I have been fortunate enough to have attended many leadership courses. Most talked about the four main leadership styles - Autocratic, Democratic, Laissez-Faire and Transformational. While these styles are still relevant, we may need to add to the list as things change rapidly in today's world. Here a few that might you also want to consider;
- Inclusive - You know where you are now and where you have to get to in your business so include others when deciding the way that you get to your destination.
- Inspirational - Inspiration comes from you so set an example by working the way you want others to work.
- Visionary - Having a vision is not something that you have to find yourself, although it would be more believable if that was the case. You can also find ideas from your staff, from books, and from Mr Google.
- Adaptor - How quickly do you change in today's world and how quickly do you respond to change? An adaptor brings calmness to the workplace by swiftly adapting in times of change and crisis.
- Creative - There are many ways of being creative, when was the last time you used any of them?
- Modulator - A leader that is able to get the balance of oversight right, more in times of need and less in day-to-day work so as not to micro-manage.
- Influencer - Not influencing followers to change in themselves, influencing them so they can control what happens.
- Coacher - Spreading the load, coaching others to be leaders.
- Decisive - There are times when an immediate decision must be made, don't waffle, take action.
- Resilient - A resilient leader is able to use all of the above styles. By doing so they set an example and change becomes less of a challenge.
My point of this post is that we have to start looking differently at the way that we do things, leadership being an important one to examine. The traditional way of leading may no longer be acceptable. Today we have co-captains in sporting teams and co-leaders in government. Gen-X's are your powerhouse and Millennials like to be included in decision making.
When you are looking at your own leadership style, the most important thing I believe is to lead how you would want to be led. Look at those who were your leaders and take the best points from each that you enjoyed about their leadership style and use them when you lead. Don't worry about the name or the style, worry about the way in which you lead.