Leadership Styles Toolbox

Adapting leadership in real-time: why mastering multiple styles is critical. 📘

There are six basic leadership styles, according to Daniel Goleman.

➡️ The coercive style

This approach can be convenient in a turnaround situation, but in most cases, it inhibits the organization’s flexibility and employees’ motivation.

➡️ The pacesetting style.

A leader who sets high standards and exemplifies them himself has a positive impact on employees who are self-motivated and highly competent. But other employees may feel overwhelmed.

➡️ The authoritative style.

A “come with me” approach states the goal and allows people to choose how to achieve it. It is less effective when the team is more experienced than the leader.

➡️ The affiliative style.

A “People come first” attitude. This style is beneficial for building team harmony but can allow poor performance to go uncorrected or omit crucial advice.

➡️ The democratic style.

By giving workers a voice in decisions, democratic leaders build flexibility and responsibility and help generate ideas. But sometimes the price is endless meetings and confused employees.

➡️ The coaching style.

Focused more on personal development than on immediate work-related tasks. It works well with self-aware employees who want to improve but not when they are resisting.

The more styles a leader masters, the better. Specifically, switching among authoritative, affiliative, democratic, and coaching styles as conditions dictate is very effective. ⚙️