Quick snippets from our morning read on Tuesday, 30th March 2021
What kind of leader are you? In today’s morning read, we learn the different leadership styles and how to find your own. We look at 3 of the seven styles, you can a read about the other 4 in the original article
1. Autocratic Style
The phrase most illustrative of an autocratic leadership style is “Do as I say.” Generally, an autocratic leader believes that he or she is the smartest person at the table and knows more than others. They make all the decisions with little input from team members.
This command-and-control approach is typical of leadership styles of the past, but it doesn’t hold much water with today’s talent.
That’s not to say that the style may not be appropriate in certain situations. For example, you can dip into an autocratic leadership style when crucial decisions need to be made on the spot, and you have the most knowledge about the situation, or when you’re dealing with inexperienced and new team members and there’s no time to wait for team members to gain familiarity with their role.
2. Authoritative Style
The phrase most indicative of this style of leadership (also known as “visionary”) is “Follow me.” The authoritative leadership style is the mark of confident leaders who map the way and set expectations, while engaging and energizing followers along the way.
In a climate of uncertainty, these leaders lift the fog for people. They help them see where the company is going and what’s going to happen when they get there.
Unlike autocratic leaders, authoritative leaders take the time to explain their thinking: They don’t just issue orders. Most of all, they allow people choice and latitude on how to achieve common goals.
4. Democratic Style
Democratic leaders are more likely to ask “What do you think?” They share information with employees about anything that affects their work responsibilities. They also seek employees’ opinions before approving a final decision.
There are numerous benefits to this participative leadership style. It can engender trust and promote team spirit and cooperation from employees. It allows for creativity and helps employees grow and develop. A democratic leadership style gets people to do what you want to be done but in a way that they want to do it.
Choosing Leadership Styles
Knowing which of the leadership styles works best for you is part of being a good leader. Developing a signature style with the ability to stretch into other styles as the situation warrants may help enhance your leadership effectiveness.
1. Know yourself.
Start by raising your awareness of your dominant leadership style. You can do this by asking trusted colleagues to describe the strengths of your leadership style. You can also take a leadership style assessment.
2. Understand the different styles.
Get familiar with the repertoire of leadership styles that can work best for a given situation. What new skills do you need to develop?
3. Practice makes a leader.
Be genuine with any approach you use.Moving from a dominant leadership style to a different one may be challenging at first. Practice the new behaviors until they become natural. In other words, don’t use a different leadership style as a “point-and-click” approach. People can smell a fake leadership style a mile away—authenticity rules.
4. Develop your leadership agility.
Traditional leadership styles are still relevant in today’s workplace, but they may need to be combined with new approaches in line with how leadership is defined for the 21st century.
Today’s business environments are fraught with challenges due to the changing demographics and the employee expectations of a diverse workforce. This may call for a new breed of leader who is an amalgam of most of the leadership styles discussed here.
As the Chinese proverb goes, the wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water molds itself to the pitcher. An agile leadership style may be the ultimate leadership style required for leading today’s talent.
Read the rest of the article here.
And as always, if you enjoyed this, check out the rest of our daily snippets, curated daily, right here on The Red Notebook.
