Ten years ago, I worked in Covent Garden, providing a therapeutic service that enabled persons to trouble shoot different areas of their life. I would see about 40 people a week one to one. I would say, three quarters of the people, struggled with management and communication systems finding themselves in vacuums at work that were coercive, dysfunctional, process based and not able to meet their needs. The lack of constructive communication meant that they were undermined in their intelligence and skills beyond the immediate needs of the process of stream lining the company. This reality presented many lost opportunities; in which persons were not being accounted for in their value, or in the re-purposing of their skills, creating an impotence. This kind of organisational impotence, leaves the company open to entanglement, the people stuck in entrapment, the vacuum often disables it's own work force. Often the persons would become entrenched in endless disciplinary processes or find they were on the shadow side of being misunderstood, disempowered or side lined. There is a strong need to support a more complex culture that empowers through a developed awareness, communication and understanding; to create a solid foundations for inspired and intelligent development, enabling a highly functional environment. More recently, I found that companies that valued human resources that were deeply invested in people in the people service industries; charities and health care professionals were far more constructive at the detail of constructive working relationship. However, there is always a long journey with avoidance as so many persons in the population have an avoidant attachment style.
In organisations, leadership plays a pivotal role in shaping culture, engagement and overall success. However, avoidant leadership, a style characterised by the lack of sensitive communication, reluctance to address challenges and an absence of structured processes, or transparent development phases, can lead to inefficiencies, emptiness, disengagement and stagnation.
This paper explores the red flags of avoidant leadership, it's impact on organisations and practical steps to establish a constructive, detail-oriented leadership approach that fosters clarity, engagement and sustainable growth. Avoidant leadership is recognised through masks using status, control, entitlement and inappropriate communication styles.
I help organisations identify and resolve power dynamics, communication barriers and leadership inefficiencies using a behavioural science-based coaching model. My approach ensures that leadership, decision-making, problem solving and team development operate with clarity, stability and psychological safety.
Recognising Avoidant Leadership: Concerns & Red Flags
Avoidant leadership can significantly undermine organisational growth and team cohesion. Recognising its red flags is essential for fostering a more engaged and effective leadership culture.
Common Concerns of Avoidant Leadership:
Lack of Direct Communication – Leaders avoid addressing issues in their complexity, with a projecting tone, leading to uncertainty. Often the power dynamic creates a dictating culture. The asserting of power and control, coercion over understanding complications.
Resistance to Feedback – A tendency to deflect or ignore constructive feedback, preventing growth and improvement, this may lead to areas of denial, dismissiveness and detachment.
Failure to Set Clear Expectations – Employees are left uncertain about goals, leading to decreased motivation and process based work.
Avoidance of Difficult Conversations – Problems remain unresolved due to reluctance in addressing conflict constructively, through talking through concerns openly and with practical pathways forward. Persons surrender to complications and make do with inadequate working relationships.
Reactive Rather than Proactive Management – Decisions are made in response to crises instead of being guided by strategic foresight, with preventative measures in place.
Limited Emotional Engagement – Leaders may seem disengaged, reducing trust and psychological safety in the workplace, demonstrating a lack of holistic understanding or 'complex understanding'. Complex understanding is a really valuable attribute.
Building a Constructive & Process-Oriented Approach
To counteract avoidant leadership, organisations should establish a structured framework that ensures clear, detailed, and constructive processes:
Encourage Transparent Communication – Implement structured dialogue sessions to ensure all voices are heard and the input is valued as respected intellectual property.
Create Clear Expectations & Accountability Structures – Define leadership responsibilities with measurable outcomes.
Implement Feedback Mechanisms – Develop formal channels for receiving and acting on constructive criticism, enabling expansion and more evolved forms of voice, presence and influence.
Strengthen Emotional Intelligence in Leadership – Provide training on self-awareness, regulation, confronting fears, understanding and empathetic leadership.
Adopt Proactive Decision-Making Models – Encourage forward-thinking strategies to mitigate challenges before they escalate. Working with de-escalation and crisis prevention, to make sure processes are grounded and fully responded to, with a careful management system.
The Power & Process Model: A Solution for Organisational Transformation
The Power & Process Model offers a behavioural coaching and process-driven approach to resolving these challenges.
Core Components of the Model
Power Dynamics & Influence Training - Coaching leadership teams to identify and restructure power imbalances for more inclusive and effective communication.
Behavioural Science in Leadership - Applying attachment theory, cognitive-behavioural insights and organisational psychology to refine decision-making frameworks.
Organisational Coaching for Process-Oriented Growth - Developing adaptive, structured systems that support continuous improvement, accountability and sustainable outcomes.
Psychological & Emotional Safety in Work Environments – Establishing frameworks that enable safety, psychological security, autonomy and a culture of support.
Custom Leadership Development Programs – Training leadership teams on how to recognise and manage avoidant, anxious and disorganised communication styles within their organisational settings.
Implementation Strategy
Phase 1: Organisational Audit & Leadership Assessment
By conducting an organisational assessment to analyse existing power structures, communication models and leadership behaviours it is possible to assess areas of concern.
Identify key behavioural challenges that impact employee engagement and productivity, noticing vacuums, lacking of communication and problems with engagement.
Phase 2: Workshop & Coaching Series for Leadership Teams
The Delivery of targeted coaching workshops on power dynamics, behavioural communication, and neurodivergent - friendly leadership models brings awareness and values of unity, expectation and culture that benefit the inter woven balance of constructive communications.
Develop a leadership training program focused on process-oriented problem-solving.
Phase 3: Process Development & Ongoing Consultation
Assist in structuring organisational frameworks that integrate psychological safety, accountability, and structured adaptability.
Offer ongoing coaching & consultancy to refine and measure impact over time.
Phase 4: Data Analysis & Continuous Improvement
The tracking of key performance indicators (KPIs), including employee retention, leadership effectiveness, and organisational adaptability enables strengths to be more visible and applied bringing out and supporting key performance ideals.
Data-driven refinements to optimise the Power & Process Model’s long-term effectiveness, so that transparency can be bought to effectiveness and evidence shared amongst teams.
Next Steps & Proposal for Engagement
To move forward, I suggest a collaboration to address leadership and structural inefficiencies through a 6-month coaching and development program.
Key Action Points:
Initial Meeting & Stakeholder Consultation – Align goals and refine program structure.
Pilot Training & Coaching Initiative - Test the Power & Process Model in a small-scale setting.
Data Collection & Review - Assess impact and refine strategies.
I welcome the opportunity to discuss this initiative further and explore how we can collaborate to transform leadership and organisational processes for sustainable growth.
By working with these frameworks it is possible to create meaningful change:
The Power & Process Model: Reclaiming Coaching from Avoidance
If coaching is to be truly effective, it needs to stop enabling avoidant leadership and start embedding structured, deep process-driven change.
Power Dynamics & Influence Training
Teaching leaders how to use their power responsibly, by bringing understanding to power and the different uses of exerting power safely, instead of outsourcing it to generic coaching modules.
Organisational Process Development
Coaching should be about building accountability structures, direction, language.
If leadership isn’t changing their systems, the coaching is just a placebo.
Emotional & Psychological Safety in Leadership
Coaching should challenge avoidant leadership to engage, not evade.
It should help teams navigate conflict constructively instead of bypassing difficult conversations.
Coaching as a Process, Not a Fix-All Industry
Coaching should integrate long-term strategy instead of one-off mindset shifts.
The real shift is made by teaching leaders to hold space for complexity and deep understanding, inspired internal problem solving, instead of outsourcing responsibility to coaches and other problem solving professionals.
Apply a plan of action that deals with organisational issues and management to streamline concerns and create a valuable working structure.
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