The #1 Personality Model Behind Great Leadership: Discover Your Bird Type

Coming up in today’s edition:

1. One quick win: To help you deliver feedback well

2. One proven system: To help you flex your leadership style to your team’s personalities

3. One million-dollar question: To make sure you hire the right people

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1. A TACTIC TO NEVER FORGET WHEN DELIVERING NEGATIVE NEWS OR FEEDBACK

As the leader, everyone looks to you.

Difficult decisions come with the territory.

You can’t please everyone. It is impossible.

But the way you communicate will define the culture within your team.

Look at the two different ways a player getting traded was handled:

1. Derrick Rose (NBA) - finds out via a phone call from his agent that he is getting traded to the NY Knicks which causes him to break down emotionally by himself.

2. Vontae Davis (NFL) - a two-time Pro Bowl cornerback finds out directly from the coach that he was traded to the Colts rather than hearing through an agent or the media.

Vontae sadly passed away earlier this year after playing 10 seasons in the NFL - our prayers go to his family. Rest in peace!

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In high performance cultures, delivering negative news or feedback will be a necessity.

Always deliver it in person.

It is faster and more comfortable to deliver on email or through a third party.

But all the greatest leaders know that handling tension up front in an honest way will create shared clarity and connection; even if the feedback or outcomes are negative.

If you are in a remote first business, a one on one video call with cameras on to deliver negative feedback is a non-negotiable.

2. WHAT TYPE OF BIRD ARE YOU? 🦅

How do you adapt your leadership style to meet the diverse needs of your team members?

The Bird Personality Type model is one that can help you massively.

Originally introduced by Dr. William Marston back in the late 1920s, it’s a unique way to understand what makes us tick by matching our traits with these iconic birds — Dove, Owl, Peacock, and Eagle (DOPE).

1. Dove: patient and accommodating

2. Owl: analytical and systematic

3. Peacock: outgoing and enthusiastic

4. Eagle: firm and direct

DOPE is also widely known as the DISC personality model, where each bird lines up with a specific trait:

• Dominant → Eagle

• Influence → Peacock

• Steady → Dove

• Compliant → Owl

Adapting your leadership style to meet the needs of these different personalities can drive improved team culture and better performance so here is a breakdown of how to create a work environment where each personality thrives 👇

DOVES

• How to manage them effectively: they have calm, deliberate dispositions so don't force a quick decision, emphasise how their work contributes to the team's success and always use a calm and patient approach.

• Character traits: cooperation, sincerity, loyalty, and dependability.

• Environments they thrive in: provide a supportive and stable environment with regular, one-on-one check-ins where they can express their thoughts. They value harmonious relationships so resolve team conflict around them quickly when it arises.

• Career motivations: they need to feel that their efforts contribute to the greater good.

OWLS

• How to manage them effectively: provide them with detailed information, clear expectations and the time to analyse it.

• Character traits: quality, accuracy, expertise, and competency.

• Environments they thrive in: they excel when they have clear guidelines, detailed feedback and the freedom to ensure precision in their work with the opportunity to ask multiple questions in order to seek clarity.

• Career motivations: they enjoy their independence, demand the details, and often fear being wrong.

PEACOCKS

• How to manage them effectively: engage with them on a personal level with positive reinforcement, enthusiastic communication and recognise their contributions publicly.

• Character traits: enthusiastic, optimistic, open, trusting, and energetic.

• Environments they thrive in: they thrive in spaces where their creativity is valued, and their ideas get the spotlight.

• Career motivations: they love the art of influence and persuasion—motivating others, driving change, and shaping outcomes with their ideas and energy.

EAGLES

• How to manage them effectively: focus on setting clear goals and giving them the autonomy to achieve these objectives.

• Character traits: confident, sometimes blunt, outspoken, and demanding.

• Environments they thrive in: thrive in high-energy environments where the focus is on achieving results and thinking big. They love spaces where they can push boundaries, make an impact, and see the bigger vision come to life.

• Career motivations: they live for challenges and love any chance to showcase their skills.

If you can unlock each of your team’s unique strengths whilst getting them to work together as a team, you are on to a winning formula.

3. WOULD YOUR NEW HIRE TAKE £1,000 TO QUIT AFTER THEIR FIRST WEEK?

This may seem like a frightening question to ask.

But I imagine everyone of us is trying to build a culture and workplace that people don’t want to leave.

Tony Hsieh founded Zappos - one of the largest online retailers in the world - with that mindset.

He famously introduced a new onboarding tactic across the entire company where they would offer new employees $1,000 to quit after their first week.

Why?

This removed the people that were there solely for financial gain and retained the team members that were passionate about being there and helping on the mission to “deliver happiness” to their customers.

Ask yourself, how many of your recent hires would have accepted the £1,000?

Is there a way you can weave this question or one similar into your hiring process?

Research showed that the employees that remained were more engaged, performed better and stayed longer at the company.

MY TOP FINDS OF THE WEEK 🔍

For your performance:

• Gold medal advice from Olympic Sprinter Gabby Thomas (LINK)

For your team:

• The simplest yet most powerful leadership technique from Marcus Buckingham (LINK)

For your health:

• Recent Harvard Alumni Study: For every 1 hour of physical exercise, you extend your lifespan by 3 hours (LINK)

Hope you enjoyed this week’s tactics. I’ll be back next Sunday with a new lineup.

👋 - Alex 

P.S. Did you get something useful from this email? Do me a solid by sharing this link with 1 newsletter pal… 🙏

P.P.S. If you want some one on one time to apply some of the concepts to specific challenges that you are having with your own team, please get in touch.