Ping-Pong Leadership

One of the most exhausting patterns I see is something I've started to call "ping-pong leadership."

The pattern is typical among well-meaning leaders who understand the importance of attending to relationships and task - but do so from a Reactive strategy.

They rush in to get things moving, drive execution and ensure results (Controlling), only to find they have strained or ignored relationships.

They then run back to bring people along and address the relational issues their burst of well-intended Controlling created - until they notice the need to get things moving again and rush back into action - and the pattern repeats.

When I work with leaders on the LCP mat, I'll have them act this out using real work examples by running back and forth between Complying and Controlling. After a few cycles, they begin to feel the energetic cost of this approach.

The inefficiency of this pattern is also confirmed in the data. None of the Reactive tendencies are positively correlated. In other words, when you go high Controlling, all you get is more controlling. The Reactive only offers an “either/or” choice.

Contrast this to the Creative, where every dimension is positively correlated. For example, Relating and Achieving (the Creative alternative to Complying and Controlling) have a .76 positive correlation.

If you increase Relating by 10%, the data indicates that Achieving will increase by 7.6% - even without that being the focus of your attention. The Creative is fundamentally a “both/and” leadership structure.

This is why we say Creative leadership has leverage. Everything in the Creative positively contributes to everything else.

In the Reactive, all you get is more of what you’re already doing - and likely at a high personal cost, as evidenced by this leader’s Balance score.