The profile included on this page represents your particular combination of nine behavioral patterns which have been observed in leaders throughout the world. There is no good or bad combination and it must be emphasized that we all have access to all nine patterns. Human beings are very complex and consequently no questionnaire of this type can take into account all of the possible variables affecting leadership behavior. It is unlikely, therefore, that two leaders with similar profiles will behave in exactly the same way. What can be said, however, is that people with similar patterns have the same general outlook on the world and become alerted to similar specific events which act as triggers to their behavior. Each of the nine patterns has been given a name that attempts to describe its overall behavioral style. The details that follow attempt to put your profile into perspective in various contexts. At the end we suggest a number of developmental ideas designed to support you in your journey towards becoming an even more effective leader.

It appears that there are significant aspects of your life with which you are less than satisfied. As a result, you may also find that you experience some degree of emotional difficulty from time to time which causes some disruption in your life. This may take the form of mood changes, emotional outbursts, or a general lack of energy.

While there are identifiable patterns in your general behaviour which others probably notice as being characteristic of you, it appears that you have access to other ways of doing things which allow variation from time to time. However, you may well benefit from increasing your repertoire of possible responses to situations. In order to do this you should consider exploring the underlying drivers of your standard behavioural patterns.

These are the most common characteristics which define your general behavior. They may seem contradictory in some cases, but people are not always consistent in their behavior across different contexts.

• You are concerned with the needs of people in your environment and quickly become aware of how you can assist or support them.
• Your own needs seem less important to you than those of others and you may even think that you have no real needs at all.
• You are inclined to be very practical, noticing the things that need to be done and then doing them. Others may come to rely your helpfulness and support and only in your absence become aware of all the things you do for them.
• On occasion, when you try to help others, your behaviour may be perceived as being rather intrusive and unwelcome. This could result in others failing to appreciate all that you do for them, and, in reaction, you may have a tendency to become rather irritated, demanding, and even "bossy".

• You are probably very hard-working, putting a lot of emphasis on material success and financial security. It is likely that you tend not to express the softer, more emotional aspects of your personality, and this could cause others to perceive you as being rather tough or even uncaring at times, even though this may not be your intention.
• You are aware of the impressions you create on other people and aim to appear successful and confident in most situations. As a result, you are probably adept at masking your true feelings and may prefer to live behind a carefully created facade that reflects the impression you want to portray.
• It is possible that you are more in touch with the image that you aim to project than with your true self.
• You tend to achieve massively in almost all projects or ventures to which you commit. You may even be recognized as a leader in your field as a result of your dedication and willingness to go the extra mile.

There are a number of areas which you seem to avoid. These may have a quite significant impact on your performance as a leader. These include...

You are probably not particularly inclined to isolate yourself, preferring, rather, to mix with other people. It is also likely that you do not mind intrusions or disturbances, and may, in fact, welcome any opportunity that enables you to escape work that is particularly lonely or reclusive.

It appears that you have little need to strongly assert your wishes on others, and, as a result, people probably perceive you as being more compliant and approachable. This may also suggest a tendency not to confront others, even if they are crossing your boundaries.

The following list contains the main features of your leadership behavior in order of significance. Again, it is possible that you perform differently in different contexts and thus this list may contain some apparent contradictions.

• You are caring and supportive of your subordinates.
• You focus on practicality and simplicity without unnecessary frills.
• It is possible that you can become rather irritable and even quite "bossy" when stressed.
• You tend to do whatever you can to ensure that others remain open and supportive towards one another.
• You are probably quite sensitive to others being unappreciative of your help and support. In fact, you may react very negatively when you feel unacknowledged, or that others have taken advantage of your goodwill.

• You expect team-members to be productive and efficient, and have a strong focus on the achievement of goals and objectives.
• You are likely to be conscious of the image you project, and consequently, you expect others to be concerned with their appearances.
• You are probably prepared to put in long hours at work and expect others to do the same.
• You are likely to be rather expedient in your approach, doing whatever it takes to get the job done by the set deadline.
• You are confident and optimistic and this is likely to motivate others to work within the framework you set up for them.

There are various roles which people adopt when in a team situation. These have been defined quite clearly by a number of theorists. Your profile can be effectively used to predict the roles that you probably find most comfortable.

You focus attention on maintaining harmonious relationships within the team, trying to support and assist other team-members as much as possible. In fact, you tend to identify with their goals and want them to achieve these to the best of their ability. Your need for acknowledgement or recognition could potentially impede your performance in the team. This could specifically occur if you demand too much individual attention from other team members. Similarly, you may have to guard against any need to be indispensable as this could result in your hoarding information rather than freely and openly sharing it.

You focus your attention on the achievement of goals and deadlines, shaping the team's performance in terms of the demands made upon it. You could well be an ideal spokesperson for the team as you probably enjoy being up front and in the spotlight. This is further strengthened by your close identification with the team and your willingness to put in a lot of work to ensure its success. On the down side, your likely discomfort with matters emotional may distance you from other team members and lead to your not noticing, or not responding to, their emotional needs and feelings.

There are a number of team roles which you seem disinclined to adopt. This may cause trouble for both you and your team.

When team-members are not performing to standard it would appear that you find it quite difficult to firmly confront them and drive them to achieve. You may benefit from learning to raise your levels of assertiveness when necessary and become more familiar with the techniques of performance management in order to deal effectively with these situations.

It appears that you find the gathering of detailed data or the researching of specific topics somewhat uninteresting. Consequently, you probably don't often serve the team by bringing researched information to its attention. There could be times when it is highly appropriate for you to engage in fact-finding of this kind, and the whole team may benefit from your getting more involved in this.

This analysis of competence is based on the supposition that there is a set of leadership competencies which are universal to business. This analyses those that you show potential for and any that seem to challenge you.

These are your areas of strength:

Empathy

Developing others

Practicality

Goal-orientation

Persistence

Impact

Allowing others to support you

You show a strong desire to be supportive and helpful to others. This suggests that you place importance on satisfying people's needs by doing things for them. In many people, this pattern of helpfulness is often accompanied by the fundamental belief that one will be appreciated by doing things for others. Appreciation and acknowledgement create feelings of significance and a sense of being needed. If you recall the feelings of irritation or anger that are likely to have accompanied your experience of being particularly unappreciated, or taken advantage of, by others in the past, you may become aware of your own desire for appreciation and acknowledgement. Your feelings of irritation or anger are likely to derive from the idea that others are obliged to recognize and acknowledge your efforts to help. If they fail to live up to this expectation, your negative feelings may result in your becoming openly demanding or particularly demotivated. It is possible, that, as a result of your predominant helping behaviour, people start to rely on you to such an extent that they become dependent. In a work context, this is particularly disempowering, especially if people start to believe that they are not able to do their jobs without your direct input and involvement. There is no doubt that helpfulness and support are wonderful qualities to have in the workplace. However, like any strength, when applied to an extreme in situations where they are inappropriate, they can limit others' development and therefore have a negative impact on the organization.

You may want to consider the following developmental suggestions:

• Be aware of occasions when you begin to work out how to get someone's attention by trying to meet his or her needs.
• Recognize times when you feel unappreciated and examine your feelings of self-worth.
• Remember it is better in the long run to teach people how to fish rather than simply giving them a fish. People are generally at their best when they are not made to feel dependent on others for their survival or success.
• Explore the concept of working with others rather than for them.
• Become aware of your own needs and learn to put these higher on your priority list. This is a paradoxical point in this overall behavioural style as it may be that you think you truly have no needs, or that your needs are not important. In fact, you do have needs and they are important.
• In fact, you do have needs and they are important.
• It is important to accept that you can be appreciated for many aspects of your being, not just for your ability to serve others.
• Significantly, allow other people to do things for you and to show you their appreciation.

Learning to set and maintain boundaries

It would seem that your general approach is to avoid conflict situations and to rather be less assertive and less directive towards others. An unfortunate consequence of this behavioural pattern is that people who are more assertive, dogmatic and aggressive tend to get their way with you. It may also be that you have some difficulty getting things done the way you want them done, and that consequently, your anger builds up inside. You probably avoid expressing your anger until it becomes uncontrollable, at which point it may explode outward.

You may find the following developmental ideas helpful:

• Explore and reflect on the differences between assertion and aggression. The two concepts are often confused.
• Practice stating clearly and calmly what it is you want, and what your views are, ensuring that others understand the reasons behind your thinking.
• Learn to set boundaries and expectations with others; agree these clearly, and then ensure that they are respected. It is important that this is done in the context of respect and compassion.
• Significantly, be aware that you have a voice of your own and a right to be heard. Notice those occasions when you withdraw your voice from the world. What causes you to withdraw in this way? What threat are you perceiving and reacting to at these times? How sure are you that this threat is real?

Relieving the pressure on yourself

You appear to be driven towards the successful achievement of clear goals and objectives. In fact, you probably spend much of your time, and considerable energy, on tasks aimed at achieving the success and status that you desire. In all likelihood, your hard work pays off in that you usually attain the results that you are looking for. The down side, however, is that you probably have little time to spare for activities or people that are unrelated to your specific work-goals. This lack of time may even extend to close family and friends, and the risk is that important relationships may suffer across your life. You may even find that you spend time at your workplace even when there is little or no work to do, since you feel more focused and comfortable in the work environment. You probably set very high performance standards for your team, perhaps to the point of being unrealistic at times. You may, however, have noticed that not everyone seems to be as passionate about achieving success as you do (and, at various times this may be a source of either irritation or pride on your part).

You may find the following developmental ideas useful:

• Notice how hard you work and make sure that you set quality time aside for important relationships outside of work where you can just be yourself and invest in those closest to you.
• Be aware that hard work, success and achievement are ways of ensuring that others notice you. Take a few minutes to recall times when you felt ignored or unnoticed. How aware are you of any need you have for personal recognition?
• Try describing yourself without reference to your work. How easy or difficult is this? Notice any tendency to present yourself in terms of what you do, rather than who you are. Recognize the ways in which you present the face of success to others.
• Examine what you believe about yourself. Who are you really? How often do you show this deeper and truly authentic self to others?
• Forgive yourself for not achieving as much as you would like, and explore the level of anxiety that the thought of failure causes in you. What does failure represent to you, and why is it such a terrible thing? What positives could come out of failure?
• Recognize times when you want to show off your success. How related is this to a desire you may have to cover up deeper feelings of failure, or lack of recognition from the past?
• Most significantly, ask important others what they really think of you and compare this with what you think about yourself. When you do this notice what people appreciate about you that is unrelated to your achievements. What do you learn from this exercise?

Learning to work in isolation

You may find it difficult to work in environments where you are alone for much of the time or isolated from other people. The reason for this could be that you enjoy the social stimulation that interacting with others provides. On the other hand, in order to function effectively, you may feel that you need people to support you in some way. This could indicate a level of dependency on people, which, in turn, has some negative implications for your work. There is also a suggestion that your work preference is unlikely to be in jobs where the gathering and detailed analysis of information is a main requirement. There may, however, be times when you need to work alone, or when information gathering and analysis is important to your effectiveness.

The following developmental ideas may be useful:

• Become aware of times when you feel resistant to working alone. What disturbs you about this type of work situation or environment?
• Significantly, examine how well you are able to retain important information. If this is not an area of strength, explore possible reasons why this is difficult for you.