What Is Your Leadership Style?

The Ultimate Checklist, Take Your Pick Among 12 Choices

“I would describe my leadership style as direct and leading by example.”

Anonymous

Sit back, close your eyes, and think about the leaders around you. I am sure as you do this, each one of them will come to you associated with a label that is reflective of their leadership style. Your label may not be scientific. Maybe your label is simply “Good” or “Bad,” relative to your own experience.

Now, sit back, close your eyes, and think about yourself. How would you label your own leadership style? Or, which style would you like others to attribute to you?

This list of styles, how they are defined, and what they stand for, may be helpful in either scenario:

1. Democratic Leadership: also known as participative leadership or shared leadership, is a type of leadership style in which members of the group take a more participative role in the decision-making process. This type of leadership can apply to any organization, from private businesses to schools to the government.

2. Autocratic Leadership: also known as authoritarian leadership is exemplified when a leader dictates policies and procedures, decides what goals are to be achieved, and directs and controls all activities without any meaningful participation by the subordinates. Such a leader has full control of the team, leaving low autonomy within the group.

3. Laissez-Faire Leadership: also known as delegative leadership, is a type of leadership style in which leaders are hands-off and allow group members to make the decisions. Researchers have found that this is generally the leadership style that leads to the lowest productivity among group members.

4. Strategic Leadership: is the ability to influence others to voluntarily make decisions that enhance the prospects for the organization's long-term success while maintaining short-term financial stability. Different leadership approaches impact the vision and direction of growth and the potential success of an organization. To successfully deal with change, all executives need the skills and tools for both strategy formulation and implementation.

5. Transformational Leadership: is defined as a leadership approach that causes change in individuals and social systems. In its ideal form, it creates valuable and positive change in the followers with the end goal of developing followers into leaders. Enacted in its authentic form, transformational leadership enhances the motivation, morale, and performance of followers through a variety of mechanisms.

6. Transactional Leadership: a transactional leader is someone who values order and structure. They are likely to command military operations, manage large corporations, or lead international projects that require rules and regulations to complete objectives on time or move people and supplies in an organized way. Transactional leaders are not a good fit for places where creativity and innovative ideas are valued.

7. Coaching Leadership: a style that involves and facilitates the engagement of people, as well as drawing out, understanding, and empathizing with their specific and individual motivations. In exchange, this method provides a much closer and superior insight into an organization's challenges and some ideas on how they might be best resolved.

8. Bureaucratic Leadership: a system of management whereby employees are made to follow specific rules and lines of authority created by the superiors. In other words, these sets of leaders function based on official regulations fixed by higher authorities within the organization. The bureaucratic leadership pattern focuses on the administrative needs an organization has. Teams and departments of various private and public sectors employ this system of management. But it is used mostly in the public sector, which relies heavily on consistency and adherence to rules and regulations to get whatever results they seek.

9. Pace-Setter Leadership: a pacesetting leader is someone who ensures pace and structure among team members and motivates them with clear expectations of quality and strict deadlines. Pacesetting leadership is a powerful way to drive employee initiatives in modern workplaces and help the team push through demanding deadlines. The mode of encouragement of a Pacesetting leader is, "Do as I am doing."

10. Servant Leadership: a servant-leader focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and the communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the “top of the pyramid,” servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first, and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible.

11. Charismatic Leadership: it involves a type of leadership in which authority derives from the charisma of the leader. This stands in contrast to two other types of authority: legal authority and traditional authority. Each of the three types forms part of Max Weber's tripartite classification of authority.

12. Chameleon Leadership: a leader in disguise, overly involved in career development of their personnel, and is particularly interested in mingling with the junior staff and calls this affectionately “mentoring.” He/she considers the team his/her extended family and openly brags about it. Tenure for this leader is a goal in and of itself. The longer the personnel is on board, the firmer an employee will be in the grip of the leader.

These are the most common styles, and I am sure if you research, you will come across more, maybe even overlapping with one of the above.

And do you get to pick yours? Books have been written on this subject; it would be too much to recite in this post. Maybe a different approach to answering the question is what common rules apply in your selection. Here is my shortlist:

A leader has to be him/herself. If your personality lacks charisma, do not try that style. You will fail.
A leader in a situational setting (not an academic differentiation like the list above) will always display more than one style: e.g., you can be a servant leader as your foundation, and when the situation calls for it, you apply transformational leadership qualities.

The best leaders do two things: they can knowingly and intently apply different styles based on what the situation calls for; while staying true to themselves and reliable to those around them.

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Kendra Cherry – The Democratic Style of Leadership

Kendra Cherry – Pros and Cons of Laissez-Faire Leadership

Ajay Ramamoorthy – Why Pacesetting Leadership is not always toxic

Johan Reinhoudt – Chameleon Leaders and How to Spot One

Management Study HQ – Bureaucratic Leadership Guide

Greenleaf – What is Servant Leadership

Eden Project – What is coaching leadership?

STU – What is Transactional Leadership

HubSpot – The Ultimate Guide to Sales Compensation

SHRM – Designing Compensation Systems for Sales Professionals

Salesforce – 5 Steps to an Effective Sales Compensation Plan You Need to Know