Here are the six leadership styles Daniel Goleman uncovered among the managers he studied, as well as a brief explanation and tips to become that particular leader
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Leadership Styles and When You Should Use Them Great leaders choose their styles like
a hiker in the UK would choose the most appropriate outfit to wear with a clear
understanding of where they want to be and what would be best for the task in
hand. They would also carry reserves as a just in case (Be Prepared!) like any
good leader would. To build a high performing self-directed team
of staff and managers it’s important to understand the difference between
management and leadership. If you are my manager I have to do what you tell me
to do, otherwise I could lose my job, but I don’t necessarily follow you. Leadership
is a decision you make, it’s not a seat you sit in, you can’t be promoted to
leadership you have to make the personal decision to be one. It’s the ability
to choose which of the leadership styles best fits which situation with which
team member – because they are all different. Managers live in the present and leaders live in the future. A leader creates the vision of where they want the business or team to be and the manager creates the steps to get them there. We cover the leadership styles in detail during our: |
Here are the six leadership styles Daniel Goleman uncovered among the managers he studied, as well as a brief explanation and tips to become that particular leader:
Visionary — mobilises people toward a vision
Coaching — develops their people for the future
Affiliative — creates emotional bonds and
harmony
Democratic — builds consensus through
participation
Pacesetting — expects excellence and
self-direction
Commanding — demands immediate compliance
Visionary Leadership Style
The visionary leader moves people towards a shared vision. It’s not about
how to get there, it’s about getting your team to understand where you want to
go. This style works best in moments where a new direction is needed.
What’s great about this style is that it promotes autonomy and allows
people to innovate and experiment to get towards a goal. Failure is accepted, and
employees can feel comfortable trying new things that will help move that
mission forward.
Many organisations out there don’t have a clear mission, which can often
lead to employees feeling demotivated. That’s why it’s so important to have a
vision or a “why” behind what you’re doing. The “what” is the mission steps which
we discussed earlier
Tips to Become A Visionary Leader
Coaching leadership Style
This leadership style, like its name suggests, is all about coaching
employees to get better at what they do. Things like one-to-ones are where
managers with a coaching leadership style thrive.
However, there is a difference between micromanaging and coaching. As a
manager, your goal is to help them evolve in their role, to challenge them so
they can surpass themselves while giving them the tools, advice, and support
they need to succeed.
Coaching leadership is not dictating what a person should do every step
of the way, but rather guiding them towards an improved version of themselves
so they can best contribute to the team, while also meeting their own personal
objectives.
One of the biggest mistakes that leaders make with this style is
focusing on improving the weaknesses of their employees. As a leader, if you
want to get the best results from your team you need to focus on their
strengths.
Tips to Become A Coaching Leader
Affiliative leadership Style
Managers with this leadership style act as an affiliate, making
connections throughout their organisation
Their focus is to create a more harmonious workplace where everyone
knows and works well with each other. Often, employees will have disagreements
among themselves and may not like all of their co-workers, but this leadership
style aims to fix all of that.
If trust is ever broken in an organisation, an affiliate leader is the
perfect person to mend those cracks.
Tips to Become an Affiliative Leader
Democratic Leadership Style
A democratic leadership style is all about creating group alignment
towards a result. This leadership style is best used when you, as a leader,
aren’t 100% sure of which direction to take and you want to source the wisdom
of the crowd to help you make the call.
This approach can be extremely powerful when you need to make big
decisions, are planning for future strategies or even when making strategic
choices that may impact the future of the business.
The knowledge of collective intelligence is always greater than the
knowledge of one person alone.
Tips to Become a Democratic Leader
Pacesetting leader Style
A pacesetting leader sets goals for their team that they expect will be
reached no matter what. They demand a lot from their people and exemplify what
is expected of the team. This leadership style has the potential of being
detrimental to your team, so you need to be extremely careful when using this
approach, and that it works best in short bursts.
Sometimes you may need to expect a lot from your team, whether it’s due
to the company going through challenges that force you to be more demanding to
meet objectives – or for any other number of reasons.
The trick is to balance this style with recognition. You need to make
your team realise that while you’re asking a lot from your team and it may be
tough, it’s also only temporary.
Tips to Become a Pacesetting Leader
Authoritative Leader Style or Commanding
leadership Style
The commanding leader leads with fear.
These leaders typically come across as cold and emotionless. Most of the
time, this style has extremely negative effects on company culture and is
highly ineffective.
This style should be only used when in situations of crisis. But even
then, it’s likely not the best approach to take. It’s generally recommended to
avoid using this style altogether. Unless you’re in the military!
How to Avoid Being a Commanding Leader
Key Takeaways
The most
important aspect of this breakdown is that since each style fits a
different situation, a good leader needs to be able to switch them when
the context requires that. A leadership style is, therefore, a tool, not
personality trait. Leaders who have mastered four or more —especially
the authoritative, democratic, affiliative, and coaching styles—have the very
best climate and business performance
Note also that the four suggested ones exclude
both commanding and pacesetting, exactly for their negative effect on the company
climate.
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