There are many different leadership styles and theories out there, but my personal favourite is the Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory. This theory states that a good, situational leader isn’t just one kind of leader, all the time. Instead, a situational leader looks at the situation — the people, the task at hand and more — and allows this to dictate how they lead.

 

There are 4 different SLT leadership styles.

1. Telling

When you’re dealing with lots of tasks and low-level staff members, leaders make decisions, provide lots of direction and monitor performance closely.

2. Selling

The selling style is perfect for willing and eager staff members. Leaders still make decisions and provide lots of direction, but the staff “own” the project.

3. Participating

The participating style is a nice balance of leader support, without the leader providing too much direction as team members might view it as micromanagement.

4. Delegating

Lastly, the delegating style allows a leader to divide up responsibilities, but the leader mostly just monitors the work from afar, never too closely.

Get you and your team well acquainted with the range of influences, read here. If you would like a free assessment of skills against the ENGAGE model, click here.