What does good leadership look like? What does bad? And how do good and bad leadership styles impact upon the people around them?
While these are perennial questions they seem especially pertinent at the moment. We have political leaders being held to account – and just as often electorates claiming they are unaccountable – in ways that are frankly unprecedented; multi-billionaire business owners getting into spats with their customer base; and have high value companies crashing and burning thanks to self-inflicted mistakes. All around us, there’s a sense that times are bad and our leaders are failing us.
Leadership is a big topic for one blog and so I want to offer my thoughts on the good and the bad, across two separate posts. I’m hardly doing anything new here, I know: plenty of ink has been spilled about leadership, and there are some very familiar models out there you can read about – the autocratic, democratic, laissez faire, transactional and so on. But for these two blogs I wanted to think about particular styles I’ve encountered as I work with teams and agencies and what they mean.
Reflecting on leadership styles we’ve encountered can be a valuable exercise. I find it forces me to think seriously different leaders and their styles, how they manage and lead, and how that shapes me as an individual, as a colleague and as a leader myself. Even the simple act of trying to remember leaders I worked with long ago brought things to mind with a clarity they hadn’t enjoyed in years.
To begin with, then, I offer below my thoughts on six leadership styles I think could be described as “good”. What underpins them all is emotional intelligence which, together with its near-cousin, situational intelligence, are key. Much has been written about EI and SI, and we often hear that confidence and assertiveness are seen as fundamental to these. While confidence and assertiveness are important, they need to be informed by having a high degree of self-awareness, other-awareness, an internal compass that navigates the way through complex situations, the ability to demonstrate empathy and understanding, and cultivating productive relationships with others.
They’re also about being independent of thought and having the flexibility and imagination to problem-solve and innovate. More and more research in companies and organisations shows that high drive or assertiveness without strong emotional intelligence is more likely to hinder than help you achieve your goals.
So, all that said, here are my thoughts on six good types of leader. A word of caution: these are drawn from my experience of working in and with organisations but I’ve tried to draw together specific traits and behaviours that relate to particular types – they’re not based upon specific individuals.
The “Champion”. This type of leader stands out and leads from the front and does so not out of ego but out of a genuine sense of responsibility and purpose. They don’t wear a cape and tights, but there’s something quite heroic in their approach to the role, they have energy and enthusiasm and a highly developed sense of their responsibility to others, and are unafraid of battle. They see it as their duty, they might even say privilege, to act as a genuine figurehead even at their own personal risk. They also focus strongly on ensuring everyone feels valued and motivated to do their best, and they thank them when they do. These are the leaders who are often remembered long after the fact.
The “Doorman”. We all, at one time or another, will have said we like to discover and nurture talent in our chosen field, and for this leader that’s especially true. Another leader with a highly developed sense of their responsibility to others, this person recognises that cultivating talent from within the organisation is as much about commercial advantage as it is altruism. This leader likes to create opportunities, believes that leaders are uniquely placed to do that, and even when talent is still “in the raw” they will seek to create the circumstances in which it can flourish.
The “Pragmatist”. Neither flashy nor self-serving, this is the leader who comes into the job, rolls up their sleeves and gets stuck into the difficult tasks. Invariably, they’re brought in as a troubleshooter, recruited for their ability to sort things out rather than because they’re particularly gregarious or visionary. Something of a technocrat, theirs is a quiet, diligent competence and a determination to get results unswayed by ego or dogma. The lack of “showiness” means it may take time for their achievements to be understood and appreciated, but their impact is felt across the organisation. Pragmatists who are also highly emotionally intelligent can be a great asset during change.
The “Democrat”. This leader works by consensus-building, encouraging ideas from others and working to build solutions from there. They’re not afraid to take charge, they recognise not everyone can be in the driving seat, and they definitely have views of their own as what will and won’t work. But even so, they solicit inputs from all comers of the organisation and – crucially – they take those inputs seriously. They believe in collaboration as the best means of problem-solving and securing buy-in from others, and they’re not interested in exercises in fake democracy.
The “Transformer”. This leader comes into an organisation with a mandate for change and, having spent some time finding their feet, sets about changing it. With their sights firmly set on updating processes, raising standards and removing the barriers to growth, this leader recognises that people are central to the process of change and is keen to bring them on the journey. Under the best leaders of this type, teams are inspired to think outside the box, encouraged to see what it is they’re truly capable of, contribute to and own the change, and are nurtured and supported in making the transformation. Again, high emotional intelligence is essential to this type of leadership if it is going to avoid burnout, exodus and disengagement.
The “Diplomat”. This leader may not be the best at operational detail, nor the most focused or strategic – but their skills in managing relationships are second to none. Naturally charismatic, they know how to keep their ego in check and work the room. Whether they possess a high degree of emotional intelligence or are simply good at talking the talk, they know how to manage and use networks, build coalitions and pour oil over troubled waters. Well-liked and respected, you’ll probably remember their name long after you’ve forgotten what they were about.
These are just six ideas that come readily to mind. Doubtless, there are plenty of others, and many leaders will display more than one of these styles in their own approach to the role. And of course, many good leaders will be able to blend and flex these styles as the need demands.
Ultimately, whether you recognise yourself in any of the types described above, whether you enjoy being in a leadership position or not(!), and regardless of why, what and who you lead, you as the leader are directly responsible for those who follow you. It’s your job to set the tone at the top, to demonstrate the values you want to be known for, to inspire others to achieve, and to choose what sort of leader it is you want to be.
Leadership can often be equal parts building your own honest self-understanding, being alert to whether you're doing it well, and continually searching for answers, striving to be better, and wanting others to feel able to be their best too. Conventional wisdom suggests that if you want to become a better leader you should focus upon improving those areas in which you’re weak, but I’d suggest that a better starting point is to focus on the strengths you already have and work to improve upon those, and be honest about those areas you’re weak on, looking to where others in the organisation can help you build on or supply for those. That, after all, is about leading with your strengths, the things that come naturally to you and which probably helped to get you into a senior role in the first place.
Not everyone can be the sort of champion leader whose legacy endures long after they’re gone. Not everyone will be skilled at turning an organisation upside down and leaving it in a better state than they found it. Not everyone will be a skilled diplomat. Or a consensus builder. Or a keen strategist. Leaders who are genuinely interested in their own professional development will work on all those skills, yes, and there are plenty of development opportunities out there which will do just that.
It's also vital to have clear expectations. By that, I mean not just a set of formally agreed objectives – although those are needed, as well – but also your own clear understanding of what it is you want to achieve in the role, what it is you’re there for. Outlining the expectations and responsibilities of your role as a leader will help you to demonstrate in your own role the qualities and behaviours you want to see in others and identify where it is you need to be focusing your energies. If, as a leader, you lack those how are you going to secure buy-in from anyone else? What will they be buying in to?
I’ve mentioned emotional intelligence and I think it’s an essential for any good leader. The skills I describe above and others like them enable effective leaders to “read the room”, to understand others and empathise with them, and to manage their emotions, their subconscious drivers and impulses. They facilitate effective collaboration and the leveraging of powerful results from that collaboration.
The poor – some may say toxic – styles I’ll focus on in the next blog are largely mirror images of the good styles I’ve suggested above. What holds true for all, however, is that leaders both good and bad are grown and shaped, not born. Effective leaders will have skills already, skills that have taken them into a leadership position in the first place. The trick is to build those for good leadership, not assume they’re perfectly formed or create toxic or harmful leadership.
Emotional intelligence and situational intelligence can be learned and practiced, and even for those for whom we think it’s innate, it can be improved. Some of the best work I’ve done to help productivity and teams has been focused on just that. Take care of that, and good leaders and teams will often take care of much of the rest.
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