Situational Leadership: Identifying Your Leadership Strengths

You could say that leaders lead based on situations. Yet Robyn Benincasa in her Fast Company article 6 Leadership Styles and When You Should Use Them claims that  “A leader leads based on strengths, not titles”. So what’s a leader to do? Combine the two ideas. In other words, none of the leadership styles discussed in Benincasa’s article are necessarily better than another; the key is understanding when to use each style.

Benincasa quotes Tom Peters saying, “…the best leaders don’t create followers; they create more leaders.” One person can’t do everything all the time; she must create space for different leaders to rise up, based on the occasion and situation.

Yet how does a leader create this space and know which style to use? Daniel Goleman’s Harvard Business Review study titled Leadership That Gets Results determined that leadership style is responsible for 30% of a company’s bottom-line profitability. This means that it’s time to raise the scrutiny on each of the five leadership styles below.

1. Authoritative Leaders are enthusiastic, visionary, and inspirational. They take charge and help focus teams, yet let others decide their own path to achieve the desired results.
2. Affiliative Leaders create bonds and trust among teammates. This could be useful when an organization has just faced or is about to face tremendous change.
3. Coaching Leaders are focused on helping others develop their professional skills and strengths. This could be good for younger or new employees, as well as leaders who understand the individual and situation they are coaching into.
4. Coercive leadership doesn’t sound as though it would be very useful – in fact it sounds downright scary! However, Benincasa suggests it can be necessary when facing problem employees or emergency situations that require immediate action.
5. Democratic leadership is always a good idea when leaders want to create buy-in for an idea or process with team members. People feel more empowered when their opinions are heard. It also demonstrates trust since a leader shows that he is open to help and ideas from others.

As in a race, the person the leader is running with, is expected to follow. Some leaders feel more comfortable setting the agenda and having others work underneath them, which can work in certain organizations. However as mentioned in the article, this can also be an innovation killer.

Which style do you find works best for you? Is there one style you wish you could exude more often? Leave me a comment below.