What do you do if you're a mid-career professional looking to identify and develop your own leadership style?

I guess one can begin by introspecting on your core values, strengths, and areas for growth. Identify leaders you admire and analyze what resonates with you about their approach. Experiment with different leadership styles and observe the impact on your team's performance and dynamics. Adapt your approach based on situational demands and team composition. Lead by example, demonstrating integrity, accountability, and a growth mindset. Celebrate successes and learn from failures, using them as opportunities for self-improvement. Remember, effective leadership is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Develop a authentic style that aligns with your values, resonates with your team, and propels you towards your career aspirations.

- Evaluate successful and challenging situations to identify patterns. - Solicit input from colleagues, mentors, and team members to gain external perspectives. - Identify specific leadership skills and areas for improvement. - Establish clear objectives to enhance strengths and address weaknesses. - Stay open to new ideas, training, and development opportunities for ongoing improvement in leadership style during mid-career.

As a mid-career professional aiming to hone your leadership style, start by reflecting on your strengths, weaknesses, and values. Seek feedback from colleagues, mentors, or supervisors to gain insights. Study various leadership models and philosophies, such as transformational, servant, or situational leadership, to identify elements that resonate with you. Experiment with different approaches in your daily interactions and observe their effectiveness. Remember, leadership is a journey of continuous learning and adaptation. Embrace authenticity and remain open to evolving your style based on feedback and experiences. As Warren Bennis said, "Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality."

In my pursuit to develop my leadership style using Situational II, I'll tailor my approach to team members' needs. For skilled individuals, I'll delegate, offering autonomy with support. Less experienced members will benefit from coaching, receiving guidance and mentorship. In urgent situations or with less competent but enthusiastic individuals, I'll direct, providing clear instructions. With experienced team members, I'll support, offering resources and encouragement while allowing autonomy. This adaptive leadership approach aims to empower my team for success.

There are about 20 different leadership styles. While knowing your leadership style is valuable, also understand that this will evolve as you evolve and grow. As a mid-level leader (which means that you have some authority and respect of your team but not fully), developing and identifying your leadership style would rely on how you answer this question "who are you?" Your leadership style comes from your core values (both personal and professional). There are a long list of values when you do your research. Pick out the top 10 values that resonate with you. As you supervise, listen to feedback from your team and higher leadership. Then review your response (and feelings) about the feedback. Make adjustments as appropriate.

Study various leadership styles, such as transformational, servant, and situational leadership. Gather input from colleagues, mentors, and team members to understand your current leadership strengths and areas for improvement. Test different leadership approaches in real-world situations to gauge their effectiveness. Regularly assess the outcomes of your leadership style experiments and adjust based on the feedback and results.

Research various leadership styles, such as transformational, servant, democratic, authoritative, and coaching styles. Identify leaders you admire and study their approaches, philosophies, and decision-making processes. Attend workshops, seminars, or leadership development programs to learn from experts and other professionals.

An excellent place to start is to learn from leaders you admire. Identify leaders who resonate with you and study their qualities and characteristics. Consider what specific traits or behaviors they possess that you admire and how you can incorporate them into your leadership style.

Explore various leadership styles, from authoritative to servant leadership. Embrace a trial-and-error approach to understand what resonates with your team. Observe feedback from team members to assess the effectiveness of different styles. Stay open-minded and flexible to adapt your approach based on situational demands. Attend leadership workshops and seek mentorship to gain insights into diverse leadership methodologies. Continuously refine and tailor your leadership style to suit the evolving needs of your mid-career leadership role.

Experiment and adapt: Be open to trying different leadership approaches in different situations or with different teams. Observe the impact of your leadership style on your team's motivation, performance, and overall dynamics. Adapt and refine your approach based on feedback and lessons learned from your experiments.

In mid-career, refining leadership style involves introspection and adaptability. Reflect on past experiences, acknowledging strengths and areas for growth. Seek feedback from peers and mentors to gain diverse perspectives. Embrace a growth mindset, be open to change, and experiment with different approaches. Continuously refine communication, decision-making, and interpersonal skills. By integrating lessons learned and remaining receptive to evolving dynamics, mid-career leaders can cultivate a style that resonates authentically and effectively in a dynamic professional landscape.

Reflect and refine: Engage in regular self-reflection to evaluate the effectiveness of your leadership style. Identify areas where you excel and areas where you need to improve or adapt. Continuously refine your approach based on your reflections and the evolving needs of your team or organization.

Reflect) Complete leadership assessments from time to time as part of your own personal development. Focus on strengths while nudging your opportunities. Refine) Have a conversation with leaders, coaches, and even trusted friends about your results. Use every connection as practice.

Throughout your life, you will see good and bad in everything, this is also true about the people you work for. You look at great leaders and say to yourself, ‘that that was really good’ (how and what they did) and put it in your locker, so when you are in a similar situation You can use it in your own skill set. The same goes for bad examples if you have had a bad experience and your boss didn’t make you feel good (maybe you felt that they weren’t doing the right thing aligned to your personal values) then you can tell yourself that you would never do that.

In mid-career, refining leadership style involves effective communication and influence. Cultivate active listening skills, fostering open dialogue to understand team dynamics. Tailor your communication to resonate with diverse perspectives, ensuring clarity in conveying goals and expectations. Harness empathy to connect with team members, fostering trust and collaboration. Employ strategic influence by aligning individual aspirations with overarching objectives, inspiring a shared sense of purpose. Embrace adaptability, recognizing that leadership styles evolve with experience and the evolving needs of your team and organization.

As a leadership consultant for the Latinx community, I understand how critical is to take up space with your voice and ideas in spaces where we are not expected to do so. As you reflect on your values and style as a leader, you also have to remember that reflection without action it’s just entertainment. Learning to use your voice to take up space, to share with others your ideas, your powers, your awesomeness is what will move you to the next level. In this time when we are appearances and social images seem to be so “important” and people are constantly creating theories of who you are based on the color of your skin, your gender, your background, etc - you need to add your voice to the conversation and make your competence visible.

Communicate and influence: Develop strong communication skills to effectively convey your vision, expectations, and goals to your team. Foster an environment of open dialogue and feedback, encouraging your team members to share their perspectives. Use your influence to inspire and motivate your team, while also being open to their ideas and input.

Celebrate and appreciate: Recognize and celebrate the achievements and contributions of your team members. Express genuine appreciation for their efforts and the value they bring to the team or organization. Foster a culture of positivity, recognition, and gratitude, which can further enhance team morale and performance.

You can build your leadership style on your team by leading with integrity & role model the behaviors of your ideal leader. Build followers & influence your team to solve problems that arise. Proactively solve problems, provide solutions and help lead change.

Here's what else to consider: Embrace lifelong learning and continuous professional development to stay current with evolving leadership trends and best practices. Seek out mentors or coaches who can provide guidance, support, and an outside perspective on your leadership journey. Remain adaptable and flexible, as leadership styles may need to evolve based on changing circumstances, team dynamics, or organizational needs. Maintain a growth mindset and be willing to step out of your comfort zone to develop and refine your leadership approach.

Look at your past successes and assess your strengths . Look at your goals and try and build your leadership style around that. If you want to lead a team start building trust and work form team's perspective

Here's what to consider first rather than last Leadership is not something you develop overnight when you get to a managerial position. It is something you build along the journey and both at personal level and professional level. I recommend starting from school projects to participating in college fests to joining ERGs in the company even if you are a fresher. You sharpen your skills along the way. It is not a system upgrade that will happen downloading new software when you suddenly want to lead. Work on being collaborative, accessible, empathetic and team player along the way and leadership skills will automatically emerge as situations requires. Remember you can become a manager but others make you a leader.

The 1st step in the leadership journey is to have the 'can do' attitude. Leadership is as much about the skill set as it is about the attitude. And one can exhibit the traits of a leader even without the title.