Signal or camouflage?
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This stunning chameleon is an image that represents leadership to one person. Surprised?
As discussed in my introductory blog, I use images to assess leaders and guide them in personalized leadership development. The model is called Visiva Leadership®. Today, we’ll explore how the model works in practice.
Unable to get to the next level
A leader came to me during a time when he was struggling to move to the next level in his career. He was a Project Manager of a complex portfolio within a major organization. The organization, his peers, and his manager really liked and appreciated him. He always delivered great work and he was recognized for that; he had, in fact, won many internal awards. He was able to navigate the organization with great success and his stakeholder management abilities were outstanding. However, he was going nowhere. The promotion he aspired to was not coming; it was always postponed.
I listened and then asked him to identify an image that, to him, represented leadership. This image of the chameleon is the one he chose.
Camouflage and adaptation
As I looked at this image and the richness of the content, I asked him, “What makes you choose a chameleon as a symbol of leadership? What is it about this image that inspires you?”
He did not hesitate. He replied, “Look at this incredible creature and its ability to change color so it can camouflage and adapt to the environment.” He continued, “As leaders, we need to be as adaptable to the environment as the chameleon is. Our environment, both external and internal, changes very quickly. As leaders, we need to do the same if we want to be successful. We need to flex to what is in front of us; we need to speak ‘different languages’ depending on the situation we are in.” He was absolutely passionate and convinced of what he said.
In general, he was right: leadership is situational. As leaders, we need to increase our self-awareness of who we are and what is surrounding us, and we need adapt to the situation. However, he was not totally right about the chameleon ... and the integration of his image and his personal narrative said something very different about him.
As I analyzed his leadership image, I considered the fact that, contrary to popular belief, chameleons don’t change color for camouflage to blend into their surroundings. Chameleons experience elaborate physiological color changes that include multi-chromatic and pattern-element alterations as a social signal during social interactions. In theory, the plasticity of physiological color change allows chameleons to display different color signals under different conditions. For example, they change color as the temperature changes, or they change color to signal to other chameleons or different creatures.
A pattern of changing colors
While in dialogue with my client, he noted that he was the youngest of many siblings. To survive in such a big family, he shared that he had to adapt – to “change color,” in his own words. That experience and learned behavior also served him very well with his work in a big organization. It was an effective pattern repetition for him.
After that observation, he paused and didn’t talk for a while. There was silence. The silence stretched into space and I let the space be there between us: it was a space rich in thoughts and likely ‘new material’ for our work. After a while, I asked: “Which is your true and unaltered color? Which is your true voice? What prevents you from using your true color?”
He was taken aback by my questions. What his rational mind was telling him – that leadership is defined by adaptation and agility – was not allowing him to understand and align with his deeper need to accept and show up as himself. It was not allowing him to express his own thoughts, to display his decision-making ability and his capacity to make choices, even when it was difficult and within a challenging environment.
Both strength and barrier to growth
What the chameleon image and my client’s narrative were really saying was that while he had within himself a preference and capacity to adapt by changing his behaviors, in reality his leadership style was too adaptable and too changeable. On the one hand, his strength was adaptation and agility; on the other hand, his opportunity for growth was to find his own true color and the strength and capacity to own that color in the presence of – and in his work with – his leaders and peers.
As we dug below the water line, we were able to have that difficult, very deep conversation and he was able to bring to the surface his reticence to embrace and respect his true color. His natural tendency was to please, and he found support and strength in believing that being a chameleon was the right thing to do. He thought that it served him well. He was a great “doer” and he won awards, but he was also a “yes-person” instead of a great thinker.
A safe space to explore
Using the image and its symbolism, I brought up one of the characteristics of the chameleon: their eyes are capable of looking in two different directions at once, which allows them to see color gradations in foliage better and hunt insects more effectively. What did he need to do to sharpen that intrinsic capability of the chameleon? How could he see and assess situations from both one direction and the other direction to be more successful in developing his leadership presence and personal voice instead of just changing color and adapting?
As you can imagine, these questions brought us into deep waters and allowed us to have multiple, real conversations. The power of the image permitted us to build a safe space of profound content where he was able to give himself permission to explore his own metaphor and its meaning.
Richness revealed
Images carry energy and they call us to action. Look at this image again: it contains a multitude of vibrant and beautiful colors. There is energy within this image as there was energy within this leader. My work is always to go where the energy is and unlock this energy to bring changes to life.
As we worked together on using his energy to show and respect his “true color,” my client made progress on being more present within his own voice and expressing his own opinion more and more during meetings, without fear of not adapting and not pleasing. I was delighted when he soon gained the promotion he wanted as he developed his senior presence and the ability to contribute his own thinking while being grounded in his own true color.
Signal, not camouflage
Images show us that below the water line of a rational narrative there is so much more to be discovered. The richness of the image content is all there to be revealed. In my client’s case, the chameleon’s image in reality was signaling to him that something was changing. That signal was to alert and awake him to use his own voice instead of camouflaging himself in the voice of others.
All that we need to do to have a deeper dialogue and to become better, more mature leaders is unfold the promise of the image. What is your image of leadership?
Please contact me at letizia@letiziaamadinilane.com with your questions or comments!
