How Leaders Generate Approachability
Photo credit: Mimi Thian
In this blog, we will explore The R.O.C.K. Method and how it can help leaders embody the spirit of trustworthiness necessary to inspire transformational change. We will define and describe each component of the method and provide tips on incorporating it into your leadership style.
As transformational leaders, we are responsible for creating and maintaining conditions that allow others to meet their core needs for safety, dignity, power, belonging, mastery, and purpose. To do this, we must embody the spirit of the change we seek to inspire. The R.O.C.K. Method is a tool that can help us achieve this.
The R.O.C.K. Method is a way of being that communicates trustworthiness. Trustworthy leaders demonstrate a way of being that shows us that we are "Relaxed, Open, Confident, and Kind,” and trustworthy leaders embody what they hope to create - a community where all are relaxed, open, confident, and kind.
To embody The R.O.C.K. Method we need to understand each component.
Being RELAXED means exuding an aura of strength and tranquility, both internally and externally.
Being OPEN means engaging with uncertainty with curiosity and care while also being able to notice and release our reliance on limiting beliefs or assumptions.
Demonstrating openness in our body language varies widely depending on the culture. Generally, though, we can invite components of physical presence by facing those we are speaking with, slowing down our pace, and matching the eye contact of the other person. Part of being open means keeping the possibility of varying viewpoints and alternatives open. As we take up less space, we allow others to take up more.
CONFIDENCE involves being secure in our power. As leaders, our awareness of our power helps us to engage with others with gentleness and care, encouraging and allowing them to feel safe and secure in our presence.
Through our efforts to recognize the effort and affirm the worth we support, we invite authenticity and vulnerability.
KINDNESS is the ability to notice an unmet need and choose to exercise our power to help meet that need out of respect for the unconditional deservedness of another being.
We can honor the agency and mastery of those we speak with by offering them an opportunity to clarify or confirm our interpretation of their message. We can do this by asking open-ended questions and responding similarly (in our way of being) to what is shared. A note of caution about the use of humor, which is a strategy for some aspiring leaders.
Photo credit: Dayne Topkin
We should exercise discernment when employing humor, especially with others who may have less or less access to power than we do. Humor is, at its root, an attempt to relate to others or relieve tension. Making a joke relies on an understanding of a shared understanding of something, of having a shared relatability. We don't know what others may find insulting or invalidating, so it is best to find alternative routes to connect until we are sure our humor will be well received.
In closing, The R.O.C.K. Method is a powerful tool for transformational leaders who seek to embody the spirit of transformational change. By being relaxed, open, confident, and kind, we can create a community that fosters safety, dignity, power, belonging, mastery, and purpose. It is our responsibility as leaders to commit to embodying the change we seek to inspire in others.
