There seems to be a never-ending list of leadership styles, models and theories, with new ones emerging frequently.
The topic of ‘leadership books’ in Amazon throws up 176,009 titles!
They all say pretty much the same thing – it’s about influencing people to behave and act together to achieve a vision. They unpack that statement into the why, what, how, where, when, who and what if. They draw diagrams and flow charts. They reference academic or laboratory data.
They give them names to distinguish the authors’ points of view, such as situational leadership, transformational leadership, autocratic leadership etc., etc.
I admit that I have written about leadership often, but I have never chosen to create a new name or style or create a ‘new’ model.
Rather I coach and train how to deliver effective leadership behaviour.
Behaviour designed to influence and support people to achieve something worthwhile, and how to deal effectively with unacceptable behaviour and situations whilst keeping trust and respect.
Studying leadership is not leadership. Leadership theory is not leadership.
Leadership is developed through experience, practice and often by making mistakes.
What drove me to write this piece was the term I heard the other day – human-centred leadership!
Now tautologies are being created to be seen as different or expert!
All leadership is human-centred – everything else is management.
Leadership is complex because we are complex. Attempts to create models and styles can oversimplify the role. And theories – well, they are just that – theories.
What I do agree with is that some models make sense so long as you know you’ll need to change it for yourself and for those you are leading, in the moment.
If you are interested in an article that covers most models go here – it’s reasonably comprehensive – it’s not mine.
What do you think?
