Effective Leadership Styles

There are as many effective leadership styles as there are effective styles of parenting. There is much evidence that no one particular style is right for all situations and all types of leaders can be successful. Click on the links in the nav bar to the left or below to discover how different types of leaders can be effective.

Certainly to be a successful leader you will need to develop leadership skills, knowledge and aptitude, however, it's your leadership style that really gives your business unit (no matter how big or small) its flavor.

An effective leadership style for one individual or one organization may not work for you and your situation:

• How well do you think Southwest Airlines or Virgin would run with Jack Welch at the helm?
• How much would Herb Kelleher struggle (internally at least) if he were to find himself a leader in The Ford Motor Company?
• It is well documented that Winston Churchill was a great leader during World War 2. Yet in peacetime his style was found lacking by the nation that had so recently held him in esteem as a hero leader.

Your style as a leader will be largely influenced by two things:

1. The culture of the organization you find yourself in


2. The quality of leadership, coaching and mentoring you experience as you move through your career

When you inherit a style from the culture or are overly influenced by another person, you may find yourself feeling frustrated and on-edge. You may have the feeling that you are trying to be someone you are not. You will do well to remember that leadership isn't something that you do, it is an expression of who you are.

Learn about and then try applying the various styles to find the a style that works best for you, your team and your organization.

A word of caution. Do not try to make your preferred/(natural) style fit all circumstances. Remain flexible enough to alter your style to fit the particular situation you find yourself in.

Articles on Effective Leadership Styles

These articles on leadership styles are here to help you understand the impact of the various leadership styles on the culture of your workplace and that all types of leaders can be successful.

Your Style of leadership impacts your team. There are many different types of leaders, the trick is to find the one that works best for you or best fits the situation you are in ...

• Blake & Mouton: Blake and Mouton studied leadership behavior and described two extremes of leadership concern: Concern for Production and Concern for People. Read more about Blake and Mouton ...
• Reative vs Proactive: A Proactive Leader tends to be much more focused on achieving performance objectives rather than focused on finding and fixing problems; that is the forte of the Reactive Leader ...Read more about Reactive vs Proactive
• Leadership vs Management; We've had a lot of change in the past 20 years and the speed of change is increasing. There are some distinctions between leadership and management that you may like to grasp ... Read more about Leadership versus Management
• Rule Based To Principle Based: Is your organization over-burdened with rigid policies, rules and procedures that stop team members from meeting customer needs? Rules that don't make sense and distract people from achieving the mission of any organization - to serve its customers. Policies that are costly both in terms of employee morale and dissatisfied customers ...Discover more about Principle-Based Leadership here
• Transactional Leadership: Transactional Leadership suggests that people are only motivated by rewards and punishment. In this article we look at 5 things that should happen and 5 things that should not happen when using this model of leadership Read about Transactional Leadership here
• Command and Control: The Command and Control leadership style enables the people running organizations to meet their instinctive needs (even though) they may not recognise or admit to them. Read about Command And Control Leadership here
• A Different Leadership Style: The old  command and control style is dead. A different leadership style is needed if you really want to connect with your people. You may be able to gather Take Some Leadership Lessons From Horses ...
• Situational Leadership: Use these resources to help you identify your prominent leadership style (which can be your downfall if you do not use it with care). (Please note these resources are only available to members of the Align-Lead-Inspire Club.) Use the Situational Leadership Resources

Use the surveys on the Assessment Tools page to help you discover your most preferred (and hopefully) leadership style.