Improving your leadership style

Myriad leadership methods

There is a wide variety of leadership styles across our continents, countries, and companies. The numbers of styles range from three (as posited by Kurt Lewin and Max Weber in their research) to as many as 27, if the internet is to be believed.

We could no doubt spend the next three pages describing the minutiae of each leadership style, both positive and negative. However, for the purposes of this short summary, it is more useful to focus on the work of psychologist Daniel Goleman (renowned for his work on emotional intelligence), who identified six leadership styles that can all be used to great effect:

1. Authoritative style: Inspires through a clear vision, boosting morale, commitment, and innovation, but can struggle with teams that require egalitarian collaboration.
   
   
2. Democratic style: Gains team buy-in and trust by seeking input, but can delay decision making.
   
   
3. Affiliative style: Builds loyalty and harmony by prioritising people, but risks tolerating mediocrity.
   
   
4. Coaching Style: Focuses on personal development, building long-term capability and commitment, but may not work well in high-pressure situations.
   
   
5. Coercive Style: Effective in crises or turnarounds, but long-term use of this approach harms morale and stifles creativity.
   
   
6. Pacesetting Style: Sets high standards through example, but overwhelms teams and stifles autonomy.

Effective leadership armoury

Many of us believe our own leadership approach is relatively fixed. In his academic research, Daniel Goleman demonstrates that leadership is about the ability to juggle a variety of leadership styles. In fact, the more styles a leader has in their armoury, the better.

Additionally, his research shows that leaders who understand and effectively use four approaches (the authoritative, democratic, affiliative, and coaching styles) are most likely to create the most effective organisational culture and reap the rewards of high performance.

It can be unproductive to use the same leadership style throughout our career. Every situation and organisation requires a different approach. While nobody is perfect, and we may be more attached to one style than another, it’s worth expanding our repertoire and using other approaches as situations dictate. 2025 could be the moment to try something new. I’m reminded of a quote attributed to Alexander the Great: “I am not afraid of an army of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion”.

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Raf Uzar is dedicated to driving the continuous development and improvement of firm-wide performance, strategy, and culture.