Leaders are at the top of their game when they act from their deepest values and instincts. Usually they tap into these fundamental qualities during a crisis, but it’s possible to do so at anytime – in the right frame of mind.

A frustrating fact for leaders is that their performance level tends to fluctuate from competent to excellent and back again. How does a leader tip the balance towards the excellent end of the scale consistently? Rather than poring over countless leadership manuals and imitating other successful leaders, Robert E. Quinn suggests you tap into your own abilities already acquired through past experiences and innate values and instincts.

In his recent article for Harvard Business Review, entitled “Moments of Greatness: Entering the Fundamental State of Leadership”, Robert, who is  Professor of Business Administration at the University of Michigan, Ross School of Management, believes that the way you lead in a crisis forces you to tap into your deepest values and instincts. In this state you instinctively know what to do: You rise to the occasion and perform at your best.

Fortunately you don’t need a crisis to tap into what he calls “The Fundamental State of Leadership”, you can do so anytime perhaps prior to a critical conversation or key meeting, by following the next three steps:

1. Recognise you have been here before:  Remind yourself that you have been here before and have overcome great challenges. By recalling these moments and the lessons learnt, you will release positive emotions and see new possibilities for your current situation.
2. Analyze your current state: Compare your normal performance with what you’ve done when at your best. You will fuel a desire to elevate what you are doing now and instil confidence that you can re-enter this state of mind.
3. Ask yourself the following four questions:

Robert and his colleagues are using their research to challenge the way in which leaders in organisations are trained or encouraged to read how to emulate other great leaders. Following their research they believe that leaders who do their best work are not copying anyone, they are drawing on their own fundamental values and capabilities – operating in a frame of mind that is true to them but paradoxically not their normal state of being.

 No one can operate at the top of their game 24/7 but by practising entering this state of mind on a regular basis you will be able to return to it more easily in future whilst inspiring others around you to perform to higher levels of excellence.

Even those widely admired for their leadership skills usually function in their normal and healthy state of being. However, this state is not conducive to crisis management and when in this state people tend to stay in their comfort zones and allow external influences to guide their behaviours and decisions. To elevate the performance of others, we must first shift our own thinking along the four dimensions identified:

1. What results do I want to create? – This question shifts us from problem solving to purpose finding.
2. By becoming more internally directed we clarify our core values and increase our confidence, integrity and authenticity. Our behaviours will shift and be noticed by others.
3. By putting the collective need before our own needs we are instilling trust and respect from others, this in turns makes for a tighter more empathetic team who cohesively can overcome and transcend conflicts that are a necessary element of a high performing organisation.
4. If we are realistically aware of what is unfolding and open to the need for change in our ever changing external world we move from defensive and denial state of mind to an adaptive, credible and unique state.

These four qualities are at the heart of human influence and whilst good leaders can function without addressing them, they will usually need to influence change by control or force which doesn’t give rise to committed followers. By shifting to this mindset, leaders can influence change by elevating people to a new level of community, which continues even in the absence of the leader.

So next time you are faced with a challenging conversation or key meeting, think of a time when you were at your best as a leader and use a check-list to  identify the qualities you displayed. Compare your list with how you are operating today and identify what changes you need to make to get back to that state.

Here is an example check-list to use for each of the four questions: