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Leadership Styles
Types of Leadership styles
There are many leadership styles, including servant and transactional leadership. Building awareness of frameworks and styles can help you to develop your approach and to be a more effective leader.
Business people and psychologists have developed useful frameworks that describe the main ways that people lead. When you understand these frameworks, you can develop your own approach to leadership, and become a more effective leader as a result.
Six types of Leadership styles
Leadership – at a personal level
Ask yourself the following questions:
1. What makes a good leader (in your opinion)?
2. What style of leadership works for you?
Leadership Styles and Personalities
We all have personalities and while we can and often do modify our behaviour we are not able to change our personality (by very much). Our personality tends to define us. It is worth referring to the DISC model that shows how people fall into categories depending on personality traits.
We all have the following traits to a greater or lesser extent.
Dominant – these are the sales managers, CEOs or what we call the ‘alpha males or females’. Dominant, outgoing and sometimes aggressive. They seek to win at all costs.
Influential – these are politicians, the people who like to be seen as influencers. They like recognition for their actions.
Steady – these are the people that want everyone around them to be happy. They seek to please and make the workplace a fun place to be.
Compliant – these are the accountants and auditors. They look at detail, they care that rules are being followed and that we are complying with the regulations.
In truth we all have traces of these personality traits in us but one of these tends to dominate our personality.
Ask yourself these questions:
- What sort of leader do you think you are? What style fits your personality?
- What sort of style or styles of leadership do you tend to use with your teams?
- How do you lead your teams? Describe a situation or example where you have taken the lead with colleagues.
- What kind of personality traits affect you? What is your personality profile and what about the people in your team?