What kind of leader are you?

If you’re in a management position, odds are you’ve had to answer this question at least once: “So, what kind of leadership style are you most comfortable with?”

My own preferred leadership style is coaching. This is the most suitable leadership style to take someone from their current state to the state where they want to be at, such as realising your career goals, having a lot of fulfilling relationships, or maybe, to a point where you experience inner tranquillity and feel empowered.

However, to successfully bat life’s curveballs, you will need to have knowledge and ability to switch when a scenario in the workplace (or at home!) calls for a different approach. For instance, in a high-stress situation where you need fast results, coaching will probably not be the best approach…

To do this, you need to be familiar with the various leadership styles and you need to be able to adapt. Next, you need the self-awareness to realise which form of leadership comes naturally to you and where can you stretch yourself.

Know your leadership style

Daniel Goleman identified six styles of leadership, based on a study of 3,871 executives. This quick summary will help you to identify which leadership styles you are good at and which you may need to develop further:

1. Visionary. You are able to mobilise people toward a vision. This means you are a great asset to any business, especially when a clear direction or change is needed.
2. Coaching. You are great helping people and develop people for the future; the preferred style for building long-term capacity and sustainability in an organisation.
3. Affiliative. This leader creates emotional bonds and harmony. In stressful situations, this kind of leadership is ideal to heal rifts in teams or motivate people.
4. Democratic. A democratic leader build consensus through participation. “what do you think” and “let’s decide together”, is an approach that works best to create consensus or get input.
5. Pacesetting. If you expect excellence and self-direction chances are you’re a pacesetting leader. This style works best to get quick results from a highly competent team and is especially helpful in a negative climate where quick results are required.
6. Commanding. Have a crisis or working with problematic people? The commanding leader is able to demand immediate compliance in a negative climate.

It’s important to know that leadership style a tool, not personality trait. This means it can be learned! If you’d like to talk about finding and developing your leadership style, let’s coffee. Remember, developing your leadership skills is not just highly beneficial to your inter-personal relationships with your partner, children and colleagues, but also makes you a valuable to any organisation.