Does your leadership style hurt?

Leaders often determine values, culture, change tolerance and employee motivation. They shape institutional strategies including their execution and effectiveness. Leaders can appear at any level of an institution and are not exclusive to management. Successful leaders however have one thing in common. They influence those around them in order to reap maximum benefit from the organization’s resources and human capital.

Chioma was a peaceful person and she was ready to call a truce to end the war being waged in her department. Every time she asked her people to agree on a direction, it seemed they understood this as a signal to attack.

One group would come up with a plan and the other would knock it down. Someone else would hurl out another idea and then everyone would ride roughshod over that. Reaching agreement over what to do was only a preliminary skirmish. Then a “take-no-prisoners” battle would ensue over the means of getting there. By the time her troops finally reached an agreement, Chioma was exhausted. They, on the other hand, seemed energised and ready to move on to the next issue. How could she put a stop to this combat? She considered setting a time limit on the discussions or taking sides. Or making the decisions herself. After all, there couldn’t be any value to such excruciating conflicts, could there?

Individuals have to decide the style of leadership they prefer. Then they have to decide how to vary their style based on the situation they face. Sometimes you try to change the situation; sometimes you try to change your style. Either can be effective. Chioma has decisions to make. Does she want to be more authoritarian and drive the decisions herself? Is the situation such that she needs to make decisions quickly? How will she get buy-in on the decisions that are made?

What Chioma cannot do is let the situation continue as it is. If she wants her group to learn how to work together better, she will have to get in there and help them understand how to resolve problems. She may have to reorganise the groups. Or change the reward systems so they succeed most when everyone succeeds. If she needs decision made quickly, she may need to become more aggressive about managing input and make the decisions herself.

Leadership is about choices. Chioma has to choose what styles fit her best and what style best fits the situation.