As we have stated many time here at The Prime Leader, there is more than one way to effectively lead people. In fact, there are several commonly recognized leadership styles that can have a positive impact on a leader’s effectiveness. Learning the difference between the styles and determining which is best suited for you, and which is best suited for the situation that you face, is the first step towards becoming an effective leader.
First, it is critical that a leader carefully review their strengths and weaknesses. Leadership traits like communication, vision, strategy and the ability to motivate should all be carefully considered. Once a leader has a clear view of their abilities, determining the most effective leadership style is easy.
Laissez Faire Leadership: This leadership style is defined by the ‘hands off’ approach. Leaders who utilize this style typically have a team of highly trained and effective employees who do not need to be micromanaged.
Autocratic Leadership: Once popular, the autocratic leadership style has begun to experience a fall in popularity. This style advocates ‘laying down the law‘ and is sometimes likened to Medieval Europe and the feudal lords who ruled the land. Although this leadership style is often viewed as negative, it can be effective in certain situations.
Participative Leadership: Participative Leadership is quickly becoming the most popular leadership style. This style blends the ‘hands off’ approach with a degree of micromanaging, and when done correctly offers the best of both worlds. Employees realize that they must self-motivate and complete assigned projects and tasks on their own, but know their manager or ‘leader’ will be available to assist them with direction as needed.
It is interesting to note that some (maybe even most) people will not accept a new manager as a ‘leader’ until they have earned that title; therefore, effective leaders need to take steps toward modifying, and integrating, their leadership style appropriately into the various organizations that they operate (we’ll take a closer look at emergent leadership in a few weeks).
Great leaders take the best of various leadership styles and mold them to fit their particular needs and position. They also, some would argue, need to rigidly adhere to the style they have chosen (hopefully a blended style), allowing their employees to experience a level of certainty and reliability from their managers. In other words, if an employee took the same action twice he shouldn’t receive two different responses from his manager.
Leadership style is as much dependent on personality as it is theory. Carefully determining what style works best for you in a given situation is an important step toward becoming an effective leader.
It is a misnomer to believe that people are entirely ‘born’ to lead. Leaders typically work to develop traits that allow them to effectively lead those around them. Like any skill, these traits must be learned and practiced. While it is true that some have a better aptitude for learning these qualities, anybody can develop there the ability to lead.
The ability to make decisions – The best leaders have the ability to make decisions, even difficult ones. They can assess the situation and process the effect each of the possibilities will have. A good leader understands that failing to make decisions will negatively impact the effectiveness of their organization.
Risk Taking – true leaders are unafraid to take calculated risks. They realize that true success can only be obtained by taking chances. They also have the ability to determine the amount of risk involved in any given situation and the wisdom to know when a particular risk is too great.
Communication – All great leaders have highly developed communication skills. They are easily able to communicate their wishes and desires to others in an effective way. Through both spoken and written words, leaders are always clear and concise.
Integrity – True leaders live by the motto “integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching. They are inherently trustworthy and strive to be open and honest in all of their dealings.
Education – Realizing the importance of continuing education is crucial for effective leadership. By remaining open to new ideas and concepts and by continually improving themselves, they will continue to develop, adapt and grow as the environment around them does.
Vision – Leaders always strive to look at the big picture. While closely watching the details and keeping their eye on the ‘prize’ leaders have the ability to continually move forward.
Motivation – Perhaps the most important quality of leaders is their ability to motivate those around them. They are able to impart their vision in such a way that their ideas become exciting and possible. This motivation serves to promote both their business interest and the personal goals of the organization. Charisma plays a large role in motivation.
Self-Awareness – The ability to look at themselves and clearly recognize their strengths and weakness sets leaders apart from those around them. They are able to take criticism of their faults well and constructively address them.
Team Building – Leaders can easily recognize the strengths of their employees and effectively divide them into teams that are more successful than individuals. Team building strategies are a proven way of increasing the productivity of an organization.
Strategy – The best leaders always have a clear plan of action and follow it to achieve their goals. In addition, the can recognize when a particular strategy is not working and will work to tweak their plan for maximum effectiveness.
True leaders utilize these qualities to help themselves and their employees to strive for the best and often to accomplish the impossible. Diligently working on these qualities is the first step towards becoming an effective leader. What are your top leadership qualities?
Power: the ability to do or act; capability of doing or accomplishing something. Influence: the capacity, or power, of persons or things to be a compelling force on, or produce effects on the actions, behavior, and opinions of, others. Both power and influence play a major role in the leadership process. And, neither concept is specifically confined to a leader (i.e. followers can exert power and influence – sometimes greater than that of a leader). However, what are the sources of power and influence in leadership? How does one develop power? How does one develop power even if not in a position of authority? Let’s attempt to better understand these questions.
First, we should outline the main difference between power and influence. Simply put, summarizing the above, power is the capacity to cause change, whereas influence is the degree of actual change in a target individual’s attitudes, values, beliefs, or behaviors. Where does an individual’s power and influence come from? You may, or may not, be surprised to know that there are various types of power and influence and they can come from a variety of sources. The major sources of power and influence are as follows:
• Expert Power: this type of power represents the power of knowledge. Through expertise in a field or study, whether through experience, books, or a strong combination, an individual develops power and the ability to influence others.
• Legitimate Power:this type of power represents an individual’s official authority through some type of high-level, or influential, organizational role. In this case, an individual’s power is provided by his organizational role.
• Referent Power:this type of power represents the power of collaboration. Through strong relationships, an individual can exert influence on other individuals, or on other members of a team, regardless of organizational level or expertise.
• Reward Power:this type of power represents the power over resources. In this case, an individual’s power is provided by his ability, within an organization, to reward actions or behaviors.
• Coercive Power:this type of power represents the opposite of Reward Power: i.e. it is power gained though an individual’s ability to administer punishment or negative sanctions.
Although the above are the key sources of power, it’s important to note that something as seemingly small as the height of a podium, or the position of a desk, could greatly affect how an individual’s power is perceived. If you’re trying to develop power and the ability to influence others, be sure to understand your strengths and weaknesses within your organization. First, assess if you already have power. Do you have legitimate power? If not, do you have expert power? How about referent power? If you do not have power through any of the above means, focus on the immediate source of power in which you have the greatest ability to attain. In doing so, note that not all types of power and influence are positive. At one point or another, you’ll need to use all of your sources of power. However, if your only source of power is coercive, and if that is the only source of power you rely on to influence others, you may end up hurting yourself more so than not. In that case, investing more time in developing other sources of power would be advantagous.
I stumbled across this video while surfing Dr. Z’s Leadership Blog and thought you might like it. Although not really a “leadership” topic, I’m sure you’ll see the humor. Enjoy.
According to Wil Schroter of the Portland Business Journal, start-up companies do better when surrounding themselves with leaders. On that note, I couldn’t agree more! Part of the duties of a leader lay in resource allocation. In other words, this means finding the right talent mix to implement your vision. If you’re a young entrepreneur, don’t be afraid to build a team of leaders around you. Many small business owners make the mistake of hiring individuals at talent levels below their own. Why do they do this? Well, partly because they want to avoid what I’ll call “perceived competition.” Young leaders think that having too many cooks in the kitchen can be a problem. Although in some cases this can be true, leaders must surround themselves with other leaders in order to succeed. This is not only important for innovation, but also for the leadership process at all levels of your organization. The larger your business, the more leaders you need within it.
Additionally, in the article Wil alludes to the fact that leadership is a process, not a position (we talked about this in our introductory post). He says that, “leadership encompasses your approach and talents, not your title.” This is true. Within the leadership process, understanding your approach and your talents falls within the “leader” portion of the “leader,” “follower,” “situation” interaction cycle. One of the most important steps you can take as a young leader is to be aware of your approach to leadership, as well as your talents, and adapt that approach to each situation that you face within your organization. In some circles, this is called “situational leadership.”
Wil states that “in a perfect world, if everyone were acting like a leader, the potential of the company would be incredible.” I tend to disagree, but I can see his point. In my opinion, you can be sure that you need managers within your organization just as much as you do leaders. Management is required in order to help maintain your organization as well as to help implement your vision. Many excellent leaders cannot manage if their life depended on it. But, they have a vision, can communicate that vision, and can influence others to believe in that vision and implement that vision. This is one of the key differences between an administrator, or manager, and a leader. And, it is one of the reasons why leaders are so important. Remember: successful resource allocation requires a “talent mix,” not an overload of one personality type.
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It is a misnomer to believe that people are entirely ‘born’ to lead. Leaders typically work to develop traits that allow them to effectively lead those around them. Like any skill, these traits must be learned and practiced. While it is true that some have a better aptitude for learning these qualities, anybody can develop there the ability to lead.
Power
According to Wil Schroter of the 