Driving potential through authentic leadership

George Kohlrieser, veteran hostage negotiator and Professor of Leadership and Organisational Behaviour at the International Institute for Management Development, shared key insights into how leaders can best draw out the potential of their teams.

As a leader you have to be able to deliver pain and have people say thank you.

High performers are not afraid of pain; they want the truth. They want the honesty of feedback. They want to see how they can become better.

People do not naturally resist change they resist the pain of change and the fear of the unknown.

When people understand the benefit the fear of change is taken away. The leader must create a foundation of safety to overcome that.

When a leader is a secure base, followers will trust the leader to guide them through change.

A major reason top leaders fail is they cannot connect to people.

Bonding is the emotional linking that creates energy – it can be positive and inspiring or negative and discouraging. When a hostage negotiator is working with a hostage taker they have to create an emotional bond with someone they don’t like; you don’t have to like them, you only need a common goal.  When a leader gets frustrated with passive-aggressive behavior they try to dominate; the secret of motivation is to get the person to change their mindset and attach to a benefit.

The new paradigm for leadership is about collaboration and connection.

Women have the edge on that. But if they do not learn how to have confidence, courage and how to deal with conflict then it means nothing. Men have to learn how to bond. But leadership really starts in childhood.

You cannot expect a team that is full of fear and who are not allowed to fail to be creative, to innovate and to dare.

Fear is only a temporary motivation. You unleash potential by inspiring, driving change and developing talent.

A secure base leader remains calm; accepts and values the individual; sees potential in the individual; uses listening, dialogue and inquiry; focuses on the positive; encourages risk; provides opportunities and challenges to stretch; inspires through intrinsic motivation, and is accessible.

Read more insights from the 2014 World Business Forum keynote speakers.  http://business.nab.com.au/tag/world-business-forum/>

NAB was recently privileged to sponsor the World Business Forum in Sydney – two days of inspiration, collaboration and provocation by some of the world’s leading business innovators. These insights were generated live on the day by NAB and were informed by the guest speakers’ presentations.