What's your leadership style and why you should care!
Tags: leadership, career, development
Published: 2020-03-29 20:03:45

---
title: What's your leadership style and why you should care!
published: true
description: 
tags: #discuss #leadership #career #development
cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/s6zz1o8ezbs3v4crhq47.jpg
---

## Summary

In this article we will try to give you some reasons on why you should know what is your leadership style.
Also we will go through the different leadership styles defined by Daniel Goleman (Commanding, Pacesetting, Visionary, Affiliative, Democratic and Coaching) and in which situations these styles are best suited to use.
At the end we hope you are able to identify what's you leadership style and when to use a different style based on the situation.

## Why knowing my leadership style is important?

Your leadership style depends on many factors such as: your level of emotional intelligence, experience, communication style, decision making, etc. Every style has its own benefits and drawbacks. It's important to know our style in order to be aware of how are we impacting our team members and our results with our current style.

Remember, as the great Uncle Ben once said, with great power comes great responsibility. You own to your team members and followers to be the best possible leader you can!

## Commanding: "Do it because I say so"

This leadership style is also known as: **Autocratic, Directive, Coercive.**

The **_Commanding Leader_** unilaterally takes complete control of the situation, dictates what and how is something going to be done and assumes the responsibility entirely.

This style is not recommended to be used long-term, but it can be useful when confronting a crisis or when dealing with problematic people.

Objective: Immediate compliance.

## Pacesetting: "Do it my way"

The **_Pacesetting Leader_** focuses on reaching goals and performance. This Leader expects excellence from the team and the leader could sometimes jump in to make sure the goals are met.

We could use this style when we need some quick results, but is doesn't create a great environment in the long-run.

Objective: Accomplishing tasks with a high standard.

## Visionary: "Let’s remind ourselves of the larger purpose"

Also known as **Authoritative.**

The **_Visionary Leader_** provides a long-term direction and vision for the team. They inspire their teams with the goals and let their teams the task to define how to achieve those goals.

Your team can benefit from this style of leadership when there is a need for a change of direction or when inspiration is needed.

Objective: To inspire and mobilize others towards a vision.

## Affiliative: "People first, task second"

The **_Affiliative Leader_** is focused on creating good relationship and promoting harmony within the team. This Leader puts more emphasis on the people than the tasks in hand.

This style really beneficial when you are forming a new team, or when trust within the team has been broken.

Objective: To create harmony between team members.

## Democratic: "Let’s work it out together"

The **_Democratic Leader_** reaches decisions by consensus and trust the team to define the appropriate direction for themselves and the team. This Leader listens to all their concerns and promotes discussions where all the team can participate.

We can benefit a lot from this type of leadership when we the team knows what they are doing and when we need to have more commitment from all the team members.

Objective: Collaboration, commitment and generating new ideas.

## Coaching: "Let me help you develop"

The **_Coaching Leader_** provides constant challenges, feedback and support for the team members. The leader helps identify the team members aspirations and tries to align them with the organization's goals.

Usage of this style can be beneficial when an employee needs to improve their skill set or performance. Also when trying to help the team member long-term strengths.

Objective: Developing people for the long-term.

## Some questions for you!

- If you were in your ideal team/situation, which style would you use? Why?
- Which style did you use recently? Is it the same answer as the previous question?
- Which style did your boss use?
- Which style would you like to use more?

Stay safe, Cheers!

#### References

https://hbr.org/2000/03/leadership-that-gets-results

https://www.bfwh.nhs.uk/onehr/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Leadership-Styles-V1.pdf

https://intranet.ecu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/755637/Six-Emotional-Leadership-Styles.pdf

http://www.microlearnings.eu/application/files/2514/9196/4973/EN_Clip_3_Golemans_Six_Leadership_styles.pdf