What is Your Leadership Style?

Author: Michele Webb

There are countless numbers and types of leadership styles in organizations today. Unfortunately, many leaders today are ineffective because they are not motivators or because they have a warped idea about their role and purpose. As such, workers in these organizations suffer from inadequate leadership and likely have no energy, motivation or loyalty to the organization.

Leaders who honestly appraise their leadership style can effectively reinvent themselves in order to inspire and motivate those whom they lead, are to be commended. Here are five basic categories of leadership. Identify which category best suits your style and how you can best use your style to motivate and lead those who work with you.

1.Authoritarian. Leaders using this style are often harsh, demanding, and inflexible in their approach to others. Best stated as "It is my way or the highway!"

2.Humanistic. This leadership style is characterized by someone who does not follow a precise plan. They allow others to set the agendas. You may hear a humanistic leader say "What do you think we should do today?"

3.Charismatic. These leaders depend on personality and energy for success. You can hear them say "Wow! I am really excited about this!"

4.Democratic. Democratic leaders are always seeking a group consensus prior to moving ahead. Have you heard anyone say this lately? "Before we go any further, let's take a vote."

5.Mission-Driven. Leaders who are mission-driven build teams to help bring about the organization's vision and purpose. They may be overhead to say, "We are all in this together."

There are some interesting observations to be made about these styles. For the first four styles: authoritarian, humanistic, charismatic and democratic, their style almost always reflects a person who is in charge, or "at the helm" of the business. When a leader is mission-driven, however, several other important factors emerge, most importantly that the entire organization is pulling together in the same direction. This means that there is far less motivating or "nudging" the troops and more forward direction.

So, what is your leadership style? Review the five basic categories above and determine which style you typically present. If, after your review, you decide that you want to change your style, then reinvent yourself! Become a party of one to change and motivate yourself to become an effective leader!

Publishing Rights: You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your website, free of charge, as long as the author's information and web link are included at the bottom of the article and the article is not changed, modified or altered in any way. The web link should be active when the article is reprinted on a web site or in an email. The author would appreciate an email indicating you wish to post this article to a website, and the link to where it is posted. Copyright 2005, Michele Webb. All Rights Reserved.

About the author: The author manages a number of her own website businesses and is a member of a number of organizations for women Netpreneurs and business owners and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada USA with her two dogs. You can contact Michele at mailto:news@ebooksnstuff.com or visit her website at: http://www.ebooksnstuff.com