The man in the grey suit approached as we were taking a coffee break in my presentation on the “12 C’s of Effective Leadership Behaviour” from my book “The Wheel of Effective Leadership Behaviour”.
“So which leadership style do you advocate?” he asked. I paused then said “I don’t advocate any particular style of leadership.” “Which style do you prefer?” I immediately asked.
He said “Situational leadership as taught by Hersey and Blanchard. That works for me.”
“Which leadership style doesn’t work for you?” was my next question.
“Well I don’t like charismatic leadership, nor do I like the hype around transformational leadership.”
“So what’s your leadership style?” he asked the question I knew was coming.
“No name that I know of. I just try to be the best I can be in the moment. Most of the time I let people do their thing because they are doing it well. I’m always happy to facilitate, coach and even direct if need be.”
“Isn’t that situational leadership?” he asked. “Not exactly, they didn’t include ‘letting’ in their descriptors, they just had directing, coaching, supporting and delegating” I replied.
He moved on.
I try and help my clients not get bogged down with adopting specific leadership styles that have been convincingly told or sold.
Instead I get them to behave effectively as leaders, according to the values agreed upon, the vision, the goals and the behaviour and performance of their people, and my clients’ own capabilities and characteristics.
What do you think?
