Pros:

• Flexibility in how the leader chooses to react

• An easy to implement, ‘human’, intuitive, responsive leadership style

• Creates a pleasant environment for the team members

• Increases the awareness of the leader

Cons:

• Focuses on more short-term rather than long-term needs

• Can create confusion within the team when switching approach, leading to people feeling manipulated

• Doesn’t take into account different cultures 

Phrase:

“Given the circumstances, I will come at it this way…”

14.   STRATEGIC STYLE

The strategic leadership style is used to prepare for future circumstances. It requires a lot of planning and specialised industry knowledge to be able to be effectively carried out. A strategic leader plans ahead to ensure the survival and thriving of the team or organisation they belong to. 

The job can be very difficult due to the number of elements involved, but if done successfully, it can give the team a vision and purpose to aim for to get through challenging situations or be better aligned to take advantage of changes affecting their field. 

Examples:

• Heavily regulated industries – Must think ahead to be compliant with new regulations set by the governing industry

• Sports – Analysis of competitions past performances, with detailed plans and training to succeed in the coming league

• Politics – How to implement policies after an election win.

Pros:

• Creates clear actionable steps that the team can immediately implement

• Builds commitment and unity within team

• Promotes objective thinking

Cons:

• If the wrong plan of action is chosen, the organisation can be drastically set back or even unrecoverable

• Short-term productivity can suffer for long-term gains

• Can take a long time to see returns

• Difficult to change once plan is set due to the amount of information needed to make confident decisions

Phrase:

“Going forward we will do this…”

15.   TRANSACTIONAL STYLE

With the transactional leadership style, team members are incentivised to work for monetary and other forms of rewards. This style of leadership typically produces the desired results. 

Just as the leadership rewards results, they can also punish non-productivity. With transactional leadership, roles are clearly defined and can work well if the incentives motivate the team members well.

Examples:

• Sales – Sell ‘X’ amount of product, get rewarded with ‘X’ amount of commission

• Sports – Train and work together to win to gain glory, fame, and endorsement deals

• Business – If the team pull together to meet this quarters goals, bonus cheques will be distributed 

Pros:

• Roles are clearly defined

• Helps to track success

• Motivates team members and they are rewarded for their efforts

• Can produce great results over short-term

Cons:

• Team members who are not motivated by the reward on offer will not be properly incentivised

• Limits creativity

• Doesn’t work well with long-term

• Can cause job dissatisfaction and high staff turnover

Phrase:

“If you help to get me X, I will give you Y”

16.   TRANSFORMATIONAL STYLE

As the name suggests, the transformational leadership style is useful when change is needed. It relies heavily on the leader’s ability to influence and communicate their vision to their team. 

Transformational leaders inspire and motivate their team and create the framework that will support the future circumstances the team will be required to work in. This style of leadership promotes independence from the team and allows for much creativity. It builds trust with the team members and encourages mentoring, growth, and development. 

Examples:

• Technology – Creating innovating new markets, changing how humans interact

• Political – Setting up the infrastructure to apply new policies after a party is elected

• Business – When a business needs to adapt to market or regulation changes

Pros:

• Provides a clear vision to work towards

• Good for short-term and long-term goals

• The leader supports team members through the transforming period

• Great environment for collaboration and developing new leaders

Cons:

• Team members must buy in, as without enthusiasm results will suffer

• Relies on the leader’s vision, which may not always be realistic

• Focuses on change, which can be hard to predict and deliver on

Phrase:

“Due to changes, this is what needs to happen and I need your help to get there”

At the beginning of the article I asked you to finish this sentence: 

“A great leader is…”

Now that you’ve increased your awareness of all the leadership styles available to choose from, take a moment to finish this sentence again, then compare how your two sentences differ.

Next, answer this question: 

“Which style most depicts your personal leadership style?”

Use these simple techniques to discover more about how you view leadership and use this article as a reference each time you wish to refresh your knowledge on leadership styles. 

CONCLUSION

While it’s helpful to understand more about each different leadership style, simply deciding on only one is difficult and also impractical. In reality, leadership is a fluid, dynamic quality. 

Each leadership style has its advantages and disadvantages. Some will not be suited for some scenarios, and some will be perfectly suited. Those who stick to one leadership style in every situation can lack the ‘human’ quality that leaders need to be effective in their ability to influence their people.

Now that you have increased your awareness of the variety of leadership styles available, use them accordingly to help you effectively influence yourself and others.