The importance of good leadership so that people, individually and collectively, can perform depends on the leadership behaviors of the director, to a large extent, the motivation and self-confidence of those who depend on him, as well as the stress and cohesion of the director. group, variables all of them of enormous importance to optimize performance.
A leader can use different styles to lead.
Whatever the leadership style, basically three approaches are taken into account:
- Priority in performance or in the person.
- Degree of participation of those led.
- Way of guiding those led.
Priority in performance or person
This dimension reflects an aspect of great importance in leadership. Your goal as a leader should focus on finding the right balance between the two areas: a sensitivity to people that makes everyday life enjoyable and encourages involvement in joint projects, but does not overshadow performance goals.
If sensitivity for the person predominates over performance, the team runs the risk of falling into an accommodation that will prevent it from progressing, but on the other hand, caring about people and fostering a good social relationship are important factors for the group to feel at ease and work better.
Through great sensitivity to people performance is better achieved than establishing another priority. A leader must learn to combine both styles of leadership.
Participation of the led
To what extent do the people you lead participate? Nothing? Do you only inform them? Do you consult them? Do you involve them in the decision-making process? Do they delegate tasks to them?…
A more autocratic leadership implies minimal participation. If you, as a manager, say what to do and leave little or no room for personal initiative, your team will eventually get used to you telling them so much the way forward that they will even fear making decisions.
At the other extreme is the “Do it yourself” delegation. If you transfer responsibility to one or more people on your team and give them more or less powers to act. This does not mean that you disengage, but it does mean that you give control to someone else. But a very important aspect of delegation must be taken into account, and that is to delegate responsibilities to the person who can truly assume them.
What degree of participation is better?
It will depend on the circumstances that are present and the characteristics of the people involved.
Your ability as a director should consist of combining different degrees of participation. Your objective should be to involve the people led by giving them responsibilities and respecting their space, but transmitting to them, at the same time, that you are there assuming your leadership responsibility, and that when necessary, “your pulse does not tremble”.
Guide the led
How do you guide your leaders?
In relation to granting a greater or lesser participation, the “how to guide” is situated, how you lead the people you lead.
- One way to guide is to set and evaluate objectives. Through the establishment, the way forward is indicated, through periodic evaluation, you check how things are going and, from there, decide the next action.
- Other times, the leader guides informing. Not necessarily to say what to do. You also report aspects that you consider relevant for your employees to carry out their task. From there, each one dedicates himself to his task.
- Another way is through one's own example. Your behavior is appropriate to imitate. Imitation behavior. And in relation to this, a "feedback" or "recognition on your part to those led" is established.
Feedback (give and take) is another way to guide. Since related to this, is the praise or recognition. If you reinforce the correct behaviors, you are pointing out, what should be repeated, where to go.
Your ability as a leader consists of combining these variants based on the present circumstances and the characteristics of the people in your charge. Actually, it consists in having the ability to choose the most appropriate style in each case.
As a general rule, it is convenient that you use all participatory styles, reserving autocratic for those moments when it is essential. In this way you will motivate the people in your charge more, and you will have a powerful tool in reserve (the autocratic style), which you can use more effectively when you need it.
