What's Your Style?

Leadership styles are very important in how one operates in their specific leadership role. Leadership styles speak to who a person is and how they think, collaborate and work with others. Perfecting one's specific leadership style takes time to develop and ultimately, it shows who they are and how they serve those that they lead.

Laissez-Faire Leadership

Laissez-Faire Leadership style is one I tend to stray away from. Not that it is "bad", but because it does not match who I am as a person. Laissez -Faire Leaders allow for the employees make decisions on their own. It does not call for the leader to motivate their teams. This could lead to a lack of work productivity and missed deadlines.

Transactional Leadership

As rapper 2 Chains said in his song, "It's A Vibe", "And if you get paid, it's solely based on your performance." That's how I view the Transactional Leadership style. It only benefits each other. I relate it to a rewards system inside your classroom. Only inside the classroom, it isn't punitive if a student doesn't meet certain expectations. You do things just right or correctly, you receive a reward.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational Leadership is one that I thought I resonated with during graduate school, at the beginning. It aligned specifically to who I was as a person.Transformational Leadership focuses on the end-goal and the vision. Leaders transform the mindsets and productivity of their teams through encouragement and positivity. They motivate their teams to become better and to work together to meet the needs and goals of the work community. Transformational Leaders make positive changes through collaboration.

Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership is one that I am still working in. I believe that leaders should serve those that they lead. I think that Servant Leadership is Transformational Leadership, with a twist. Servant Leaders truly serve in their roles by prioritizing others before themselves. The lead and serve while remaining humble. Servant Leaders provide a lot of effective and constructive feedback, listen actively, and grow their teams. These leaders ensure that their teams feel as though they matter in their workspace. Building a strong team that is vision-oriented is important for servant leaders.

Leading people is crucial to the development of a company, business or organization. How one leads affects the success of the company. Choosing a leadership style should speak to who a person is, how they collaborate with others and the approach one uses to complete a task and/or achieve a goal. What's your style?