Depending on the source or the author you will find different models for leadership styles: coaching leadership, autocratic leadership, coercive leadership, affiliative leadership, authoritative leadership, pacesetting leadership, democratic leadership, team leadership, laissez-faire leadership, coaching leadership, transactional leadership, charismatic leadership, visionary leadership, strategic leadership … and many more!
The next step is the discussion what leadership-style is best? It is impossible to find a conclusive answer: many answers are akin to ‘it depends on the situation’ or ‘maybe a mix of different styles gives the best results’.
The next challenge for those in a leadership position is that it is not that easy to change your leadership style, even if there are indications that a different style would deliver better results for the team you lead. As a leader there is a tendency to follow a style that is up so some level, determined by your personality. Unless, of course, you have a strong commitment to change your style which requires a serious effort.
What does a leader really hope to see happening for the team that he/she leads? Well nothing else than that the team reaches its maximum realization-potential. Realization-potential can nearly always be increased, independent of the leadership-style of the leader of the team. Some leadership-styles don’t stimulate the realization-potential at all ! Some studies even pretend that the average realization-potential is only at 35% of what it could be !
Therefore, whatever leadership-style the leader has, he/she should make sure that he/she complements his/her style with the style of an attitude-capital developer. You could think, well this is close to the coaching leadership-style: well yes and no, because there is much more in it than just coaching. First prerequisite is that the leader understands all principles needed to develop the attitude-capital. Secondly, he /she should apply successfully all those principles initially to himself/herself because the leader should be an example for the team. For example, it is impossible to teach your team members how to make decisions if as a leader you are unable to set the right example. I have seen many examples of leaders who think they can make decisions, but in reality there is much improvement possible. It is the same with positive ‘yes I can attitude’: even if you fake that attitude yet deep inside it is not present, as a leader you will reveal yourself unwillingly by words or body language that you don’t really have that attitude and as a result you can’t be an attitude-capital developer for your team. There is nothing that can make up for not being an attitude-capital developer. No other management style can create attitude-capital for you, there is no perfect strategy or perfect marketing campaign or generous bonus or compensation plan that can create the required attitude-capital: you need to affect positive changes in your team through your own attitude-capital as a leader and through the attitude-capital you develop in your team.
Conclusion: whatever your management style is, make sure that you are an attitude-capital developer and that as a leader you personally possess a strong attitude-capital.
The expert-institute for attitude-capital is specialized in growing attitude-capital, helping in that way to increase the realization-potential of companies, teams, executives and individuals.
