The Blending of Leadership Styles
While the Rainbow orientation and style of leadership brings together all three of the primary orientations and ways of being a leader, there are combinations of two orientations that yield interesting and important variations on the four other styles. We have once again borrowed from the color spectrum in identifying and describing each of these blends. Orange is constituted of red and yellow. Green is produced by combing yellow and blue. When red and blue are combined the color, purple is produced. I will briefly describe each of these three blends and even suggest ways in which there are slight variations on a specific blend depending on the proportion of each color (style/orientation) in this blend. We begin with Tangy Orange.
Tangy Orange: Purposeful Thought and Action
As a combination of Ruby Red and Golden Yellow, the Tangy Orange style of leadership and the Purposeful Tangy Orange orientation to the world of organizational life is focused on moving to action (Ruby Red) in a thoughtful, data-driven (Golden Yellow) manner. It is a “tangy” orientation because it can be a bit pungent and bitter—given the challenge of engaging action in the midst of a world that is often volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous, turbulent and contradictory (VUCA-Plus). A Residency Program Director put it this way (McKenna and Pugno, 2006, p. 203]:
“Managers must make quick decisions, often on the basis of complex and insufficient data. And so, our medical education can be quite helpful, because physicians, too, must by necessity become comfortable with making difficult decisions quickly. The key difference has typically been in the degree to which decisions are made independently (in medicine) or collaboratively (in management). Either way, good communication skills are essential.
Consider, for example, what all of us want from our physicians and our managers. We want them to listen to us, to understand us, to clearly convey to us what we should do. We want to believe that they are focused on our best interests; we can discern that by what they say, as well as by what they do.” [Deborah S. McPherson, MD. FAAFP, Family Physician Associate Director, Family Medicine Residency Program, Kansas University Medical Center]
We see the Tangy Orange orientation of Dr. McPherson displayed in her emphasis on the quick decisions that must be made in contemporary health care systems (Ruby Red) balanced off with careful and clear communication (Golden Yellow). To be both Fast and Clear is indeed quite tangy.
The tanginess is also evident in the dynamic integration of thought and action in the world of Tangy Orange. In this world, change does not just occur by pushing forward (Ruby Red) or by preparing a ten -page document in which the steps to be taken are identified (Golden Yellow). Managed change involves the blending of thoughtful planning with a commitment to action. One of McKenna and Pugno’s (2006, pp. 208-209) leaders offers her own suggestions concerning this Tangy Orange management of change:
