Use Competence, Not Dominance

Communication Alert: A harsh, one-way leadership style just doesn't do what's valued now: building a good rapport with workers.

Everyone needs to brush up on actions that imply ability and competence (called "task cues" in the psych trade) and play down their dominance cues (actions that imply control and threat), reports a team of psychologists headed by James E. Driskell, Ph.D.

 In one study, 159 college students, male and female, listened to the pitches of task-oriented speakers and the same arguments from dominance-oriented speakers, male and female. Almost everyone thought men and women who exhibited task cues were more competent, group-oriented, and likable. Those showing dominance cues were thought of as self-oriented and disliked.

For a corporate decision-making group sitting around a table in a board meeting, poise, attitude, and approach matter more than most people realize.

Here's the rundown on which behaviors they say will earn you respect and which won't:

Task Cues

• Rapid speech rate

• Eye contact

• Verbal fluency

• Choosing the head of the table

• Fluid gestures

• Well-moderated voice tone

Dominance Cues

• Loud voice

• Angry tone

• Finger pointing

• Lowering eyebrows

• Stiff posture

• Forceful gestures

What do you think?

Bonus: Check this related article at Slow Leadership.

Comments

[Chris Witt]

Steve,

Great post. Did the study delve into the attitudes or inner dispositions behind / beneath the cues? I would hazzard a guess that competence is based -- partially -- in a healthy sense of self in service to others. And dominance in an overblown or underdeveloped sense of self in service to itself.

Chris