Introduction

Leadership style may seem like one of those trendy buzzwords that have lost their meaning in today’s business world, but the truth is, your approach to leading others—even one person—can impact everything from organizational productivity to team dynamics. By understanding the different leadership styles and discovering your own, you can communicate more effectively with team members, motivate your employees in productive ways, and foster a positive and efficient work environment. Here are the key steps to discovering your own unique leadership style.

Discovering Your Leadership Style: A Guide to Self-Assessment

To determine your leadership style, it’s essential to reflect on your experiences as a leader and understand who you are as a person. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you begin your assessment: What are my values, strengths, and weaknesses as a leader? What are my leadership goals and objectives? What motivates me to lead, and what challenges do I face in leading others?

Consider what kind of leader you are when faced with different challenges or opportunities. How do you react to different people or situations? What motivates you or stresses you out? Answering these questions can give you clarity on the strengths you can use and areas you can work on.

6 Different Types of Leadership Styles and How to Identify Yours

Leadership is multifaceted, and there are six common styles that leaders may adopt when working with team members or employees. The six styles are transformational, autocratic, democratic, laissez-faire, situational, and servant.

Transformational leadership: This style motivates employees and inspires them to work towards a shared vision. Transformational leaders are charismatic, visionary, and focus on creating a healthy work environment.

Autocratic leadership: With this style, the leader makes the decisions with little input or collaboration from team members. This style can create an intense work environment as feedback from employees is scarce and authority is concentrated in the leader.

Democratic leadership: Working in a team environment, democratic leaders are open to ideas and provide employees with opportunities to involve themselves in decision-making processes. This style creates a sense of ownership and responsibility within your team members.

Laissez-faire leadership: This leadership approach is a hands-off approach where employees work within a hands-free environment with minimal supervision. The leader’s role is to offer pointers here and there but rarely provides additional direction.

Situational leadership: This style of leadership is flexible and adapts according to the context and team members involved. The situational leader knows the right amount of direction and support to offer at each stage of the project.

Servant leadership: As a servant leader, the focus is on serving others’ needs genuinely rather than inflating power. This style prioritizes employee empowerment and focuses on creating and maintaining positive relationships to build a healthy work environment.

To identify your leadership style, think about your personality, communication, and problem-solving skills. Does your personality correspond more to a focused or hands-off leadership style? Are you better at making quick decisions, or do you value input from others to move forward? Understanding this can help figure out which of these leadership styles you lean towards.

The Pros and Cons of Different Leadership Styles

Each leadership style can bring benefits and drawbacks to your organization. The autocratic style can lead to quick decisions being made in crises, but can stifle employee input and creativity. In contrast, the democratic style can help foster open communication and a sense of team spirit but can take longer to make decisions.

Understanding when to use particular leadership styles in any given situation is crucial. An experienced leader will know when to use a more authoritative tone to make a quick decision, but will also know when to provide team members with opportunities for input and collaboration.

Why Knowing Your Leadership Style Matters

Knowing your leadership style can have an important impact on how team members, customers, and investors view your organization. If your leadership style does not align with your team’s values, productivity decreases and employees become disengaged.

Similarly, if team members find your decision-making process too harsh or feel they don’t have enough input, your leadership style can lead to employee turnover and other undesirable outcomes. As a leader, being mindful of your style helps build trust and shared vision with your team, making it easier to reach your goals collectively.

Leadership Style and Emotional Intelligence: How They Interconnect

Emotional intelligence helps leaders understand their own emotions and those of team members. To apply emotional intelligence to your leadership, take the time to reflect on your behaviors and how they affect the people around you. For example, if you often struggle with impatience, focus on practicing patience when leading others.

If you’re looking to improve your emotional intelligence, focus on empathizing and connecting with your employees’ emotions. Pay attention to nonverbal communication and lead with empathy and kindness. Emotional awareness and intelligence can assist in creating a positive and supportive work environment for everyone.

My Leadership Style: Lessons Learned from Years of Experience

In my years of experience as a leader, many things learnings have helped develop my leadership style. My leadership approach is situational. As an empathetic person, I tend to employ democratic and servant leadership styles in my work environment.

One particular area I have learned to cultivate is emotional intelligence; I learned over time to understand how emotions can affect communication with team members. Today I have refined my leadership approach by applying a more balanced leadership style, one that assesses the situation and adapts my leadership style accordingly.

Being flexible also means understanding that not every employee responds to every leadership style, so it is essential to adapt and mold your approach to fit the person. A successful leader is someone who is capable of leading the team by enhancing their individual member’s strengths and fostering a sense of collaboration.

Conclusion

Understanding your leadership style enables you to communicate effectively with team members, motivate employees in productive ways, and create a positive and efficient work environment. By following the tips in this guide, you can build the leadership skills necessary to transform yourself into the best possible leader, increasing organizational productivity and fostering a strong team dynamic. Remember to reflect on your leadership style frequently and adapt it as necessary to ensure your continued growth and success.