We all know it’s tough being a leader at the moment. Under pressure, most of us tend to lean on and mitigate what comes naturally to us; if you have a tendency to be aggressive, you’ll probably be brutally honest, or, you might say, you ‘wear your heart on your sleeve’. If you run a more passive preference, you might tend to hold back parts of the deeper truth and deliver cosmetically acceptable feedback that keeps the status quo rather than addressing significant issues.

Neither extreme is effective in creating an engaged culture or an organisation that can sustain success.

The answer? Walk the middle path; honour the positive aspects of both the aggressive and passive spectrums, and feed them into an effective ‘middle manner’ leadership style. When giving constructive criticism, for example, merge the positive spin on aggression – directness – with the positive aspect of passivity – respect.

Other examples of leadership attitudes and behaviours and their spectrums include courage, which can swing to the passive side of cowardice or run in the aggressive direction to being foolhardy, and humility, which can lie anywhere between arrogance (aggressive) and deference (passive).

‘The Middle Path Manner’ is simply an attitude to take against the skill of balance. The Insights Model of Behaviours showcases this key principal amongst the four colour energies. Take Cool Blue for instance; behavioural aspects including consistency, precision and organisation can be extremely effective when used in their best and most positive form, but when under or overused can become liabilities, perhaps appearing as reserved, defensive and detached.

The Colour Works range of programmes offer an experience that gives individuals an engaging, reinforcing and transformational insight into themselves and others. Understanding yourself and others – developing and maintaining emotional intelligence – is where it all starts.