The Limitations of Reactive Leadership - A focus on Complying

The Limitations of Reactive Leadership – A Focus on Complying

An Excerpt from Mastering Leadership: An Integrated Framework for Breakthrough Performance and Extraordinary Business Results, by Robert J. Anderson and William A. Adams (Wiley, 2015)

The word reactive is to be hasty, kneejerk, imprudent, combative, oversensitive, unthinking, touchy, volatile, or sensitive.

Reactive leadership focuses only the problems occurring in the moment. This management approach makes prioritizing and focusing on the long term more difficult. Instead of allowing daily activities or routines to control your day, you want to be more intentional and do the things that really matter and will produce significant results.

Reactive leadership focuses on problems and how to fix them as they surface.

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, reactive is an adjective defined as “done in response to a problem or situation: reacting to problems when they occur instead of doing something to prevent them.”

According to Bob Anderson and Bill Adams, most leaders (70 to 80%) are leading Reactively. Reactive leaders are often more concerned with how they are doing than with what they are doing; they do things right (defined by norms), rather than doing the right things; they over-control and micromanage; they avoid conflict by not addressing real issues; they fail to lead by constantly escalating ideas for change to higher management to get permission to move ahead; they hold decision making and creative engagement close to the vest—vested in top management; they expect top management to have all the answers, to provide the charismatic vision, and to fix the messes; they blame others for problems and claim no share of complicity themselves; they wait for the culture to change, for mixed messages to be clarified, and for guarantees of success before investing in change; they believe that vision and direction must come first from above, and that the job of those below is to receive it—rather than to co-create the future; and say what they’re expected to say in meetings and have the real conversations afterwards.

Being conservative is about the extent to which you think and act conservatively, follow procedure, and live within the prescribed rules of the organization with which you are associated. To be a conversative leader may be a strength or a weakness depending on your work situation. You may have to determine whether being conservative is an asset or a liability to your leadership effectiveness

Pleasing is about your need to seek others’ support and approval to feel secure and worthwhile as a person. People with strong needs for approval tend to base their degree of self-worth on their ability to gain others’ favor and confirmation. For these types of people, avoiding personal rejection is paramount. As a result, they are likely to do things that will keep them in good graces with others. They may be overly generous, act friendly all the time, be overly sympathetic, or generally submit to the wishes of others.

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