Steve Job’s was visionary. Donald Trump’s is commanding. And Richard Branson’s is democratic.

No, we’re not talking about the aforementioned business leaders’ favorite adjectives, though they might qualify as such. We’re talking about leadership styles.

According to John W. Gardner, “Leadership is the process of persuasion or example by which an individual (or leadership team) induces a group to pursue objectives held by the leader or shared by the leader and his or her followers.” And the manner in which an individual persuades a group to follow him defines his leadership style.

In the case of the late Steve Jobs, the man revered by computer enthusiasts and digital creatives across the globe, his colleagues and employees knew him as a “high maintenance co-worker;” a man who didn’t shy away from criticizing his workers in pursuit of excellence. But he was also a visionary, a man who knew how to paint a picture of his dreams for his company and products. And it was his innate talent for enthusing others with that same vision that made him such a successful leader.

Donald Trump, the larger-than-life celebrity perhaps best known for the words, ”You’re fired!" employs a commanding leadership style. With his military school background and his bluntly assertive manner, he’s proven to raise hackles while developing real estate and an empire that’s worth, according to his own words, more than $8bn.

Sir Richard Branson, humanist, and founder of the Virgin Group, employs a completely different style. The soft-spoken, enthusiastic magnate rarely raises his voice and believes that a great leader needs those he leads. By being an example, he empowers his people to go above and beyond what they thought possible.

The Six Styles

Psychologist and author Daniel Goleman describes six styles of leadership:

  1. Visionary: a leadership style that functions best when seeking new direction for a company. Like Steve Jobs, the visionary leader knows how to motivate people to work together to a shared dream or set of dreams. Oftentimes, the visionary leader encourages his people to experiment, take risks and innovate in order to attain the communal goal.                                                       
  2. Coaching: this is very much a one-on-one leadership style that aims to help an individual develop professionally and become aligned with an organization’s goals. When correctly implemented, this leadership style can be an invaluable tool both for the employee—who gets to learn from the best—and the leader—who guides an employee in the direction that best benefits the company’s goals.                                                                                                                                                                              
  3. Affiliative: the affiliative leadership style is highly focused on team building, teamwork and increasing trust. The emphasis lies on the functioning and achievements of the group, not of the individual.                                                                                              
  4. Democratic: a democratic leadership utilizes all of the expertise and skills of the group to work towards a common goal. It relies heavily on gaining consensus from the majority of the group and doesn’t function well in situations demanding immediate decisions.                                                                                                                                                                                                 
  5. Pacesetting: this is an energy-fueled leadership style that demands increasingly better results and a faster pace of the group. Though it can work well in occasional, highly competitive situations, overuse can lead to undercutting of morale.                                     
  6. Commanding: a traditional, authoritative leadership style that involves dishing out orders and criticism, while rarely giving praise. Though it can be effective in crisis situations, when overused it can create friction in the group and adversely affect job satisfaction.

The Impact of Leadership Styles

There are many articles on leadership styles; some are purely informative, while others include quizzes on how to determine your own leadership style. It’s important to note, however, that not all styles are equally effective in every work environment and every situation. For example, given the collaborative atmosphere of a company like Apple, Inc., you probably wouldn’t incite the best performance if your style was predominantly commanding. But if the office network was hacked and your department needed to take action right away, a commanding style would probably be most effective—without resulting in friction or resentment.

Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Goleman highlights research that demonstrates that “leaders with the best result do not rely on only one leadership style: they use most of them in a given week—seamlessly and in different measure—depending on the business situation.”

So even if you have predominantly one leadership style, take some time to study the other styles and see them in use. For example, observe how your peers and business gurus lead. How do they handle new incentives, morale building and crises? Examine your own performance and determine where you could have handled a situation more effectively with another leadership style. And next time a similar situation comes around, practice that style.

Practice makes perfect, and knowing when and how to utilize each leadership style could prove to be one of the most useful leadership lessons you’ll ever learn.

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