Find Your Leadership Style
Each team thrives on effective leadership. As we discussed the value of leadership, developing a leadership culture is highly effective in improving the capabilities of your team. Effective management facilitates the processes in an office to achieve success. It is often used interchangeably with leadership, which is a whole different skill. Leadership is a talent that goes beyond job titles and inspires teams to sustain success.
Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Peter Drucker
Great teams value a culture of leadership and promote habits that develop leadership. The first step in this development comes from learning who you are as a leader and your favored leadership style. Each style of leadership has its strengths and weaknesses.
Command and Control Leadership
This leadership style is autocratic, and promotes strong team culture. In this style, the leader can be very effective, while at the same time micromanaging the team’s performance. Examples of this type of leader are George Patton and Martha Stewart.
Relational Leadership
This leadership style promotes a “people come first” culture. As opposed to the autocratic nature of the previous style, a relational leader gains employee buy-in by allowing them to be involved in the decisions of the company. They develop a culture where the team follows the leader in a journey together. An example of this leadership style is Tony Hsieh from Zappos.
Expert Leadership
Expert leaders have vast knowledge in their respective field. These visionary leaders use that specialized knowledge to build and guide their teams. Their expert knowledge in the field they are in business motivates those around them to achieve more. An example of this leadership style is Bill Gates, as he led Microsoft.
Charismatic Leadership
This leadership style comes from a leader who inspires greatness in others because of their engaging personality. These leaders use transformational vocabulary that take advantage of their charisma to lead others to success. This style is highly effective in gaining a following and inspiring others. When used by the wrong individual, it can be manipulative and lead to disillusionment. Under the right leader, it can inspire great loyalty and trust. An example of this leadership style was shown by President John F. Kennedy.
Synergistic Leadership
This style of leadership is developed by combining some of the best characteristics of the previous four styles. Those styles have their advantages and disadvantages. By taking the best parts of each style, synergistic leaders have the best chance to achieve great things. The risk to synergistic leaders is that they need to focus to avoid confusion from drawing from too many leadership styles and preventing a consistent message.
Now consider these styles, and get a better sense of what kind of leader you are. What kind of leader do you want to be? Being a synergistic leader can be a great goal, but remember that we are balancing from our own leadership style and the style that our team needs.
Regardless of style, every leader must understand and be willing to implement certain leadership basics. First, they must establish cultures that hold all team members accountable for the outcome of collaborative efforts while also allowing them to participate by providing ideas. Second, they must make sure that there is consistency between their expectations for others and their own actions.” – Don Yaeger, Author, “Great Teams”
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