Is your leadership style a strength or a weakness?

Most of us are aware that if we overuse a strength it can become a weaknesses. Again, continuing my recent theme, it is all about ‘balance’. Not ‘too much’, not ‘too little’ but ‘just right’ is what we are aiming for.

So how does this apply to our leadership styles. Daniel Goleman, a well known researcher and author about leadership and Emotional Intelligence, identified 6 key leadership style: Commanding, Visionary, Affiliative, Democratic, Pacesetting and Coaching.

Commanding is a “do as I tell you” style that demand immediate compliance. It’s great in a crisis or in a period of change but if overused can have negative impact on people and the climate.

Visionary is a”come with me” style that moblises people towards a vision. Great for engaging people behind a clear vision such as a change in direction. Not so good if overused in a team of experts or experience colleagues where the direction is already clearly defined.

Affiliative is a “people come first” style that create harmony and builds emotional bonds. It’s great for healing rifts or motivating people but if used in isolating can lack direction and purpose.

Democratic is a “what do you think?” style that forges consensus through harmony. It’s great for getting buy-in or consensus but it overused can be a long and frustrating process that can feel leaderless.

Pacesetting is “do as I do, now” style that is good for setting high standards of performance. Great for getting quick results from a highly motivated team but can be overwhelming and oppressive if used over long-periods of time

Coaching is a ‘try this” style for developing people for the future. Great for helping employees to improve performance and developing strengths. It’s not appropriate in time-pressured situations or with people who don’t want to be developed.

As leaders, we naturally have a leaning to one or two of these styles and it is clear that our leadership strengths can become weaknesses if we overuse them or use them on the wrong occasions (I’m assuming that we are unlikely to underuse our strengths). Goleman asserts that leaders who have mastery of four or more of the styles, especially Visionary, Affiliative, Democratic and Coaching, develop the best working climate and achieve the highest levels of business performance.

What are your strongest leadership styles? And are you overusing them?