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Now, onto Issue 26.
The 6 Styles of Leadership
What’s the No. 1 job of a leader?
Ask 100 people that question, and you may get 100 different responses.
However, the simplest answer is: get results.
If you’re a CEO, your job is to grow the business
If you’re a head coach, your job is to win games
If you’re a teacher, your job is to ensure students learn
Now, HOW you get results is where the art and science of leadership comes in.
In 2000, consulting firm Hay/McBer (now part of Korn Ferry) did a study on 3,871 global executives and how they lead their organizations to get results.
The research found there are six general styles of leadership.
Here’s an overview of each one and how you can apply them to become stronger leaders:
1. The Coercive Style
Coercive leaders demand immediate compliance.
They’re driven by achievement and self-control. Their mindset is, “Do what I tell you.”
This style of brute force almost always carries an enormous cost.
It crushes morale and creativity. It strips people of ownership, responsibility and initiative. It infuses resentment into the culture.
Coercive leadership is the least effective of these six styles.
HOW TO APPLY IT:
Based on the above description, you may be thinking: “Why would I ever apply this style?”
And, generally, your instinct would be right.
However, there are rare instances where this style can be effective.
During a crisis or emergency, for example, when time is precious and you need people to execute.
It also can “work” with problem employees when all other options have failed (if it’s come to this, though, you probably should just get rid of the employee).
Use this style with extreme caution (and ideally never).
2. The Authoritative Style
Authoritative leaders mobilize people toward a vision.
They’re self-confident, empathetic and want to drive change. Their mindset is, “Come with me.”
This is a visionary style of leadership.
These leaders help people understand the vision and how their work connects to it. They create clarity and establish clear standards.
An authoritative leader gives people freedom to innovate, experiment and make decisions to achieve the vision.
This leadership style generally has a strong positive impact on culture.
HOW TO APPLY IT:
This style can work in almost any situation, but it’s most useful when a new vision or clear direction is needed.
The authoritative style still requires tact, though.
An experienced team, for example, may need less authoritarian direction. The leader must know the team and not undermine its sense of agency.
3. The Affiliative Style
Affiliative leaders create emotional bonds and harmony.
They’re communicators and relationship builders. Their mindset is, “People come first.”
This style values people above all else. These leaders want people to be happy and motivated.
At its best, this style inspires fierce loyalty and drives teamwork.
These leaders are positive and build a sense of belonging in an organization.
They are culture builders.
HOW TO APPLY IT:
This style is most effective when a team needs to be brought together.
Maybe there’s a rift. Maybe trust is low. Maybe the team is enduring a stressful circumstance.
If you want to increase morale, the affiliative style is great.
This style must be balanced, however.
Leaders who rely solely on this style can create an environment of mediocre standards. Subpar performance can go uncorrected. The team can lack direction and accountability.
The authoritative style is an effective pairing with the affiliative style.
State a vision, set high standards, hold people to those stands and care deeply about them.
4. The Democratic Style
Democratic leaders build consensus.
They’re driven by collaboration and teamwork. Their mindset is, “What do you think?”
This style builds buy-in, trust and respect. It creates ownership, as goals and plans are co-authored. It can create unity in a team.
The primary downside of this style is it can be inefficient and, at worst, drain a team.
Democratic leaders can put off making decisions, thinking more discussion will solve it.
Building buy-in and consensus is good, though a leader must know when they need to make decisions and move the team forward.
HOW TO APPLY IT:
This style works well when a leader wants different ideas and perspectives.
It can also work well when buy-in is essential.
This style is not effective in times of crisis, however. You need action, not consensus.
Use this style, as it’s generally positive, but know when to balance it with an authoritative style.
5. The Pacesetting Style
Pacesetting leaders demand excellence.
They’re drivers with extremely high standards for performance. Their mindset is, “Do as I do.”
These leaders are always looking for ways to be better, faster and stronger. They snuff out poor performers quickly.
This sounds like an effective leadership style, but the research showed it is generally negative.
While some “Type A” high-performers may thrive in this environment, it crushes most people.
Employees can feel overwhelmed by the demands. They can be crippled by pressure. They’re worried about keeping their job rather than learning and improving.
While there’s a time to be a hard driver, this is not usually a successful leadership style.
HOW TO APPLY IT:
If you have a highly motivated team and need quick results, this style can be effective.
Aside from those situations, this style will more often burn people out.
Use it sparingly, and balance it with more positive styles.
6. The Coaching Style
Coaching leaders develop people for the future.
They’re driven by learning and growth. Their mindset is one of personal development and continuous improvement.
Coaching leaders have a positive impact on culture.
They excel at delegating. They give employee stretch goals and assignments. They’re patient with short-term struggle in exchange for long-term excellence.
This style takes time up front to develop people, but then those efforts compound later.
For this style to be effective, the leader must have coaching skills and the employee must be open to coaching. There also must be adequate time to allow learning to occur.
HOW TO APPLY IT:
Research shows this style is used the least often.
Many leaders don’t feel they have the time in high-pressure environments for the slow work of coaching people.
However, this style is one of the most powerful tools a leader has.
It should be consistently applied to drive employee development, while balanced with other styles based on the circumstance.
Conclusion
To recap, the six styles of leadership:
The Coercive Style
The Authoritative Style
The Affiliative Style
The Democratic Style
The Pacesetting Style
The Coaching Style
Here’s the most important point of the research: There’s no “one” leadership style that works in all situations.
The research shows the strongest leaders master the authoritative, democratic, affiliative and coaching styles of leadership.
These organizations tend to have the best cultures and strongest performance.
For you, ask yourself:
Which style comes most naturally to me?
Which style comes least naturally to me?
Which style do I need to improve to grow as a leader?
Use these styles as a framework to guide your development over the coming months.
Teddy’s Recommendations
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