What is your leadership style and how to become a charismatic leader

“My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to take these great people we have and to push them and make them even better” – Steve Jobs.

EVERYONE loves a good leader and not a boss who only makes commands. However, do you really know the differences between a a good leader and a boss? And what exactly should we do if we want to be a charming and lovable leader?

A charismatic leader motivates and boost the team members’ morale and confidence. A charismatic leader also ensures growth in every team member. These are what a boss would never do.

The differences between a truly good leader and a demanding boss:

Great leaders find people’s potentials; bosses only see faults in team members.

Great leaders always encourage the team; bosses blame team members.

Great leaders inspire the team to grow; bosses don’t care about individuals’ personal growth.

Great leaders know how to utilize team members’ talents; bosses see team members as tools only and exploit them.

Great leaders accept feedback and talk with members openly; bosses don’t value members’ opinions and transparency.

Great leaders know how to delegate; bosses only micromanage the team members.

Great leaders are open to innovative ideas; bosses hate changes.

Great leaders appreciate the effort the team makes; bosses take the team’s effort for granted.

All the successful leaders have their own charismatic leading style.

Almost everyone knows Steve Jobs, but only a few know about how he leads a team. Steve Jobs is a visionary leader. He has a vision in developing Apple products to change the world. With his strong conviction, he made his entire team believed in what he pictured in mind – to change the world with innovative ideas. His vision can be shown in all the game-changing products such as iPod nano, iPod touch and iPad.

What type of leader are you? According to Goleman, Boyatzis and Mckee, there’re 6 types of leadership styles:^[2]

A pace-setting leader sets performance standards and schedules for the team to achieve goals and get the best results.

Pros: Ensures the work is on schedule and reaches the goals quickly

Cons: May overwhelm team members and harm their creativity as they rush to finish their work.

When to use or not to use it? This works best when employees are highly motivated and are competent workers. This is also good if a clear schedule needs to be set for a certain tasks.

What else is important? Leaders of pace-setting style should ask for team members’ feedback more often and give space to them to work.

Successful example: Jack Welch

2. Commanding Leader

A commanding leader makes decisions alone and give orders to members in order to achieve the goals.

Pros: Quick decisions can be made and is helpful when facing crisis. This kind of leader is often being respected and is rarely challenged by the members.

Cons: Inhibits critical thinking and demoralizes employees’ team spirits as their opinions are not valued under such leadership.

Successful examples: Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher

3. Visionary Leader

Visionary leader is able to see the bigger picture and sets the overall goals for the team.

Pros: Inspires creativity and teamwork as team members are encouraged.

Cons: May inspire fanatical belief and this leadership style so context-dependent that members may have difficulty catching up with the plan.

When to use or not to use it? Visionary leaders are good in situations where goals are needed to be explained more thoroughly or when there is a change in vision.

What else is important? A visionary leader must be able to see the overall picture and make clear long-term goals in order to be successful and beneficial for the whloe team.

Successful examples: Steve Jobs, Walt Disney

4. Democratic Leader

Democratic leader makes decisions together with the team members and closely work together with the team to achieve for the best results.

Pros: Boosts team’s morale and improve relationships between leaders and members as they constantly communicate with each other and exchange ideas.

Cons: Authority may easily challenged with such leadership style. And inefficiency may be caused because collective decision usually takes longer time.

When to use or not use it? Democratic leaders work best when team members are skilful experienced. Inexperienced members may be confused under such leadership.

5. Affiliative Leader

Affiliative leader shows warmth and acceptance to the members and creates emotional bonds with them.

Pros: Boosts team’s morale and creates an emotional bond with members. With the warmness provided, members feel safe and have a stronger sense of belonging to perform better.

Cons: Mediocre performances may be fostered under an affiliative leadership that rarely put team members under pressure.

When to use it or not to use it? Affiliative leading style works best in stressful situations or when team members’ morale is low.

What else is important? For effective leadership and better performance, affiliative leading style should be used together with other leading styles.

Successful examples: Dalai Lama, Mother Theresa

6. Coaching Leader

Coaching leader is a mentor to the inexperienced members. They help the members to better their capabilities and performances by constantly providing feedback for them.

Pros: Creates a positive working environment where leaders and employees are constantly communicating. With the coaching leader’s guidance, team members can grow and improve continuously.

Cons: Coaching is quite time-consuming, and it takes patience to coach each of them members.

When to use or not to use it? Coaching leaders work best with inexperienced employees who are eager to learn and grow. The leader’s proficiency in convincing and influencing the members is important too.

Successful examples: Red Holzman (on the right)

Now that you know all the characteristics of the different types of leadership styles, do you know which one best fits you? If you’re not sure which one fits you, here’s a map for you to identify your leadership style.

It takes time for one to find their leadership style and it may always be changing depending on the situation and the needs of the team. Therefore, you may find yourself being a different kind of leader at different time. – By Emilie Chu

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