What Is Your Leadership Style?

You just got promoted or just opened your own business and from then on, you are assigned to manage people. This is your first time and you want to be a great leader for them but you don’t know what type of leader they will follow. Don’t worry, we’ve been there. If you are looking for an article that helps you define what your leadership is, then keep reading. Note that you can always change your style depending on the person you manage. Different strokes for different folks, as they say, there is never a one-style-fits-all in every management system. Experience is the best educator but having this basic fundamental knowledge of what leadership roles look like will give you an advantage. 

The leader that serves. Ideally, this is the type of leader everyone wants. “A leader is not just a title but an opportunity to be an example”, these are your servant leaders. When the time gets rough and production needs help, they will get on their knees, be dirty just to help their employees achieve their common goal.  

One great example of a servant leader is Mother Teresa. She has dedicated her life to serving others. She never asked for recognition, she never did it for the media. Her motives were to just sincerely and genuinely help. Probably that is why she is called a saint. 

The leader that transforms. These leaders are great at empowering their employees through words. They encourage and listen to ideas of innovation, create change in the workplace, and help individuals transform into better versions of themselves that will greatly contribute to the success of the company. This leader is very creative and always reinventing the wheel, always thinking outside the box to assist in creating better processes, systems, and employees. 

Walt Disney is an iconic leader. In terms of transformation, it is an understatement that he transformed and revolutionised the animation industry. His innovation and creative ideas are the reasons we have beautiful movies we can reminisce during our childhood (and adulthood!). 

The leader that controls. This leadership style is the exact opposite of the leader that transforms. They do not listen to new ideas, they accept little input and their choices are mostly subjective to what they think is right. This leader is hard to correct, very strict and everything is done by the book. To be fair, this style works if the leader has the most experience and is good at making business decisions. This leader is very effective in pushing company policies and creates an atmosphere of authority in the workplace. Someone is the leader and everyone recognises the leader that controls. 

We all know that Adolf Hitler is a leader of control. He is a dictator and a ruler. There is no denying that this man is a man of power and unfortunately, lives were taken during his reign. On the other hand, when he became Germany’s ruler, he pushed for policies that greatly improved the country’s economy. 

The leader that macro manages. The macro managers will definitely leave you alone and give you time to finish the task. Most folks are comfortable with this type of leader as they are allowed to do their task however and whenever they can. Unfortunately, because too much trust in employees is given, employees tend to take advantage of it.  

Richard Branson, the famous Virgin Australia CEO is a macro manager. His famous quote, “Train your employees enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to” reflects of his macro management style. 

The leader that is micro manages. The micro managers will send you an email, go to your station, call you constantly to remind you of your deadlines. They have to fiddle around with the things that you do to know where you’re at. This can be very off-putting as this leadership style can come across as someone who doesn’t know how to trust and does not value the integrity of their employees.  

Steve Jobs is well-known for being a micro manager. They were stories of him being a perfectionist. Some may not like his style of leadership but the Apple products, mobile phones, and computers are one of the best. 

In your journey as a leader, you will realise that one leadership style can be effective on some but not the others. Trying to find that balance and apply the correct leadership style is what makes a true leader.