Finding The Right Leader: A Primer On ‘A-P’ Leadership Framework
By: Rohit Bassi
Tags: Business, People, Finance, Leadership, Money

Having spent a large portion of my career helping, running or building small to medium sized businesses, I have often had to develop simplistic tools to problem solve or coach management teams on various topics. One among them that has surfaced most frequently is the topic of leadership. I was reminded of this yet again when Adam, a CEO of a digital printing company and a close friend, recently reached out to me for a coffee meeting to get counsel on accelerating the growth of his business.

After problem solving for a bit, it was clear that Adam was in serious need of managerial talent. I asked him whether he needed an “A” or “P” type leader for his business. Looking at his “what the dickens” expression, I realized I was speaking in code, even for a software guy, and needed to expand.

As an investor, and consistent with my previous operating and advisory roles, I fundamentally believe that while mathematically we underwrite markets, products or a business model, inherently we are also underwriting the current or future team’s ability to deliver against those growth and return goals. Over the years, having made both bad and good investing decisions, one thing is clear to me that agnostic of what my math says, putting the right leaders throughout the organization, be it at executive, functional or even at project level, significantly improves the probability of getting outsized returns.

Hence, whether it’s value, growth or turnaround type investment, I evaluate the type of leadership needed within an organization and then pair it with one of two leadership styles, “A” or “P,” based on my A-P Leadership framework. Let’s break the two styles down further.

An “A” type leader gives their teams significant Autonomy allowing the use of their own methods to get the job done. This kind of leader gets energized by investing time and energy in coaching their employees driving a sense of Appreciation within their teams. Employees will find these leaders Approachable. In return for the above attributes, “A” type leaders expect a high degree of Accountability providing loads of clarity on consequences of key actions or inactions.

“P” type leaders are energized by a well-defined repeatable Process to keep their teams focused and sticking to the plan. They enjoy a high level of Predictability in their organization’s end-product and are driven by consistent and repeatable results. To that effect, they will outline a Prescriptive approach detailing tactical steps to minimize sources of ambiguity. They love using first Principles to solve problems ensuring the deliverables are always rooted in fundamentals.

Here is a deeper look at each attribute for both leadership types.

Autonomy: These leaders don’t micromanage but rather align on the end goals and are comfortable letting their teams stray from pre-defined processes to foster individual ownership and creativity to finish a job. For example, the leader of your new product innovations team probably needs this trait to be comfortable with ambiguity and to promote unconstrained creative thinking within their team.

Appreciation: Teams working for “A” leaders enjoy a high level of professional appreciation from their bosses. These leaders exhibit appreciation both in the form of commendations but also through proactive and impromptu coaching of employees on their developmental needs. Another way they show appreciation is by seeking advice from others, including junior members of their team.

Approachability: “A” type leaders try to create an environment where teams feel comfortable approaching their boss for problem solving or seeking advice without feeling judged or afraid. Given high degrees of autonomy allowed by these leaders, this attribute helps develop a self-regulated counterbalance system for their employees to seek advice as needed. This style is particularly helpful in companies with rapid growth or when you have a young team, like in a startup.

Accountability: In return for the above, “A” leaders expect a high level of accountability from their teams and use it as a key instrument to motivate and to calibrate strengths or gaps in their teams. They leave little ambiguity on the consequences of delivering or failing against set goals.

For a “P” leadership style, the attributes translate as the following:

Process: They are extremely process oriented and like to stick to tried-and-tested approaches to completing tasks. Often precise about each step, they want to ensure repeatability in the approach and outcomes. Think about a large software implementation; in that situation, you want your leader to be a process maniac to ensure timely success.

Predictability: “P” leaders enjoy having a high level of predictability and accuracy in their team’s output. They wish to avoid gray zones and work hard to minimize variances. For example, when hiring a production manager, you want a “P” leader so accurate throughputs can be achieved consistently.

Prescriptive: These folks can be extremely prescriptive and prefer to spell out each step in the process as well as the expected outcomes. If good at communicating, they leave little doubt on what, how and when their teams should deliver results. This style is essential in heads of functions such compliance or safety.

Principles: Reliance on first principles for problem solving is a key attribute of “P” leaders. It is also a way for them to measure the skills of younger or newer employees and to ensure the work product is grounded in fundamentals. For example, the head of engineering design or head of the legal team should have this trait in abundance to avoid any missteps.

When I explained all this to my friend, he still had a few questions regarding whether one style is better than the other, whether a leader can be a blend of both styles and whether he should be assessing his company’s needs for now or the future.

The above is just a framework. But I believe both styles are useful in an organization. For most people, one style is at their core; however, with tenure or changing roles and responsibilities, they may need to demonstrate traits of the other type. It is like while introverts can exhibit extroverted behaviors when needed and extroverts may need their own time and space to think, at the core, people are either introverted or extroverted. Similarly, people are primarily “A” or “P” type leaders, but with practice and awareness, some, but not all, can bounce in and out of the other as needed. Feel free to check out related articles on “A-P Leadership Framework” as part of my series on Forbes.com. This series merely begins to touch the surface of this topic and deserves more content and discussions through various channels.