The Pliable Messenger
Leaders are primarily messengers: disseminators of ideas, advice, content, vision, or strategy. This could come from the top leaders in the organization or further down in the communication flow chart. Whatever the case, leaders are couriers of vital information for their teams.
Simply put, leadership is influence. Due to being seduced by leadership, people have become much more discerning these days. People seek leaders who possess strong confidence, competency, and charisma, but even more so, genuine character, connection, and compassion.
What does it take for people to listen to you? How can you get others to want what you have to offer? Truth is, people don’t receive the message as much as they do the messenger. The messenger IS the message. People will buy into the message if they buy into the messenger.
There are three basic types of messengers:
The Hard Messenger
The hard messenger seeks to GET AHEAD of others. This is the driven, self-motivated, high achiever who takes no prisoners. They are lion-hearted, fearless, and leaders of the pack. They are fast paced, get-it-done types. They are willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to see their vision come to pass. Their leadership has a face: hard and square (resolute and determined). The negative side of hard messengers is they are often competitive to a fault. They can be extremely impatient, unsympathetic, and abrasive. They can appear cold and calloused. Their roar is intimidating. They seek for results over relationships. Hard messengers have some kind of title, status, or credibility that initially wields a powerful influence over people. They seek to impress by using surface things to leverage others and gain the upper hand.
The Soft Messenger
The soft messenger seeks to GET ALONG with others. They are highly relational. They value people over projects and friendships over systems and structures. They desire for everyone to feel a sense of security and ownership of the vision and work to cross finish lines as a team rather than seek the individual win. They are content not to always lead and insist on championing others. They are patient and steady. Their leadership has a face: round and soft (compromise and compassion). Some weaknesses surface. They often lack needed self-motivation and depend on others to inspire and challenge them. They may submit under pressure or even drop out of the race all together to avoid confrontation or conflict. Soft leaders would rather fall short of the standard or goal in order to keep people at ease and prevent chaos.
The Pliable Messenger
The pliable messenger seeks to GET AHOLD of others. To accomplish this, they are constantly learning the balance of both previous leadership styles in order to make authentic connections. Their goal is to build fruitful relationships in order to collectively achieve results. Pliable leaders are highly intuitive when to employ each style for optimum impact. Their leadership has a face: oval or ovate (firm yet flexible). Pliable leaders are approachable yet have earned the right to be respected. They are warm, inviting, and engaging. Interestingly, this style can actually help to minimize a leader’s weaknesses while also maximizing their strengths. Those who are familiar, well-equipped, and experienced in hard and soft styles, yet strive for consistency within the framework of pliability, comprise the highest performers in their field.
What messenger style are you? What areas do you need to be more sensitive to and proactive in application?
