Bob, a recently discharged sniper from the Marine Corp Special Forces (Recon) with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan killing many people as well as being shot himself, was hired by a retailer specializing in alcoholic beverages (a glamourized liquor store). Due to Bob's military training and field experience, he was virtually non-responsive to empathetic and mindful techniques to develop motivation for work performance. The techniques that yielded the best responses and performance were of commanding and pacesetting styles, both of which are considered as negative and counterproductive by Goleman's book.
As a coach/visonary of Goleman design, could these leadership styles be detrimental to those of behavioral development paralleling that of Bob? In other words, if a person was raised in a commanding/pacesetting environment, what would be the assumption for motivation?
Great question! My first response is that Bob has been conditioned to respond to a commanding environment. Simply because this environment gets an immediate reaction from Bob does not mean he could not be responsive to other types of conditioning/motivation once he understood the benefits.
ReplyDeleteMy second response involved personalities and learning styles. If we all have preferred learning styles that help us acquire and personalize knowledge, then why should we struggle to adapt to one that is not in our nature? So the question for me becomes has Bob been trained to accept this motivation or is it inherit for him?