Eight leadership styles and how they fit into an organizational structure

It is often claimed that the strength of leadership is the most important factor in the success of an organization; teams without good leaders must look elsewhere for inspiration and creativity, while a good leader will motivate and drive better performance in an environment geared toward individual, team, and organizational success.

But with so many leadership styles, and each with their own strengths and weaknesses, it’s helpful to take a moment to define these styles.

Below, we look at eight different leadership styles and where they might fit in an organization.

• campaign leaders

These types of leaders are highly ethical and very professional, correcting others when necessary; they are dependable and will spend time making sure all team members are clear on their roles and instilled with a sense of purpose.

Campaign leaders ensure that top performing employees are rewarded. As the organization grows over time, the power of its leadership increases. Typically, your organizational leadership role will be to maintain good governance.

• visionary creators

The roles of visionary creators within an organization are to help make the company’s vision a reality.

These leaders are compassionate and make their team members feel valued and important. The work environment is creative and team members take risks, but always within the sense of direction of the larger team. They excel at bringing revolutionary visions to life, using means that are not always conventional, but the work cycles are highly planned and deliberate.

• Charismatic speakers

Charismatic storytellers excel at developing new ideas and results for an organization.

They are specialists in using their skills to influence team members, but include everyone in discussions and consider the opinions of others respectfully and without prejudice. They use their naturally charismatic personalities to encourage others to reach their potential and are particularly effective where budget and time constraints are few.

• Practical problem solvers

Practical problem solvers are leaders who create solutions and solve problems seamlessly.

They are strong leaders and stick to their actions without fear of consequences; are fair in their dealings with others and promote an environment of active contribution; they encourage the team to innovate and adapt without fear, to achieve a result. This is often a “bottom-up” style of leadership, based on autonomous and independent decision-making.

• Strategic Policy Makers

Strategic policy makers help an organization go in the desired direction.

They like to lead in a “guided autonomy” style, in which the core values ​​of democracy and freedom of expression are upheld, but always with a sense of community in general and the organization as a whole. They provide the guiding intelligence and oversee strategic decision making, but will use consultation, brainstorming, and collaboration with their team. In return, team members are expected to “walk the talk.”

• military generals

General-style military leaders ensure compliance with company rules and regulations.

These types of leaders stand up for what they believe in at all times and use traditional command and control methods to provide strong, top-down, authoritarian leadership with a structured hierarchy. There is little room for team members to innovate and they are expected to follow scheduled tasks. Teams can sometimes feel a sense of security and confidence with this style.

• specialist experts

Specialist experts have a leadership style that focuses on defined, tightly scripted roles and creating a consistent culture of precision and execution; Team members are expected to efficiently follow scheduled tasks using their specialized skills to provide standardized delivery, as determined by the leader. There are clear audit trails of the work and the decisions are very deliberate. It is a respectful environment where the development of technical skills is encouraged and knowledge and experience are highly valued.

• Business Mobilizers

Business mobilizers create new opportunities and delivery channels for the organization.

They often look outside the organization for innovative ideas that can be applied internally and actively seek out new challenges to test their skills. Within the team role, they will typically focus on shared identity and joint goals, gradually formulating new strategies.

Your organization may not have all of these leadership styles, but you should be able to identify at least one or two.