How To Develop Your Leadership Style

Leadership means different things to different people, and this is because leadership is communicated in different ways. Everyone has a distinct leadership style. Overtime, you will become very self aware, so much so that you will be able to identify your leadership style. It helps people know what to expect whenever you show up.

1. Autocracy

In this style of leadership, the management is done primarily by the leader with little or no input from his team. The output of the leadership directly reflects the mind of the leader. It could be quite demoralizing and impede the progress and growth of the team.

2. Democracy

With this style of leadership, there is more inclusiveness, and the leaders engage with their team. The downside is that it takes a lot of time for decisions to be made with this style.

3. Transformative Leadership

This style of leadership involves a visionary, who communicates to his followers and their role in it. This style is usually categorized by passion, enthusiasm, faith and commitment.

4. Management

5. Laissez-faire leadership

Laissez faire leadership is a type of leadership where the leader permits his followers to act based on their discretion. The ideology most times is for them to freely exploit their creativity and have autonomy.

To identify your leadership style, there are some traits you must become well acquainted to. They include:

Vision

You have to have a vision worth pursuing. This is what compels people to you, who would want to follow you. Your vision determines what is the best style of communication that should be imbibed.

Consistency

You can only discover your leadership style when you stay consistent. You will know what comes naturally to you and what tasks you would like to outsource as a leader.

If you listen to the feedback of your team and followers, it can become easy to decipher your unique leadership pattern. Do you like to involve your team in the decision making? Do you easily delegate? Does your team feel a sense of belonging? This feedback will be helpful in determining your style.

Everyone has a unique style no matter how it might seem. The reason why it is important to know yours is because followers are attracted to patterns. They can easily peek and know what they are likely to become as they follow you. You should also realize that leadership is serious business and an opportunity to influence the lives and thoughts of people.

An honest self-assessment of the way you approach management tasks and interact with the people who work with you is always the game changer. You can also decide to change aspects of your leadership pattern when you discover what traits you have that are not beneficial to your team.