Discovering Your Leadership Style for Greater Impact and Change
Have you ever taken time to consider what your leadership style is?
What is a leadership style in the first place!?
Your leadership style is your unique M.O. as a leader. The methods you employ to motivate and manage others. It’s how you strategize, problem-solve, and achieve the goals of your organization while leading a team.
If you’re striving to be a more impactful leader, inspire more passion, and guide someone to realize the vision and path while helping people reach their goals, this blog is for you!
Identifying your leadership style can help you create more change and step into your fullest potential as you become aware of your strengths and can see your weaknesses and areas for growth more clearly.
After reading this blog, if you’re still struggling to identify your leadership style, a great place to get started is to ask others around you for feedback or work with a coach (like me!) who will help you discover your leadership style, and make the positive changes you’re looking for.
5 Common Leadership Styles
Authoritative
Authoritative leaders are ones who possess most of the control over the team or organization. This isn’t to be confused with “authoritarian leadership” which often doesn’t seek to get the input of others and in some instances, lead to an abuse of power. Authoritative leadership on the other hand is a style in which leaders consider themselves a mentor or guide to those following them. They set the vision, establish the goals and focus and encourage or inspire others to follow them!
Strengths:
They possess coaching and mentoring skills
They are easily adaptable in the face of change and challenges
They love helping others succeed
They take time to get to know team members and followers
Areas of Growth:
Micromanaging can become an issue for those with an authoritative leadership style
Can be intense and tunnel-visioned at times if not open to external feedback
Often lacks attention to detail in reaching larger goals
2. Delegative / Laissez Faire
A hands-off leader, the laissez-faire or delegative leadership style leaves a lot of the decision-making, work, and problem-solving to their team. They ensure everyone has the right tools and then step back and let the vision unfold, without getting too involved in the process or supervising every step of the way. This leader is confident in their team to execute on the plan or vision without needing to micromanage each decision or task.
Strengths:
They are skilled at the art of delegating and trusting in others to complete the tasks
They are trusting that their teams have what they need and what it takes
They can empower creative or self-driven teams to thrive
Areas of Growth:
Chaos can ensue if projects go off the rails and teams do not possess the skills or knowledge to handle the challenges
Disorganized teams can become more disorganized without clear delineation of roles
Can appear passive or that they’re avoiding responsibility
May not make personal connections with team members resulting in loss of respect
3. Transformational
Transformational leaders love to inspire the entire team towards a common goal, vision, and change. They look to the future to help achieve the organization’s goals and motivate and inspire employees and team members to unify in getting to where the company is aiming to go. They understand how to find areas in need of change and improvement and help bring others along so they can thrive as individual professionals and as a team. They are constantly making improvements for more productivity and efficiency that will encourage growth.
Strengths:
They encourage innovation and out-of-the box thinking from their teams
They are trusted and often well-liked by team members
They help people move out of their comfort zones to achieve their fullest potential
They can easily see areas in need of improvement and change and can map out solutions
They are proactive
Areas of Growth:
In some environments, there can be a resistance to change and growth and a more sensitive approach is needed
Clear communication is always important to keep everyone aligned and in touch with the mission and vision
May not always meet people where they’re at if the pace is too fast
4. Transactional
The transactional leadership style relies on reward systems and praise or appreciation to motivate team members. If team members perform well, they receive a reward, if they underperform, they may be reprimanded for it or have responsibilities taken away from their role. These rewards may be explicit, or go unexpressed and left up to the team to guess how the structure works. A key characteristic of this leadership type is that they tell their people what to do, and the team responds by performing on the tasks in the way the leader mapped out in hopes of praise or appreciation (or in some cases, clear rewards).
Strengths:
They clearly map out tasks and delegate duties
They have high expectations of their team and are committed to quality
They tend to provide clear direction and deadlines
They give feedback
Areas of Growth:
Can hinder creativity and self-expression
Rigidity may not allow for speedbumps and obstacles
Benefits from shifting focus on punishments and rewards to inspiring internal motivation and unified goals
5. Participative / Hands-On
If you’re the kind of leader who likes to roll up their sleeves and dive in on a project or task, you may be a participative or hands-on leader. This is sometimes referred to as a democratic leadership style and takes an active role on the team while encouraging others to speak up, weigh in on decisions, and be held accountable.
Strengths:
They are inclusive and often collaborative in nature
They encourage team members to discover problems and innovate on solutions
They help all team members take responsibility, reducing opportunities for blame or shame
They encourage open and honest communication amongst teams
Areas of Growth:
Seeking consensus or allowing all group members to weigh in can be time-consuming and lead to dead ends
Decision making may be slow
Leaders can be overwhelmed with attempting to ensure everyone has their needs met and is getting along
Resentment and contempt can occur amongst team members or directed towards leader
Which leadership style is best?
The best leadership style is the one that helps your team members to feel most effective AND most valued. This may look different depending on your unique organization and your own personality traits and strengths.
This blog contains just some of the many styles of leadership, and ways in which you can harness your strengths as a leader for more impact and change in your organization.
The best way to discover which style is yours and where your areas of improvement lie, is by getting feedback from those around you and working with someone trained to help leaders grow stronger.
If you’re looking for individualized guidance and support around discovering your leadership style or growing your leadership skills, I’d love to help you become the most effective and inspiring leader you can be!
I’m a professional business consultant with a qualified and diverse background who listens to your unique problems and engineers effective solutions, I’d love to invite you to book a Discovery Call with me HERE!
My strategic advice and encouragement have helped my clients achieve their goals and make life-changing improvements.
