At Summiteers, we regard content, process and behavior as a trinity. Behavior forms the firm basis on which effective cooperation rests. In order to be able to discuss and understand behavior openly, we use powerful tools, about that we wrote an article earlier. After previous articles about Conscious Leadership and Transactional Analysis, it is now time for part three. Brechje van Elteren talks about Leary's Rose in this article.

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The power of behavioral methods

At Summiteers, we always pay attention to behavior in combination with content and process. Behavior plays a crucial role in how effectively we work together. You can still be so strong in terms of content and have your processes in perfect order, but if you don't pay attention to behavior, you're missing out on the key to successful collaboration. Behavioral methods offer us a way to discuss and understand behavior. They create common ground for constructive conversations about behavior. In this article, I specifically focus on Leary's Rose.

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Leary's Rose in a Nutshell

Leary's Rose is a practical model that revolves around patterns of interaction and communication. It offers a practical and easy way to analyse interpersonal dynamics and provides tools to work together more effectively. The model consists of four easy-to-understand quadrants: top, bottom, together, and against. It's all about the question: what kind of behavior do you invite the other person through your own behavior? This model gives you the key to promoting more effective collaboration, both in professional and personal relationships. Whether you're working on team building, conflict management or personal development, de Roos van Leary can help you achieve positive changes.

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Vertical and Horizontal: The Two Axes of Leary's Rose

Leary's Rose uses two axes to define behavioral styles. The vertical axis is about the degree of influence: leading versus following. The horizontal axis is about focusing on common interest or self-interest: working together versus opposing. The combination of these axes results in four quadrants and eight typical behavioral styles.

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Communicate and collaborate more effectively

Suppose you are leading in your behavior and communication, you invite others to follow. If you want the other person to take ownership and lead themselves, you have to give that person space. That won't work if you just keep steering. It's essential to understand how your behavior affects others and what you can do to communicate and collaborate more effectively.

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Leary's Rose in practice

At Summiteers, we strongly believe that cooperation with our customer is crucial to the success of an assignment. Our aim is to get the customer moving and De Roos van Leary has proven to be a valuable method. To illustrate how to use Leary's Rose, I'll take you through an example.

Assume that, as an advisor, you work with a dominant client who instructs you to do something in the way they want. In Leary's Rose, this is called “above against behavior”. You find it difficult to deal with his or her dominance and end up in a wait-and-see mode. This means you lose pro-activity and thus do not bring what is actually necessary, or “under-counter behavior”. With the help of Leary's Rose, you can understand this situation, decide to shift more to the cooperation quadrant. This is how you invite the other person to work together instead of dominating, “together-above behavior”. You don't have to fight pointless and energy-consuming, but you can work effectively towards the common goal together. By acting and communicating consciously, you can change the dynamic yourself.

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The benefits of Leary's Rose

Personally, I find this method very valuable in training courses. It helps participants become aware of their own behavior and the behavior they thereby evoke in others. Especially when something chafes or doesn't have the effect you wanted, this model offers tools for what you can do differently. It allows you to work on interpersonal dynamics without getting stuck in thoughts like “that's just how I am” or “yes but he/she”, often followed by a judgment. De Roos van Leary offers practical tools for understanding what happens between people and how a change in your own behavior can have an impact on the other person's behavior. This makes it a powerful tool, in professional relationships, and even in personal situations, such as with your partner or children.

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Three tips for getting started with Leary's Rose

If I've made you curious about doing something with Leary's Rose, I have a few more tips.

1. Investigate which communication styles are in your comfort zone and which are not at all.

When it comes to communication styles that are further away from you, or what you find difficult (more) to apply, there are often all kinds of (unhelpful) beliefs that prevent you from doing something. Realizing that you have those convictions and then working up the courage to do something you find exciting can help you enormously.

2. Unravel a 'difficult' conversation. What (in-) effective behavior did you see and what would be more effective?

What is what you actually want to achieve and are you clear about it? Write down a few example sentences for yourself so that you have them up your sleeve. These behaviors and phrases are less at the front of your toolbox, so they are less easy to come up with in 'the heat of the moment'.

3. You can also use Leary's Rose very literally. “Play” a conversation with someone else as you move through Leary's Rose.

You can stick the Rose to the floor with paint tape or you can use lego dolls on a piece of paper on which you drew the Rose. Educational and super-effective to literally show exactly what happens.

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About Summiteers

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