Leadership
Actor, Advocate, Activist, Apathist
What if the person on the team you think is the problem is simply missing something that would help them perform better?
My best friend and I take birthday trips together, and somewhere along the way we always end up in deep conversations about life. On our last trip, I told her, "You know, I think you're an Activist." She challenges systems she believes need to change.
Then I thought about myself. "I'm an Advocate." Helping comes naturally to me. I see talent in people and encourage it. I connect, share, cheer and support.
Then I started pulling the thread. At work, I'm often an Actor. Give me the mission, direction and objective, and I execute. As a mother and small-business owner, there isn't a director. Sometimes I have to be the Actor, sometimes the Advocate, and sometimes the Activist—the least comfortable behavior for me. And sometimes I'm tired, unmotivated and need to recharge. I'll call that the Apathist, for now.
A systems-thinking question
That's when this became a systems question for me. People aren't static components. The same person can behave differently depending on the system around them. Maybe we code-switch between behaviors:
- Activist: What needs to change?
- Advocate: Who needs support?
- Actor: What needs to get done?
- Apathist: I don't have anything left to give right now.
The human–system interface
So what influences which behavior shows up? I started looking at the human–system interface and the conditions around it: direction, authority, trust, connection and capacity. No single condition decides behavior. Behavior emerges from the combination.
So when someone isn't performing as expected, perhaps the first question isn't "What's wrong with this person?" Ask what the system is—and isn't—giving them, and what it expects from them.
We may be capable of all these behaviors when the conditions allow them to emerge.
The goal isn't to label people. It's to understand what they naturally bring, what the situation requires, and to create conditions that let all of us code-switch into the behavior the system needs.
Which of the four do you default to at work—and which conditions bring out the others?
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