What Sort of Leader Are You?

The best leaders adapt their leadership style according to the situation, but no matter how flexible their approach, every individual demonstrates dominant characteristics, which govern their relationships and dictate their success.

Being aware of your preferred styles and their impact on those around you is the hallmark of the most successful people. In this blog I would like to contemplate seven different leadership behaviors – which ones do you relate to and which ones drive you up the wall? 

Autocratic. The lone wolf of the management world, the autocrat makes his decisions alone and imposes his will on his minions. They bulldozer through life unchallenged, and are the passive-aggressive background noise of any meeting. They are effective in a crisis of when an employee requires supervision.

Laissez-Faire. The opposite of the autocrat, the laissez-faire leader simply lets things fall into place of their own accord. They don’t supervise or motivate, which is good if their people are professional enough not to need it, but not so good if more control is required. If there is a crisis, laissez-faire leaders tend to sink along with their team.

Transactional. The carrot and stick approach is one of the most typical and objective management styles. Good behavior (and results) are “rewarded”, bad behavior (and results) are “punished.” They agree with their team to sign up to certain goals and norms, and positive or negative deviation from these norms brings the corresponding result. Transactional leaders need to be competent coaches – assisting their people to move towards their rewards.

Democratic. So what do we think? Consensus building lies at the heart of the democratic leader’s philosophy, and they seek to gain buy-in from anyone that they work with. This is particularly useful when there is uncertainty or when fresh ideas are needed. This style can be frustrating when there is a level of urgency or when the direction is genuinely cloudy.

Pacesetting. Every now and again, people need to be shown the way forward. This is not telling someone how to do something, but allowing them to model their behavior on your actions. This works well when the leader already has a skilled team that simply needs help in their choice of which path to take. There is nothing more comforting than following someone’s well-trodden route.

Authoritative. The authoritative leader is different from the autocratic leader – rather than dictating to their team where to go, they get their team enthused about a common goal and then leave it up to them to decide how to get there. They might say “come with me” to their team, but they don’t mind whether the team are on foot, on a bike or in a car. The destination is the most important thing and the authoritative leader inspires people to shoot for it.

Coaching. The coaching leader encourages people to step out of their comfort zone and expand their mind set in any given situation. This is a forward-looking management style that is best suited to building cohesive and robust teams. If people are less open to feedback or if the leader’s knowledge is lacking, this works less well

I asked a few of my colleagues which two styles best characterized me, and the various answers were revealing. Your self-perception is often different from how others see you. The interesting part is working out why!

Which management styles work best for you and why?

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below as I learn just as much from you. I write a daily blog on leadership, innovation, careers, tech & self improvement. Here are some other articles I have written. If you like what you read, please feel free to follow me here on LinkedIn or via twitter @anuragharsh.