leadership styles 2.pdf

Leadership Styles for Dealing with People

Part 2: Putting Effective Leader Styles to Work for You

John I. Cornelius, M.S., PMP

This paper is a continuation of last month’s article,

Leadership Styles for Dealing with People by Dr. Ed

Cornelius.

This month’s article features a downloadable self-

scoring Leader Style Questionnaire and some

practical ideas for putting effective leadership styles to

work for you.

Do people react differently depending

upon how you approach them?

In Part One of this article, we defined leadership

styles as the broad, characteristic way in which a

leader interacts with others in various situations and

occasions. We presented the leader style continuum

shown below.

Do people react differently depending

upon how you approach them?

Is there an optimum style for influencing

others?

What is your leadership style?

Should a leader change his or her style

when interacting with different people

and different situations?

Submissive Low Mid High Aggressive

Assertive Assertive Assertive

Degree of Assertiveness

We learn at an early age that people react differently

depending upon how we approach them. As toddlers

we learn that if we say “please,” adults are more likely

to respond favorably to us. As young adults, most of

us learn that we must first demonstrate to our parents

that we can operate within our existing boundaries

before we can expand our future boundaries. Ideally,

before we enter the world of work, we learn how to

make on-the-spot adjustments to our communication

and behavior styles to increase the likelihood that we

will achieve our desired outcomes.

www.collegiateproject.com

Thus the answer to our first question is that people

do change their behavior depending on how they are

approached.

Is there an optimum style for influencing

others?

Yes! When we choose assertive leader behaviors and

eliminate submissive and aggressive behaviors from our

style inventory, we are optimizing our effectiveness

for influencing others

Use the Low-Assertive, or Caring, approach

To encourage someone to express his or her

ideas more fully.

To help people become more self-sufficient by

encouraging them to think through issues.

To teach people how to take more individual

responsibility and ownership for their tasks and

responsibilities.

To help people understand the consequences of

their behavior choices by using an open,

questioning style.

Our experience is that when leaders approach people

using one of the low, mid, or high assertive styles they

are more likely to get positive results. People are more

likely to feel involved, respected, and willing to

respond with openness and honesty.

Use the Mid-Assertive, or Collaborative,

approach

To get someone actively involved in meaningful

discussions about problems and issues.

To encourage an interactive sharing of ideas and

opinions.

To help a person understand how to manage

multiple tasks in a work process or project.

To share decision making with others.

When leaders approach others using an aggressive

style, the response is often one of reluctant

compliance. The psychological affect might be one of

hurt, withdrawal, or even displaced anger.

Aggressive leaders tend to gain compliance from

others, but don’t usually get loyalty or respect.

Use the High-Assertive, or Compelling,

approach

To clearly state expectations.

When leaders use a submissive style the response is

not always healthy for the employee, the organization,

or the leader. Submissive leaders are often seen as

unable or unwilling to provide the support that is

needed by the employees or the organization. The

level of morale in their workgroups is

characteristically low.

What is Your Leadership Style?

How would you score yourself on this leader style

continuum? Click on the following link to download

the self-scoring Leader Style Questionnaire at

www.collegiateproject.com/articles/LeaderExercise.pdf

Should a leader change his or her style

when interacting with different people

and different situations?

We must be able to adapt our style choices to the

specific people or situations we face. Here are some

examples of when to use each style choice:

To demonstrate a more affirmative and direct

tone in your communications.

To communicate when time is short and there is

little time for discussion.

To deal with a procrastinator.

To persuade highly opinionated people to see

your point of view.

Summary

Leaders have choices in how they deal with people

and situations. By consciously choosing a leader style

that is most likely to give you the outcome response

that is needed, your effectiveness as a leader will

increase significantly.

If you found this article helpful and would

like to read more, please go to our website

at www.collegiateproject.com and browse

our ERP Library.

www.collegiateproject.com

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: