Daniel Goleman who writes on emotional intelligence, also lays out six distinct styles of leadership. Last week, Ryan Lahit of OrgLeader visited eBay to give my organization’s management team an overview of these concepts. I found this vocabulary useful in understanding and observing the styles of leadership I see in others.
Six Styles of Leadership:
- Coercive (aka Directive) – Demands immediate compliance (telling)
- Authoritative (aka Visionary) – Mobilizes people toward a vision (selling)
- Affiliative – Creates harmony and builds emotional bonds (relationships)
- Democratic – Building commitment thru participation (consensus)
- Pacesetting – Sets high standards for performance (showing)
- Coaching – Developing people for the future (supporting)
I think it is important to understand which style is most important given the situation as well as where the organization is in its development (more on this later).
Want to learn more?
- Article: Leadership that Gets Results [$] (Goleman, HBR 2000)
- Book: Primal Leadership (Goleman, 2004 Edition)
- Consultant: Ryan Lahit of OrgLeader, LLC
- Previous blog post of mine: Emotional Intelligence