I have recently worked with a number of senior level executive coaching clients who are attempting to establish themselves in new roles, with new teams, or both.
The creation of temporary, diverse teams has become even more prevalent; the need may occur a number of times within an ever shortening period of time. Despite my coaching clients’ excellent reputations in past positions, they still need to sell themselves in these new positions and roles. And, they must do it quickly and effectively. But how?
Adam Galinsky and Gavin Kilduff, professors of Business at two prestigious New York business schools, discuss steps to attaining leadership status when entering a newly formed team in their December 2013, Harvard Business Review article titled, “Be Seen as a Leader” — a simple exercise can boost your status and influence.
The authors are quick to admit certain traits are believed to give you an advantage. Your race (if it is dominant to the team), gender, age (old enough but not too old), if you’re an extrovert, already have a high professional ranking, and even your height and physical appearance. They all earn you points before the jockeying even begins. The challenge with most of these observable traits is they can be judged very subjectively and generally have nothing to do with leadership skills. Because most of us are not presenting a resume with education, credentials, and experience to the other group members, it is initially difficult to use proven assets to justify dominance.
We know all this and have probably witnessed it. Rather than rely solely on first impressions, is there something we can do to get the competitive edge and gain leadership status in a new team, group, or responsibility?
Many researchers would say “no.” Galinsky and Kilduff think otherwise. They believe impact rests with one’s mindset and the resulting behavior.
No one will argue using behaviors such as what Cheryl Sandberg calls “leaning in” helps. Taking initiative shows leadership, as does professionalism and confidence. But these all happen while the group is forming or is already beginning to operate. What about before and while the team is forming?
The authors remind us we are all capable of avoidance and may have some level of inhibition. They’re suggesting we apply another type of motivation — the approach system. This is described as when one “concentrates our attention on achieving positive outcomes and rewards.” They believe this system “sparks behaviors that lead to a higher (leader) status.” Neuroscience backs up much of their speculation as we can measure regional brain activity, hormone levels (especially stress hormones), and behavior. Testing the hypothesis in group situations confirmed their notion.
How does this operationalize? It’s called priming. You can actually use any one of three areas to focus on — promotion, happiness, or feelings of power —to do your priming. You choose one of these areas prior to going to the meeting (it appears to also work for interviewing, speaking, and negotiating). You write down the details of what you want and how you would achieve it, and then describe a specific incident when you behaved in such a way that you attained a positive result.
What the research found is not only do you feel more powerful, more like a leader, but others perceive you and describe you as a leader; giving you leadership roles. This is with no prompting by you. Priming, using avoidance or other negative prompts, will not get you the results. In control groups where some people did nothing to prime their results, they were no better than average.
Does the effect on others last? It seems to. It’s not just a first impression (and there is much to value in that) but longer.
It takes five minutes. Join me and try it. If you have ever used sport psychology and imagined yourself going down that slope — fall-free, you are getting there.
You can greatly influence others view of you as a leader with a particular mindset. It’s called priming.
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