Leadership is … Understanding Our Followers

At some point in the workshop I conduct on interpersonal communications skills using the SOCIAL STYLEs model, I invariably make the comment that with the knowledge all of the participants have gained during the session comes great responsibility; that with what they have learned about communication and behaviours comes the responsibility of using that knowledge — they can’t unlearn what they have just learned. In the context of my workshop that means using what is referred to as the “Platinum Rule”, which is to “treat others as they wish to be treated” — the exact opposite of the better-known “Golden Rule” that most of us had drilled into us since we were kids: which is to “treat others how we wish to be treated”.

The Golden Rule has been taught to us for millennia with the message that if it feels right for me then it must be right for everyone. As I reflect on this it seems that this message might just be one of the reasons why western culture has gotten itself into so much trouble through the ages. It ignores the diversity that surrounds us, not only culturally but even individually. In the context of the workshop I conduct into interpersonal communications there are four basic preferred communication and behaviour styles. The research done by Tracomcorp suggest that the…