Here I am describing various leadership styles that I employ. My favoured-leadership style is “Coaching” but depending on the situation, I utilize other leadership styles as well.
Leadership based on coaching:
I spend significant effort with team members to analyze their strengths and areas of growth and use this to help team members work on things that are aligned with their strengths while coaching them in areas that need growth.
More often than not, I apply this approach as it empowers individuals to gain confidence, consistently learn new things and improve.
I achieve this by creating learning goals for the team which are tailored specifically to individuals’ ambitions and growth areas. I use periodic lunch and learn sessions where folks share new ideas that they learned and thereby ignite a culture of learning and growth.
Servant Leadership
Recently I have found this style to be very effective. The style entails working to remove bottle necks of the team which in turn enables them to run faster.
This maybe in form of brain storming a solution with a team member and acting as a sound board to validate pros and cons of various approaches. Examples include:
- Analyzing code design while providing feedback to the team member.
- Helping solve infrastructure issues for the team or helping the team navigate bureaucratic red tape in the firm.
This approach calls for delegating but delegating with authority to make and execute decisions. When people are given authority to make decisions and to drive tasks delegated to them, they perform better. This leadership style focuses a lot on employee satisfaction, collaboration and engagement. Thus, it results in a highly motivated team with much lower turnover.
Visionary
Technology is resulting in new ways of optimizing business practices. However, proper utilization of technology is possible only if there is clear understanding of how technology can be put to service. Many times, this requires taking strategic initiatives, pushing for change and inspiring others to follow through.
The leader has a dual responsibility – one towards the team and the other towards the senior leaders to whom the leader reports. Thus, the leader also is tasked with presenting the firm with new ideas, creating bonds across the organization, being answerable for risks taken and being able to persistently follow through and deliver.
Pacesetter
As organizations we seek to execute and achieve results and this in turn requires high quality focused work. To produce results, the team needs to be inspired to push hard day in day out and this can only be done by a leader who is competent and has the passion to deliver.
I tend to role up my sleeves and enter the fray with full force when needed to get things done. The energy I put into the work inspires and motivates the whole team to rise up to the challenge.
Democratic
As humans we do best when we feel our voices are heard; thus I am constantly gathering feedback from the team as part of the decision-making process. Organizations spend a lot of effort in hiring smart individuals and in coaching them to excel in their jobs. Therefore, those who are closest to the work being done have the best understanding of the tasks at hand and can thus provide proper input into making the correct decisions. Moreover, whatever decisions we make as leaders, those who are doing the actual work have to execute it. Thus, hearing the ideas of the team members and incorporating these ideas into the execution plan makes the team more productive as people then feel more accountable for their work. This also results in a more satisfied team member which in turn means less turnover.