What Is Your Leadership Style?

Become Better, Stronger, Smarter

In John Maxwell’s book, The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership. He talks about “Momentum” and how the  saying “if you can’t take the heat then get out of the kitchen” doesn’t quite get it right. Advocating instead that it should be “if you can’t create the heat then get out of the kitchen” being that we are all leaders in our own lives.

I think he hits on something that no one should over look “the power of momentum” not waiting but creating, reminding ourselves we are not spectators sitting in the stands reacting to or complaining about the events taking place below. We have the ability to change the things we do not like and create the ones that don’t yet exist when we know they should. Too much of the time we react to the metaphorical heat in the kitchen as John eludes to. Targeting that  we can dial up or dial down. We are not only characters created, we ourselves are creators.

I talk about a mental shift to change my life and there are plenty but the most important was the realization that I can do about the things I don’t like. I know that sounds simple, probably even obvious, but I look back on various stages of my life and I’m blown away by the amount of things I tolerated with for years and years because I simply there were so many questions that I never asked, so many opportunities that I never explored until I realized “hey, you can stop accepting these things you don’t want”.

It’s amazing the power of a simple list that was created. Two columns, left side all the things that bothered me and wasn’t happy with or things that should be there that were lacking, and on the right column, what I’m going to do about it. Every single item, each one, what’s the step I’m going to take. I just poured my heart on to that paper….

Developing your own leadership style

Throughout my career I have emerged with particular leadership styles in providing direction, implementing plans and motivating people. I broadly group into 5 different categories:

• Authoritarian Leadership
• Participative Leadership
• Delegative Leadership
• Transactional Leadership
• Transformational Leadership

By utilizing different leadership styles there are advantages and disadvantages to each.

1. Authoritarian Leadership

Authoritarian leadership styles allow me  to impose expectations and define outcomes. A one-person show can turn out to be successful in situations when a leader is the most knowledgeable in the team. Although this is an efficient strategy in time-constrained periods, creativity will be sacrificed since input from the team is limited.  The authoritarian leadership style is also used when team members need clear guidelines.

Advantages:

• Time spent on making crucial decisions can be reduced.
• Chain of command can be clearly emphasized.
• Mistakes in the implementation of plans can be reduced.
• Using authoritarian leadership style creates consistent results.

Disadvantages:

• A very strict leadership style can sometimes lead to employee rebellion.
• It kills employee creativity and innovation.
• It reduces group synergy & collaboration.
• Group input is reduced dramatically.
• Authoritarian leadership increases employee turnover rate.

2. Participative Leadership 

Participative leadership styles are rooted in democratic theory. The essence is to involve team members in the decision making process. Team members thus feel included, engaged and motivated to contribute. The leader will normally have the last word in the decision-making processes. However, if there are disagreements within a group, it can be a time-consuming process to reach a consensus.

Advantages:

• It increases employee motivation and job satisfaction.
• It encourages use of employee creativity.
• A participative leadership style helps in the creation of a strong team.
• High level of productivity can be achieved.

Disadvantages:

• Decision-making processes become time-consuming.
• Leaders have a high probability of being apologetic to employees.
• Communication failures can sometimes happen.
• Security issues can arise because of transparency in information sharing.
• Poor decisions can be made if the employees are unskilled.

3. Delegative leadership

Also known as “laissez-faire leadership”, a delegative leadership style focuses on delegating initiative to team members. This can be a successful strategy if team members are competent, take responsibility and prefer engaging in individual work. However, disagreements among the members may split and divide a group, leading to poor motivation and low morale.

Advantages:

• Experienced employees can take advantage of their competence and experience.
• Innovation & creativity is highly valued.
• Delegative leadership creates a positive work environment.

Disadvantages:

• Command responsibility is not properly defined.
• Delegative leadership creates difficulty in adapting to change.

. Transactional leadership

Transactional leadership styles use “transactions” between a leader and his or her followers – rewards, punishments and other exchanges – to get the job done. The leader sets clear goals, and team members know how they’ll be rewarded for their compliance. This “give and take” leadership style is more concerned with following established routines and procedures in an efficient manner, than with making any transformational changes to an organization.

Advantages:

• Leaders create specific, measurable and time-bound goals that are achievable for employees.
• Employee motivation and productivity is increased.
• Transactional leadership eliminates or minimizes confusion in the chain of command.
• It creates a system that is easy to implement for leaders and easy to follow by employees.
• Employees can choose reward systems.

Disadvantages:

• Innovation & creativity is minimized.
• Empathy is not valued.
• Transactional leadership creates more followers than leaders among employees.

5. Transformational Leadership

In transformational leadership styles, the leader inspires his or her followers with a vision and then encourages and empowers them to achieve it. The leader also serves as a role model for the vision.

Advantages:

• It leads to a lower employee turnover rate.
• Transformational leadership places high value on corporate vision.
• High morale of employees is often experienced.
• It uses motivation and inspiration to gain the support of employees.
• It is not a coercive approach to leadership.
• It places high value on relationships.

Disadvantages:

• Leaders can deceive employees.
• Consistent motivation and constant feedback may be required.
• Tasks can’t be pushed through without the agreement of employees.
• Transformational leadership can sometimes lead to the deviation of protocols and regulations.