Environmental Leadership – the New Leadership Style of the not so Distant Future

In the changing face of business with mixed cultures, mass communication and social networks…

…will your current leadership skills be enough to still be effective?

In a world where information travels faster than ever, the expectations of work and leaders have changed significantly in just a few years, and with those expectations, the emotions and motivations that move us to greatness also affect our effectiveness and our longevity in a job.

When people’s emotional needs are being met on outside of work on diverse plains of social networking, productivity tools, and fast, easy interaction and information transfer across the globe, a new form of leadership must be applied. A psychological form of leadership called “Environmental Leadership”.

Each individual has various environments that bring out different facets from their own Identity, and each facet is driven by emotionally charged perceptions within each environment… The Environmental Leader creates a platform through education and awareness where individuals fill each other’s emotional needs and become more conscious of when, and how they affect personal and team emotional gratifications. This is accomplished by knowing Why people “react” to their environment instead of act intelligently.

Environmental Leadership is not about changing the mindset of the group or individual, but in the cultivation of an environment that brings out the best and inspires the individuals in that group. It is not the ability to influence others to do something they are not committed to, but rather to nurture a culture that motivates and even excites individuals to do what is required for the benefit of all. It is not carrying others to the end result, but setting the surrounding for developing qualities in them to so they may carry each other.

The role of a Leader has been transformed to an individual or group who can instill passion and direction to a group and the dynamics of that group. This leader implements a psychological support system within a group that fills the emotional and developmental needs of the group.

The path to becoming an Environmental Leader however, is founded on a bed of self discovery and laid with the tiles of group psychology. Only when we have an understanding of how “we”, as a leader, affect the “system” of a group, and how that system affects us, then can we evolve to Environmental Leadership.

At a glance it may seem a daunting journey, yet this path has a structure, a structure in the application of Directive Communication Psychology to influence the group’s system. And as with any structure, it can be followed to create a specific result.

The first step is to realize that every action you take, every decision you make, no matter how small, will affect the group. Whether it is positive or negative, there will be an effect.

Second thing is that when any individual in a group reacts, it will affect you and each of the other members of that group.

Since a leader’s actions and reactions not only affect the psychology of individuals, but affect the entire culture of the organisation or group, an Environmental leader manages 7 key psychological influences (2 keys of personal awareness and 5 pillars of Transformation) to cultivate a group and culture that effectively supports the greater abilities and fulfillment, even passion, of the members of that group, workforce or team.

A fundamental of any leadership has always been trust. And while there are many facets of trust and how to build it, one crucial area is in sharing what you know. First, start with this article. The “group” dynamics are best suited by getting the “group” involved. The Environmental leader does not develop followers but nurtures leaders and leadership in their group or organisation. To facilitate this, the knowledge of how to be an Environmental Leader must be disseminated throughout. The more people know, the easier it becomes to cultivate a Leadership enriched environment, and the better results everyone will attain.

2 keys of personal awareness:

It is Self awareness that leads to the recognition of the keys, which must be accepted before the Environmental Leader can build the final 5 Pillars of a transformational environment. The first step is the ability to realize that we will consciously or subconsciously make others wrong to support our ego, which leads to blame and away from growth. *Learning about our “Encoded Assumptions”, our “Rules of Engagement”, and our “Circle of Tolerance” helps us recognize the reactions that are preventing a speedier growth for ourselves and those around us.

Key number 1 is: Concentrate on growth and results, do not blame or make others wrong.

The next step is making others right, making leadership decisions and taking actions that help others to succeed and develop their abilities. And when they do succeed, the specific acknowledgment of their success and why they were successful. *Learning the “Colored Brain” and how our genetic processing affects the way we perceive the world and approach tasks and decisions and what that means in manifesting our “natural” talents not only makes this easier, but gives us a better platform to understand, cooperate, and communicate with others.

Key number 2 is: Create opportunities to make others successful and positively acknowledge their specific actions that lead to that success.

Building the 5 pillars of Transformation:

The 5 pillars are the cornerstone of a leader’s ability to modify group dynamics, to nurture an environment that inspires and brings out the best in others. And, it is the process of constructing the five pillars themselves that facilitates the leader, and his team, the ability to embrace the two keys of personal awareness. This course of creation acts as a leadership catalyst to the keys implementation and the modification the leaders own behavior that advances that leader into a more powerful, Environmental Leader.

You must have a Greater Purpose

The team must have a purpose that is greater or nobler that the personal goals of each individual. Yet realization of this greater purpose, would be equally fulfilling to the individual.

Consider the human condition, what is it that we all want and yet struggle with every day? We want to be good at what we do, we want to be successful! But trying to work in perfect harmony with multiple people and systems, and additional internal and external influences, in order to complete a task without any difficulty is seldom achieved. And thus, we as human beings, get frustrated with our environment and intermittent failures and setbacks from our success, form being our greater selves. We KNOW that change must happen, frequently we point to others and say they must change, yet, one thing remains constant, we all want to be in a work environment that supports and nurtures the our success. And this is a greater purpose that most would consider noble.

The role of an Environmental Leader is to inspire this noble idea. To make the group or team want it, and be willing to take action to achieve it for the cause, for the promise of a greater working environment and a greater self.

You must have a Methodology you believe can make a Change

The team must believe that change can happen, and that they as a group, can make it happen. They must believe that their own behavior can be improved, that they, as human beings can be better people. They must believe that there is a way, through a common wisdom in the group, they can be powerful enough to change organizational culture to a more fulfilling environment for the betterment of their own life.

But to believe any of this, the people must have, and recognize a psychological methodology that can effectively make change happen. If change for the better seems like an impossible dream, few will take the effort. So the first pillar is having and demonstrating a methodology that can make change happen, a methodology that affects the environment to give everyone a greater sense of fulfillment and growth in their work. While many methodologies exist such as Peter Senge’s Learning Organisation or Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits, the one specifically designed for corporate culture change and environmental leadership is Directive Communication (DC).

The personal and organisational awareness components of DC such as the *Colored Brain, Encoded Assumptions, Emotional Drivers, the 5 Postures, and the Force multiplication System, unite individuals with a greater understanding of how and why their work environment is the way that it is while opening the door to the real possibility of change. The role of the Environmental Leader is first to know the methodology, and second to coach key individuals in the methodology so they can in turn coach others.

Through the awareness process, change begins to be apparent and perpetuate the cultivation of the desired environment.

You must speak a Common Language

The methodology carries with it a specific language. The language reinforces the learning and the higher purpose. It enables greater communication with fewer words. It allows emotions to be expressed without being expressive. It sets a foundation to understand and explain awareness, change, and a higher level of living in a concise and effective way.

The role of the Environmental Leader is to use and reinforce the use of the language in the group. To set the example of applying communication that supports the greater cause.

You must have a Unified Identity

There is already a greater purpose that the team wants, a methodology everyone is applying (or at least aware of) to achieve that greater purpose, and a common language that the team is speaking to reinforce that methodology, so a common identity already exists.

The role of the Environmental Leader is to solidify that identity, to facilitate the group or team to associate themselves with that identity and everything it represents. To distinguish those who are a part of the greater purpose and give them a group vision.

In a case where Emirates Hotels and Resorts applied the Directive Communication methodology to evolve its leaders and its culture with a “Corporate Culture Revolution” program, the 300+ staff embraced the identity of “Patriots” for the Revolution. The “Patriots” improved productivity and service quality by over 32% in an Emirates assessment.

You must maintain an internal Supportive Environment

As an elite team with its unique identity that shares and applies a methodology for the development and benefit of each other, a Supportive environment will emerge as a byproduct of the process. And when it is lead by an Environmental Leader who focuses on the continuous progress and perpetuation of that environment, the ultimate success as a Leadership Enriched Culture emerges.

The role of the Environmental Leader becomes to nurture and develop environmental leaders within the teams and the organisation.

At this stage, the environment created will fulfill much of the constantly expanding emotional gratifications of security, diversity, belonging, personal growth, significance and achievement. This environment will compete and surpass the allure of the modern world. Yet it cannot be developed without the right leadership. And, an environmental leader must go in to this knowing, that as the process matures, he will no longer be as essential as when he started.