Taking risks, making decisions, leading people in an effective and targeted manner can all be enhanced with the simple use of iMA. When added to an organisation’s leadership skills training programme, iMA provides a helpful guide to understanding all of these core behaviours very early in anyone’s leadership journey.
How iMA Works For Leadership And Leaders
Core Application for Leaders:
Leaders apply iMA by first identifying the “colour” style of their team members (and ideally understanding their own using a personality test) and then modifying their own communication to bridge the gap:
- High Red (Results-Oriented): Leaders should be direct, get straight to the point, and focus on outcomes and efficiency.
- High Yellow (Social/Optimistic): Leaders should build rapport, share testimonials, and use an enthusiastic tone to inspire action.
- High Blue (Cooperative/Patient): Leaders should create a sense of trust, provide a clear, low-risk path forward, and use a collaborative “let’s do this together” approach.
- High Green (Analytical/Detail-Oriented): Leaders should provide detailed data, evidence, and facts to back up claims, allowing for thinking time.
Strategic Uses in Leadership:
- Enhancing Team Cohesion: By understanding different personality styles, leaders can improve internal collaboration and ensure team members play to their specific strengths.
- Increasing Influence: iMA helps leaders identify the core motivators of their followers—whether it’s efficiency (Red), recognition (Yellow), security (Blue), or accuracy (Green)—allowing them to frame visions and goals in a way that resonates.
- Predicting and Managing Conflict: Leaders can use the framework to predict how different styles will react to change or pressure, allowing them to proactively tailor their responses to avoid unnecessary conflict or classic breakdown in communication.
- Developing Self-Awareness: (Self Actualisation) iMA encourages leaders to reflect on their own natural style and how it might alienate or connect with others, leading to more inclusive and flexible leadership.
It is much more straightforward (for the most part) to understand, communicate and lead people of the same iMA colour style as yourself. How iMA helps towards leading people as a whole depends significantly on identifying and learning the communication/behaviour styles of the other people and using it to help leaders make an impact without “crossing swords” or annoying them.
How iMA can be used for leadership development and leadership development training.
Core Principles of iMA in Leadership
Leaders use iMA to navigate the fact that 75% of people likely have different perspectives, work places, and communication preferences than their own. The framework follows a three-step process:
- Identify: Recognise your own iMA colour style and that of the person you are interacting with.
- Modify: Adjust your message and delivery to ensure it is encoded in a way the other person is most likely to understand.
- Adapt: Change how you treat others based on their specific needs and wavelength rather than your own.
This avoids the one-size fits all method so often used across many organisations around the world. Developing and training leaders to understand predictable differences will allow them to succeed more easily and in the long run become less frustrated with certain people who they need to carry our specific roles.The leaders and prospective leaders will be able to engage with these they lead far more effectively by perfecting their communication; this will lead to a high rate of engagement and participation.
Using iMA for Conflict Management
Dealing with conflict will become less stressful when a leader speaks to people in the other person/people’s preferred style. This reduces tension and allows for a less combative atmosphere.
Using iMA for Performance Management
Handling performance management, a key area when leading and managing others can now be targeted towards the person in question and their iMA colour.
Using iMA for Problem Solving
Solving problems is something leaders are constantly required to perform. If leaders start with their own iMA colour and how they would naturally go about finding a solution to the problem at hand; then take into consideration the iMA colours of all the people who require the leaders help, a solid solution can be found. Pivoting to focus on communicating in the iMA styles of other people will ensure a satisfactory conclusion and often a speedier conclusion too.
Using iMA to Improve Staff Retention
Staff Retention is another area where leaders can implement iMA to reduce the real costs to nay organisation. Often, people leave because of the way they are being managed more than leaving the job itself. They may very well go elsewhere to do the same job for the same rate of pay. Strong leadership directly improves employee engagement, which is one of the biggest predictors of retention and workplace satisfaction. Well trained leaders know how to support, motivate, and listen to their teams, which drastically reduces staff turnover and the high costs of recruitment.
Using iMA for Effective Delegation
Delegation is very much a leadership skill that can be enhanced by the use of iMA. As both people and jobs have iMA colours, the specific roles where a person of one iMA colour will excel; a person of a different iMA colour will struggle to come close to being able to successfully navigate and deliver the task delegated to them. Leaders can firstly identify the iMA colour of the role in question and then delegate it to a person who is a match. Simple!
How iMA Influences Leadership Decision-Making
It almost goes without saying that decision making plays a significant role in leadership. In the iMA framework, people make decisions based on where they fall on two primary axes: assertiveness and logic (left-brain vs. right-brain thinking).
iMA Decision-Making Styles by Colour
- High Red (Assertive & Logical):
- Style: Quick and decisive.
- Process: They are results-driven “go-getters” who focus on the high-level objective rather than small details.
- Motivation: Driven by efficiency and achieving goals; they sometimes make decisions on the spot to maintain a fast pace, although mostly they require some thinking time.
- High Green (Non-assertive & Logical):
- Style: Deliberate and analytical.
- Process: They make decisions slowly because they require extensive facts, figures, and data to ensure accuracy.
- Motivation: Value precision and thoroughness; they prefer to work at their own pace and will only commit once every detail is verified.
- High Yellow (Assertive & Non-logical/Emotional):
- Style: Spontaneous and intuitive.
- Process: Decisions are often made quickly based on a “gut feeling” or how an idea might excite and involve others.
- Motivation: Driven by new ideas and social impact; they prioritise creativity and building alliances over rigid data. They also are comfortable making instant decisions.
- High Blue (Non-assertive & Non-logical/Emotional):
- Style: Collaborative and reflective.
- Process: They take their time making decisions to ensure harmony and to avoid conflict.
- Motivation: Heavily relationship-focused; they prioritise how a decision will affect the people involved and seek consensus before moving forward.
The type of decision a leader needs to make changes with the issue put in front of them. For example; if a lot of data is needed before a decision is reached the leader may delegate to a High Green, if they are not a High Green. Using iMA as a decision helping tool is yet another invaluable use for iMA in leadership.
Understanding Risk Through iMA Leadership Styles
A time will come when a leader needs to take a risk. Risk are perceived differently by different people. Often leaders are accused of being risk averse; which is an opinion entirely based on the accuser’s own attitude to risk.
The judgement of how risky something is or if its high risk or low risk is personal to each person and is more often than not based on their iMA colour. What a High Blue perceives as a high risk a High Red is likely to see as a low risk.
Assertive people, iMA High Reds and High Yellows, will look at the potential rewards as a result of their call on risk; whereas non-assertive people, iMA High Green and High Blue are focused on what might be lost as a consequence.
In each case people’s risk profiles are predicated by both their level of assertiveness and their inclination towards logic.
Summary
iMA provides leaders with a simple, practical framework to understand different communication styles and adapt accordingly. By identifying, modifying and adapting how they communicate, leaders can reduce conflict, improve performance, solve problems more effectively and build stronger, more engaged teams.
In a world where leadership success depends on connection, trust and clarity, iMA offers a powerful way to lead people more effectively—without friction or misunderstanding.
This is why communication frameworks like iMA are increasingly used within modern leadership training programs.
If you’re looking to develop more effective leaders within your organisation, now is the time to act. Work with Ashley Boroda to integrate iMA into your leadership training and coaching programmes—equipping your team with the skills to communicate better, lead confidently and drive real results. Get in touch today to find out how iMA can transform your leadership approach.
