My last two articles were about Self-Awareness and Managing emotions. These are both critical attributes of strong leaders. This article address Rationality, another critical attribute. Rationality is a very important attribute for those who lead.

Rationality is how well someone analyzes situations, processes information, and their emotions. Rationality allows us to make logical and thoughtful decisions.

Of course, if one is to show rationality, he/she must also have self-awareness and be able to identify and manage emotions.

Why is it important? Leaders and managers need to process information thoughtfully, reflectively, and logically. This includes processing and understanding their own emotions and the emotions of others. Leaders need to recognize that emotions are an important source of information. Leaders who lack rationality sabotage their own goals. They also sabotage the mission and vision of their organizations.

Poor rationality leads to a deterioration in team performance. it also creates increased turnover and poor morale. Many of us have experienced this firsthand.

Someone with strong Rationality:

Gathers all the necessary facts to make well thought out decisions.
Tests their ideas and viewpoints for consistency.
Considers that the full range of options and actions before deciding.
Checks the logic of their thinking and evaluates if their ideas and viewpoints are believable.
Carefully measures their emotions and reactions before expressing them.

These are some of the attributes of leadership included in The Lions Leader Manager Assessment. Ray Hoskins and Associates uses this assessment. It helps our clients assess their leadership competencies. We then work with clients to help them identify which changes they can make to lead, and indeed, live more effectively. It does all begin with knowing yourself.