What is your leadership style? There are six different leadership styles, we would like to share with you as follows:

1. The Authoritative Style

The authoritative leader is really good at setting the vision and painting an appealing picture of where we are going. The authoritative leader will not tell you how to get there but will be inspiring you to follow, so he or she will say come with me look at where we're going.

2. The Coaching Style

When we catch someone we don't tell them what to do but we help people to find their own answers. The coaching style is really good to help the individual to unlock their potential, some of the questions that we may ask in the coaching style are what are you trying to achieve? how might you get there? what are the first steps you need to take?

3. The Democratic Style

We probably all understand what the word democratic means. It means that we share the problem space. And in that sense, the democratic leader will almost take a step back and ask people what they feel is the right thing to do. It's proven that decision-making by consensus is not the most effective way of finding a good decision so bear that in mind.

4. The Affiliative Style

The affiliative style is all about harmony, it's a very heart-based style. You might say well when is that ever a good idea but actually, if you're working with a team that feels a bit unsettled. For example, two organizations have merged or something else happened, in that case, people who may not be ready to focus on the job because they have too much in their emotional part of the brain.

5. The Space Setting Style

I set the standard, I roll up my sleeves and I show how the job is to be done. So I'm not afraid of getting in there and really working with my team to show them how it must be done. In the long run that can be quite an exhausting style because I'm here as a leader, I do it and I expect you to follow and it doesn't lead a lot of room, it does leave a lot of room for the individual to actually fill in the blanks.

6. The Commanding Style

Where is my way or no way, you do as I tell you. This style as you can probably imagine is not very effective in the long run, because it doesn't leave a lot of room for the individual to perform well and it's not very empowering. But there is a time and a place where it is appropriate, for instance in a crisis situation when the building is burning I give you direction to get out. But we shouldn't abuse this style because we think there is always a crisis going on.

These six leadership styles you tend to use most of the time, there is time and place for each of them and it is good to mix them up. But it has been proven that the authoritative style and the coaching style are the most effective in the long run. The authoritative style you set the vision you inspire people to follow and the coaching style you help them to find the answers for themselves and to reach that vision.

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