Understanding the Expressive Behavioral Style

Cathie Leimbach • August 15, 2021

Being aware of your and your employee's primary and backup workplace behavior will make you a better leader. This self-awareness helps you to:

  • more quickly engage and motivate each of your employees
  • recognize your own strengths and weaknesses
  • communicate more effectively with each employee by tailoring conversations to fit their workplace behavioral style.

 

When someone’s primary behavioral work style is Expressive they blend a high level of both emotional responsiveness and assertiveness. These employees are big picture-oriented and take a look at the overall issue. They can often arrive at a fresh, novel, and creative approach to problems. They are willing to take risks to seize opportunities.

 

Members of your team with the Expressive primary work style tend to have the following strengths:

  • good communicator
  • emotional
  • passionate
  • motivational
  • inspirational
  • outgoing
  • fun-loving

 

Employees with an Expressive primary style tend to process things in a step-by-step linear sequence and observe and remember specific information. These employees will do better when they have flexibility in their work and how their time is managed. They are open to new opportunities like making decisions on the fly, and can sometimes enjoy working on things at the last minute or on their schedule.

 

Limitations to this Expressive work style include:

  • unrealistic
  • not detailed-oriented
  • excitable
  • impulsive
  • becoming bored by routine and details
  • can be too talkative
  • get bored easily

 

Leaders with an Expressive work behavioral style are action-oriented, driven by adventure, and prefer acting outside of the typical leadership norms. Because rules are the bane of their existence, they often feel that creativity is more important than the rule books. 

 

Leaders with an Expressive work style may believe that people perform best when they can establish their processes and ways of work.

 

If this is your leadership style you will benefit from being aware of how youpra work and how it impacts on your employees. Not all members of your team will feel comfortable or productive managing their own time and work product. These employees will need guidance and structure. Coaching them might seem stressful and a waste of time. However, it is crucial in supporting your employees to reach their potential.

 

Encouraging your team to define and express their own comfort level related to tasks and workload will create better results. Providing your team with the tools they need, even if it involves detailed structure, will lead to higher productivity.

 

Conversational management can be implemented in different ways to serve different ways of communicating with their employees.  For example:

 

Rather than saying, "Just do your job and get it done." (results-oriented and unrealistic). 

Do this instead. "I would like to get this completed by next Thursday.  What do you need from me to help you reach that goal?" (And be prepared to help them with processes and a timeline.)

 

Rather than saying, "We will get this done even if you think we can't." (Results-oriented and pushing the boundaries of structure)

Say this instead, "I appreciate your input. I think we can achieve this. What do you suggest we do to overcome your concerns?" (Being open to "push back" and reasonable concerns around execution.)

 

Coaching and motivating employees with an Expressive work style can be challenging. These employees do their best when they create their schedule and processes for work completion. This potentially creates problems integrating with a project team. They are easily bored, thrive on doing a million things simultaneously, and are adept at problem-solving even when they drop the ball. 

 

Coaching these employees will almost always include giving them some freedom to set the way they accomplish goals while helping them see how other people are on the team.  Encouraging them to listen to other perspectives will support them in integrating different facts into their evaluation. 

 

Make sure that they are in the correct position within the team. Employees with this Expressive work style add a solid results-oriented "can do" focus. They make excellent motivators and can inspire a team to reach higher levels of performance.

 

Use their energy and creativity by providing constant challenges and opportunities to solve problems and find ways to get things done. Whenever possible, give them the room to determine their process for accomplishment rather than providing a rigid structure. 

 

Employees with an Expressive work style can light up a room with their creativity, energy, and ability to motivate and inspire. Put them in positions where their strengths will enable their teams to reach higher productivity and results.

The Power of Strategic Choice: Making Room for What Matters

By Cathie Leimbach • November 10, 2025
In most organizations, the instinct is to add —more goals, more projects, more meetings. But as Juliet Funt, founder of the Juliet Funt Group, teaches in her Strategic Choice process, real leadership strength lies in deciding what to stop doing . Strategic Choice is the intentional narrowing of priorities—cutting away the clutter so teams can focus on what truly drives results. It’s a disciplined act of letting go: saying no to good ideas so there’s room for the great ones. Funt’s approach challenges leaders to pause, think, and create the mental and operational space their people need to perform at their best. By removing unnecessary tasks and misplaced effort, leaders make room for precision, innovation, and real thinking time. This isn’t about doing less—it’s about doing what matters most. When businesses adopt this mindset, they replace overwhelm with clarity and regain control of their time, energy, and outcomes. For small to mid-sized companies, embracing Strategic Choice can transform busyness into focus—and that focus is where sustainable growth begins. Want a quick visual overview? View Strategic Choice: Making Room for What Matters to see how this process helps leaders focus on what truly drives results.

Unlock Your Team's Potential: Fix Dysfunction, Boost the Bottom Line!

By Cathie Leimbach • November 4, 2025
Hey team leaders! Ever wonder why some companies soar while others stumble? Patrick Lencioni's bestseller, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team , nails it: workplace dysfunctions such as no trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoiding accountability, and ignoring results lead to mediocre performance at best. But here's the good news—smart leadership development changes the game! Start with building trust . Train leaders to open up and be vulnerable. Teams bond, ideas flow, and costly mistakes drop. Next, embrace healthy conflict . Teach team leaders to make it safe for team members to share the pros and cons of current or new ways of doing things. This helps everyone understand different perspectives. Then, drive commitment . Leaders who clarify goals, ask everyone to share their level of buy-in, and address their concerns get everyone bought in. People focus on high value work and get more done. . Hold folks accountable through coaching. Leaders learn to give kind, direct feedback by praising good work and calmly providing more training as needed. Turnover plummets and the quality and quantity of work improves. Finally, focus on results . Be clear on expectations. Keep score by monitoring progress weekly or daily. Acknowledge team wins when the goals are met. Winning sports teams pay attention to these Five Behaviors of a Team. How would a World Series winner have been determined this week without trust among the players and coaches, openness to tough coaching, the whole team working together, players focusing on their specific positions, and getting players around the bases to get the top score? Every workplace can benefit from these team behaviors as well. Lencioni's research proves it: Companies who prepare their leaders to overcome these 5 common workplace dysfunctions, improve the culture and see huge financial gains. Invest in your leaders today. Your bottom line will thank you! Click here to learn more about the painful cost of team dysfunction.