Your Leadership Style Matters
By Terri Norvell
RISING leadership
The challenge of running an organization or property full of independent , smart , willingto-learn people can be a bit overwhelming . After all , many of us jumped into a leadership role without having the benefit of ‘ leading ’ or ‘ managing ’ people . We may have witnessed leadership styles and been on the end of ‘ being managed ’. More than likely we all came away with a definite opinion of what we liked and didn ’ t like .
Based upon the needs of your organization and team members specific leadership styles works best for each stage of growth . Daniel Goleman in his breakthrough work of Emotional Intelligence identified 6 distinct leadership styles . This knowledge can greatly enhance your effectiveness .
The goal here is simply to ‘ elevate your awareness ’ of the different styles and how they interplay with you as a manager and leader in your team today . First , recognize that leaders bring a ‘ blend ’ of styles to their approach with employees .
COACHING
Coaching is the primary leadership style used with the diverse generational workforce today . A coaching style helps people identify their strengths and weaknesses and ties these to career opportunities . Coaches are good at delegating – giving employees challenging assignments that stretch them versus simple tasks . A Coaching Style garners greater employee engagement .
However , this style is difficult to use with people who lack motivation or who require excessive direction . Coaching works best with employees who show initiative and want to professionally develop . Most often we are ‘ coaching performance up ’, yet at times it ’ s appropriate to ‘ coach someone out ’.
While it ’ s the preferred style , Coaching can be a tough style to develop as it takes patience and the ability to ask inquiring questions that
allow the employee to think for themselves and solve problems . Coaches facilitate action , they don ’ t necessarily solve the problems .
Key competencies for this style include developing others , emotional self-awareness and empathy . Emotional self-aware leaders are authentic . Empathetic leaders listen first before reacting or giving feedback .
PACESETTING
Pacesetting leaders expect excellence and exemplify it . Pacesetting leaders , focused on high performance , often think they are coaching when in fact , they are micromanaging .
A Pacesetting style should be used sparingly as it can be unnerving to staff who feel too pushed . Because the Pacesetting leader has a tendency to come across as micromanaging , the staff feel they have to second guess what the leader wants because it ’ s never ‘ good enough ’.
The staff won ’ t feel they can do things ‘ their own way ’ which is the beginning of the leadership / staff gap . The Pacesetting leader can also tend to make staff feel they only care about production , getting work done – not about the employee .
The more pressure put on people ’ s results , the more anxiety is created . This continuing pressure can be debilitating . As people shift away from pursuing an inspiring vision , pure survival kicks in . Pressure constricts their innovative thinking .
DEMOCRATIC
Democratic leaders focus on building trust and respect by getting staff buy-in . This style works best when the leader is uncertain about what direction to take and needs to solicit ideas from able employees .
Even if a leader has a strong vision , the Democratic Style works well to surface ideas about how to implement that vision or solicit ideas on how to execute on it . This style is good at keeping morale high .
The best communicators are superb listeners and listening is the key strength of a Democratic leader . They are true collaborators
24 | TRENDS • NOV / DEC 2017 www . aamdhq . org