Last month we looked at “readiness” and “mentorship”, let's dig deeper this month and try to identify your leadership style.
What is “Leadership Style”? A leadership style refers to a leader's characteristic behaviour when directing, motivating, guiding, and managing groups of people.
Think back on the leader you admire most. What exactly is it about their leadership style that you like? And are these traits that you could emulate yourself? These are great questions to ask yourself and understanding the various leadership styles that are out there can help you come to a more conclusive answer.
Add your Leadership Style in the comments!
Below are examples of “Leadership Styles”:
Transactional Leadership
The best way to understand transactional leadership is to think of a typical transaction: I give you this, and you do this in return. That’s really the basis of this leadership style. Transactional leaders dish out instructions to their team members and then use different rewards and penalties to either recognize or penalize what they do in response.
Transformational Leadership
Transformational leaders seek to change the businesses or groups in which they lead by inspiring their employees to innovate. These leaders are all about making improvements and finding better ways to get things done. And as a result, they inspire and empower other people to own their work and chime in with their suggestions or observations about how things could be streamlined or upgraded.
Servant Leadership
Rather than thinking about how they can inspire people to follow their lead, they channel most of their energy into finding ways that they can help others. They prioritize the needs of other people above their own. Even though they’re natural leaders, they focus on elevating and developing the people who follow them.
Democratic Leadership
Democratic or participative leaders are technically higher on the org chart, they emphasize working together and actively involve their teams in the decision-making process. These leaders value ideas and input from others and encourage discussion about those contributions. They are not handing down orders, instead take a much more collaborative approach to getting things done.
Autocratic Leadership
Autocratic leadership is the exact opposite of the democratic leadership - “my way or the highway” approach. Autocratic leaders view themselves as having absolute power and make decisions on behalf of their subordinates. They dictate not only what needs to be done, but also how those tasks should be accomplished.
Bureaucratic Leadership
Bureaucratic leadership typically goes “by the book”. Bureaucratic leaders have hierarchical authority, their power comes from a formal position or title, rather than unique traits or characteristics that they possess. They have a set list of responsibilities, clearly defined rules and checklists on how they’ll manage others and make decisions.
Laissez-Faire Leadership
“laissez-faire” is a French term that translates to “leave it be,” which summarizes this hands-off leadership approach. Laissez-faire leaders provide the necessary tools and resources. But then they step back and let their team members make decisions, solve problems, and get their work accomplished. It’s the exact opposite of micromanagement.
Charismatic Leadership
Charismatic leaders have magnetic personalities, as well as a lot of conviction to achieve their objectives. Rather than encouraging behaviour through strict instructions, these leaders use eloquent communication and persuasion to unite a team around a cause. They’re able to clearly lay out their vision and get others excited about that same goal.
"Great leaders can “Inspire and Motivate” others to perform, create, and innovate "
Now that you have familiarized yourself with the leadership styles …what if you’ve realized that you want to make some changes? Perhaps you’ve acted as a transactional leader and want to be more transformational, or you think you could incorporate more democratic leadership into your existing style…
Regardless of where you think your own current style fits in, there are likely a few changes you can make to be even more effective. Like anything, leadership is a learning process, and it takes a little bit of trial and error to get it right.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, that’s how we learn !!
*****
Nice list of Styles - depending on the situation one can adapt to these styles. However every person has their fundamental trait/nature with which they are built of and of course as MB Tests show they keep changing too!
Awaiting for your next series where you map situation to these styles.