Start-ups, new products and home businesses require not just great ideas, but great leaders. Leadership can be a rewarding experience, but there are many different ways to lead your team to success. Do you know which is best for you?
Could you be a pace-setting leader, dishing out hard deadlines to motivate fast results? This style can work well when your team has targets to hit — but if you’re too hard on your employees, this can backfire. Keep your team happy by showing that you trust them. Try asking for ideas and giving them a chance to manage their own workload. They will become more invested in the work they do and more driven to hit those deadlines when the time comes.
Or maybe you’re a coach, working closely with your star players to help them achieve top results. Coaching works best when an employee truly wants to learn. It’s a brilliant way to motivate your team, but if you need quick results, it may be best to focus on getting the workload done.
Whatever your management style, the important thing is to know what your strengths are and which skills need to develop. Our new infographic offers a great flowchart to help you identify what type of leader you are, with tips to refine your technique.
![What Type of Leader Are You? [Flowchart]](https://www.bizcatalyst360.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/what-type-of-leader-are-you.png)
What Type of Leader Are You? [Flowchart], courtesy of Headway Capital
In literature there are many classifications of different shapes and styles of leadership. This ability can be manifested in many different ways; every leader has unique characteristics and has his own style, multi-faceted, which favors and focuses on specific skills and qualities. Very difficult that someone may have, in equal measure, all the features presented and I do not think that there is, in fact, a perfect leader. The most effective leader is the one who manages to adapt his behavior to the circumstances specific to different people and the different stages of the life cycle of an organization.
The major concern for a leader today is finding the right combination of complementary talents: how to build a diverse and creative team that can reach better decisions.
Flow charts and lists of types of actions always over simplify the reality. A leader must be able to move from one style of leadership to another, depending on circumstances, in a seamless fashion. A weak leader tends to function within a style that is comfortable for him/her and as noted no single style works in all situations.
There are many nuances in each of the listed leadership styles, too.