator, Striving Styles® Personality
System, a neuro-psychological framework
for development & behavioural change
 Author, Who Are You Meant To Be?
A Groundbreaking, Step-by-Step Approach to
Discovering and Fulfilling Your True Potential

3. Why So Many Leaders Fail to
Achieve Potential
 Operate from function that decides, defines and plans
in a logical, rational and objective fashion
 Don’t use the relational part of the brain: struggle to
coach, resolve conflict, show appreciation,
empathize, and manage performance
 Focus on doing relationships, rather than being in
them
 Focus on changing leadership behaviour without
understanding what drives behavior (e.g., behavioral
competencies)

4. Role of Functions in
Leadership
 Brain scientists have determined that the brain has
four functional quadrants that play different roles in
our personality
 While we are meant to use all four quadrants in
various activities, most leaders use only one or two
 Imagine the positive impact on your
organizational results if your leaders were
using all four quadrants of the brain!

5. Four Quadrants for Processing
 Four distinct functional areas of the
brain:
 left and right hemisphere,
 within each hemisphere, an
emotional brain and a rational
brain quadrant
 Each quadrant is specialized to
perform specific tasks very
efficiently
 Functions operate in the external
or internal environment

6. Role of the Functions in
Leadership
Rational/Imaginative
Business Leadership
 Set goals & expectations
 Assess performance
 Reinforce behaviors
 Linear problem solving
 Building desired future state
Process Leadership
 Produce results
 Followership
 Process and rules
 Maintain status quo
 Tactical planning
Strategic Leadership
 Envision desired future state
 Vision & strategy
 Design systems / consider context
 Out of the box thinking/problem solving
 Adaptable/situational approach
Social Leadership
 Determine emotional needs
 Relational/social experiences
 Reward & recognition
 How people behave
 Impact on people
Experiential/Emotional

7. Failure of Leadership
Programs
 Using one or two leadership approaches significantly
limits leadership effectiveness, especially when we
know we are not attending to a particular aspect of
leadership but don’t know why
 Leadership development programs often take a
rational approach to relational brain development
 These programs don’t help leaders learn to use their
emotional brain; keep them in their comfort zone and
fail to bring about any behavioral change

8. Importance of Needs

9. Exercise: Worst Leadership
Behavior
 In groups of 3, discuss leadership behavior that you
have had to deal with and the impact it had on you
and your coworkers

10. Leadership systems that
create powerful companies
Four Types of Leadership
Based on brain functions

11. Business Leadership
 Focus on producing results
 Goal oriented, practical & objective
 Organize people, tasks, timelines to achieve a
common goal
 Financial & budget
 Use authority & power to ensure
accountability

12. Function of the Left Rational
Brain
 Create an ideology for the way the world must be
and make sure everything conforms
 Decide what something (or someone) is, where it
belongs, what its usefulness is
 Plan, sort and organize experiences
 Form our self-concept

13. Striving Styles in the Function

14. Strategic Leadership
 Provide the vision & direction for the growth/success
of an organization
 Organizational transformation & change
 Adaptability
 Insight into markets, barriers, people
 Architect of the big picture

15. Function of the Right Rational
Brain
 Imagine, conceptualize and
synthesizes information and
experiences
 Create a vision for the future
 To “know” without “knowing
why”
 Create our “self-image

16. Striving Styles in the Function

17. Social Leadership
 Focus on how people feel as they work
 Rights & entitlement of employees
 Emotional intelligence / relationships
 Rewards & recognition
 Organizational culture
 Communication, conflict resolution

18. Function of the Right
Emotional Brain
 Relate and bond to others
 Evaluate experiences
 Produce emotions
 Store and recall negative
emotional memories

19. Striving Styles in the Function

20. Process Leadership
 Produce Standard Operating Procedures & policies to
ensure things are done right and objectives met
 Focus on efficiency, economy of effort, cost effective
productivity
 Manage performance to ensure everyone follows
processes & procedures
 Logistics, schedules, resources
 Focus on maintaining & performing
expected activities of the role

21. Function of the Left Emotional
Brain
 Experience physical sensations
 Repeat experiences to recreate
known sensations
 Repeat and reproduce
activities in specific sequence
and order
 Seek and experience positive
or negative emotions

22. Striving Styles in the Function

23. Leadership systems that
create powerful companies
8 Signs Leaders aren’t
Using their Whole Brain

24. Autocratic Behavior
 Key theme of outward focused left rational brain is
“I know best and let others know”
 Leading exclusively from this function results in:
 Micromanaging
 Overpower others
 Don’t delegate authority
 Critical, demanding, impatient behavior
 Lack of empathy
Leader: Need to be In Control

25. Absentee Behavior
 Key theme of inward focused left rational brain is
“I know best and don’t tell others”
 Leading exclusively from this function results in:
 Withholding knowledge, information, direction
 Expecting employees to know what to do without
telling them
 Avoiding involvement with employees
 Hiding out in office or work from home
 Passive aggressive behavior
Intellectual: Need to be Knowledgeable

26. Image-Driven Behavior
 Key theme of outward focused right rational brain is
“I am the best and I let others know”
 Leading exclusively from this function results in:
 Using employees ideas as their own
 Overly concerned with image (great guy, gal)
 “Punishing” employees who publically
disagree or blindside
 Speaking about “I” not “we”
 Avoiding reality
Performer: Need to be Recognized

27. Don’t Share their Vision
 Key theme of inward focused right rational brain is
“I see all and expect others follow”
 Leading exclusively from this function results in:
 Expecting employees follow without explaining where
they are going
 Impatience to get to vision; don’t tolerate
others’ slower movement
 Don’t follow up or hold accountable
 Intimidate by asking direct questions
 Rationalize poor performance
Visionary: Need to be Perceptive

28. Put People Before Results
 Key theme of outward focused right emotional brain is
“I know what’s best for people”
 Leading exclusively from this function results in:
 Ignoring own or business priorities
 Doing employees’ work for them so they don’t have to
struggle (foster dependency)
 Insisting on harmony; shut down
creativity/innovation
 Insisting on cooperation and consensus
building that impedes decision making
 Taking employee behavior personally
Socializer: Need to be Connected

29. Don’t Assert their Authority
 Key theme of inward focused right emotional brain is
“Others know what is best for them”
 Leading exclusively from this function results in:
 Letting others define authority & take lead
 Misunderstand & personalize behaviour of employees
(focus on feelings, not issues)
 Don’t expect or demand of others
 Don’t give feedback; let employees make
mistakes
 Do everything themselves; perfectionistic
Artist: Need to be Creative

30. Fail to Plan or Follow Through
 Key theme of outward focused left emotional brain is “I
do what I want to do when I want to do it”
 Leading exclusively from this function results in:
 Impulsive decision making (frustrated employees)
 Failing to stay with prolonged challenges
 Leaving employees to figure things out
for themselves
 Failure to follow through on
commitments
 Lack of empathy for people of different
styles
Adventurer: Need to be Spontaneous

31. Resist Change & Innovation
 Key theme of inward focused left emotional brain is
“I do what I am supposed to do when I am told to do
it”
 Leading exclusively from this function results in:
 Say “no” to suggestions/ideas without consideration
 Lack empathy
 Demand adherence to status quo, despite pressing need for
change
 Critical & judgmental of people who
different
 Failure to correct performance;
it themselves
Stabilizer: Need to be Secure
are
do

32. Leadership systems that
create powerful companies
Tools for Whole Brain
Leading

33. How the Brain Develops
 Brain develops through experience
 Using other functions requires scheduling time to
perform the activities associated with the function,
i.e.
 Business leaders need to spend time in social
leadership activities daily
 Process leaders need to spend time daily in
strategic activities/discussions
 Competencies need to be developed
for each of the four quadrants
relative to the business or role

34. Personality & Brain Functions in
Leadership Development
 The personality of a leader is expressed through the
functions of the brain
 Therefore, leadership development needs to
incorporate approaches that target developing brain
functions and not just focus on behavior
 Approach focuses on developing individual leaders as
well as embedding whole brain approaches into
systems

35. Tools for Whole Brain
Leadership
Leaders
 Build self-awareness - understand own brain
(Striving Style) and predominant leadership style
 Determine extent of use of each quadrant; determine
area that needs to develop
 Provide activities that engage specific
areas of the brain
 Provide expectations, coaching
& feedback

36. Tools for Whole Brain
Leadership
Systems
 Do your organizational systems support development of all
4 leadership styles?
 Do your systems focus on behavior instead of engaging
the whole brain
 Need to incorporate approach into:
 Strategy, goals, planning processes
 Selection, retention, career pathing
 Performance management systems
 Competency systems
 Values & culture
 Rewards & recognition
 Training & development

37. Tools for Whole Brain
Leadership
Organizational Culture / Team Culture
 Determine what is the brain predominant function of
the leadership team
 Identify what leadership functions will dominate the
culture
 Address gaps
 Provide team experiences to develop
lesser used leadership functions

38. Our Approach
 Striving Styles Personality System is a neuropsychological framework for development,
behavioural change and achieving potential
 Can be integrated into any development program
 Audit existing programs to ensure design & delivery
reflect personality, emotions and how the brain learns
 Facilitate organizational change, eliminate dysfunction
and disengagement
 Build expertise of anyone involved in training,
development & behavioural change

39. Contact us
www.CaliberLeadership.com
416.406.3939
hhilliard@caliberleadership.com