Leadership Styles in Business

I came across an interesting and informative website this week that is pertinent to understanding the strengths and implications of the various styles of leadership that have been identified in the literature. It is well worth the visit, if you want to explore this subject at greater depth.

What I discerned from visiting the site is that there are seven leadership styles. They are:

• Situational Leadership
• Participative Leadership
• Servant Leadership
• Charismatic Leadership
• Quiet Leadership
• Transactional Leadership
• Transformational Leadership

Understanding your own predominant style is very helpful in managing the risks inherent in that particular style within your business.

For instance, if you think your predominant style is Transformational Leadership, you will tend to focus on the vision of the business, selling that vision to employees, finding the way forward to actualizing the said vision and leading the way with enthusiasm. Being aware that this is your particular style, two key implications to consider might be:

• What if that vision is askew and/or inaccurate?
• What if your enthusiasm and positivism as a leader are wearing out your ‘followers’?