What’s Your Leadership Style (and Does it Matter)?

As you know, leadership styles aren’t one-dimensional. Your personality and experience may drive which leadership style you favor, but your style also encompasses a range of philosophies, methods, management tools, and big-picture strategies.

8 common leadership styles

Here’s a quick overview of some of the more common leadership styles, all of which can be effective, depending on a variety of factors.

1. Laissez-faire leaders give employees a lot of latitude – a style that work best with small, talented, and highly motivated teams. Communication can become a casualty of this style, however, with some employees feeling left to sink or swim. Some call this style “absence of leadership.”
2. Delegative leaders share similarities with laissez-faire leaders, but are less hands off. These leaders recognize that certain decisions can be made by other competent individuals; the challenge is knowing when to delegate.
3. Democratic leaders ask for feedback and allow ample input in decision-making. Some benefits are obvious – gaining a plethora of creative ideas, improving motivation, and priming prospective leaders. The downside? For one, this approach can be time-consuming.
4. Coaching leaders consider the individual’s needs, train them accordingly, and work to create cohesive teams. Think of it as a customized approach, rather than one that attempts to shoehorn staff into meeting identical goals.
5. Transactional leaders see work as a series of objectives and concrete results, and very little else. This style can be effective if you set clear goals and identify rewards when targets are hit, but it minimizes something pretty essential – relationships.
6. Strategic leaders think more long term and less about day-to-day details. With strong analytic skills and the ability to consider a range of needs, this kind of leader can be a real asset to an organization as long as they don’t fall into a people-pleasing trap.
7. Transformational leaders are visionary, able to see what might be needed to move the organization forward. This can be motivational unless the leader sets such a blistering pace that it wears out the team.
8. Charismatic leaders can “move mountains” with their charm, wit, and powers of persuasion. If you’re authentically able to pull this off, that’s great! If substance is lacking, however, this style often works best when paired with a complementary style of leadership.

Why it helps to know your leadership style

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of different styles may help you adopt one that best suits your personality and can become your optimal leadership style. And knowing your preferred style can help you spot related behaviors that are either helpful or a hindrance, which can lead to greater effectiveness in meeting the needs of employees and the organization.

Assess your leadership style so you use your natural strengths and find ways to build on them. No matter your preferred style, the best leaders don’t rest on their laurels; they continually seek to improve.

Defy a default direction

Many leaders now operate within complex, interconnected systems. But all too often, they depend exclusively on a personal style of choice, rather than considering what’s most appropriate in a specific situation. That can lead to unintended consequences.

No doubt, you favor a particular leadership style. Most do think of themselves as a certain kind of leader – maybe someone who leads by example or focuses largely on results.

Or you might be the kind of person aiming to become Mr. or Ms. Popularity.

It’s better to have a genuine repertoire of skills and styles to draw on, as needed. Understand why you adopt a prominent style and when it’s time to shift gears. Effective leaders are not limited to just one approach. They intuit how their style affects others and know when it’s time to adapt.

Daniel Goleman compared leading to golfing: It’s a single game, but you have to choose the right club for the next shot. Although a bit of a baptism by fire, the pandemic has surely tested our ability to pick the right approach for unusual circumstances despite our inclination to stay in our comfort zones. As you move forward, try to use this test to your advantage.