Thought Tweet #681 Does leadership mean delicate hands at the controls? Sometimes, Yes; Sometimes, Definitely NO. 

The Thinking Behind The Tweet

Most of the time - 99% of the time - Leaders should be supportive. Why? Because constructive criticism is an oxymoron. 

Most of the time - let's think in terms of a bell curve, so about 2/3 of the time - Leaders need to be in the clear-to-assertive range. That does not mean aggressive...it means assertive. In the clear-to-assertive range - Leaders need to be unemotional, concise, emphatic, and firm...but not intimidating or aggressive.

Sometimes, Leaders need to be very firm...so firm, others may find them aggressive. Here's an example: say you are a leader and one of the people you lead is an office bully; say you have exhausted all clear-to-assertive methods and the office bully does not correct his or her behaviour. In this scenario, you may find a very firm, even aggressive reaction is the only way to remedy the unacceptable bully-behaviour.

Perhaps, natural-born leaders can perform like this without pre-thought or planning...'ad-libbing'. I wouldn't rely on ad-libbing. I recommend thinking about tough situations in advance - thinking about the scenarios that could happen when the office bully is around:

• planning your Leadership response; 
• planning whether or not you will respond in a firm-aggressive; 
• thinking through exactly how you will do that; 
• thinking about how you will control your emotions so you will be in control of the situation;
• choosing your words and body language in advance;
• practicing, as required, to ensure you perform at your best

When you are delivering firm-aggressive messages you are not being constructive...at least, the recipient of your message will not feel or think you are being constructive. However, sometimes, a ruling with an iron fist is the only way to control a bully. 

Bullies are asking for iron-fist assertive leadership.

They are crying out for it.

Take care though - you must deliver it to bullies properly.