Deep Dive: Leadership Styles & Theories
Part 1
“What is the best leadership style?”
For years, I’ve been reading and collecting ideas about leadership, but I haven’t found a definite answer to the question.
Yet, I am leaning towards being flexible and constantly experimenting with your communication.
Knowing different theories and styles will help you distill the one you are comfortable with. However, it will never be the exact one. It does not work like that. Different people need different leadership.
Be one of many. Authentically yourself while being a strong communicator.
I don’t want to overwhelm you, so let’s look at the first few theories:
Trait Theory – Are Leaders Born or Made?
Behavioral Theories – Leadership Is What You Do
The Contingency Theory of Leadership: A Focus on Fit
Charismatic Leadership - Magic
Participative Leadership
And next time, we look into situational leadership, transformational leadership, servant leadership, authentic leadership, transactional leadership, and adaptive leadership.
Contents:
Why is it useful to know different theories
Trait Theory – Are Leaders Born or Made?
Behavioral Theories – Leadership Is What You Do
Kurt Lewin’s Leadership Styles
The Ohio State Studies
The University of Michigan Studies
Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid
The Contingency Theory of Leadership: A Focus on Fit
Charismatic Leadership - Magic
Participative Leadership - Collaboration is Key
Path-Goal Theory
Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory
Wrap Up
1. Why is it useful to know different theories
Why are you here today? Probably to learn something new. I recently read that if you learn five hours a week, you’re well on your way to improving your skills and knowledge.
Just five hours a week. I want leadink be part of that learning. That’s for sure.
Knowing different leadership theories is wise. It helps professionals understand, adapt, and improve their leadership approach.
Leadership is fluid. Nothing is set in stone. As the old saying goes, one hat does not fit all. What we used to think about management 10 years ago is now irrelevant.
Studying and practicing leadership is all about:
Working on your skills and personal effectiveness. When you gain insights into various leadership styles, your communications capacity expands and you are likely to quickly adapt to what’s happening in your team, organization, or personal life.
Adaptability and decision-making. The more you know, the more you are flexible. Believe me or not, but learning about different styles will help you adapt your communication based on content, the team dynamics, and goals. Who would not like to make better decisions?
Building high-performing teams: While I am not a fan of high-performing teams, even I have to say that applying the right leadership theory can boost team motivation, engagement, and productivity.
Developing self-awareness and growth: Leadership starts with you. Studying theories helps you recognize your strengths, weaknesses, and, most importantly, biases. Without self-awareness, you cannot refine your leadership style over time.
Like any other skills, leadership needs food for thought. You can always do it better. Swing between styles like a fish in water.
2. Trait Theory – Are Leaders Born or Made?
If you have the right traits, you’re naturally included to lead. You must have specific personality qualities such as confidence, intelligence, and decisiveness.
The Scottish historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle promoted the idea of “the History of the Great Men who have worked here.”
When you have such a strong argument, there is no surprise that a proponent of eugenics, Francis Galton, in his 1869 book, stated that:
This thought has been intriguing ever since. Researchers have tried to prove or disprove it. In the 1940s, they acknowledged the influence of the external environment, organizational culture, and the types of employees and work.
In the 2000s, the trait theory made a comeback because researchers discovered that personality, indeed, plays a role in leadership success. It is one piece of the puzzle that, together with organization culture, mission, business environment, culture differences, etc., is worth exploring further.
While we still don’t fully understand how personality affects leader effectiveness, we know interpersonal skills, managerial skills, and decision-making can be learned, improved, and changed.
While personality traits such as motivation, dominance, integrity, creativity, charisma are much harder to change (if so).
Still, some people believe in personality tests, such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, which has been popular. The test should not be used for hiring, but it is okay for team-building, conflict management, or leadership development.
Read also:
🔹Key takeaway: leadership skills can be developed through experience and training. But if you want to have fun with a team, do a personality test.
3. Behavioral Theories – Leadership Is What You Do
If leaders are not born, how are they made?
Behaviors.
Behavioral leadership theories focus on what you do, on your actions, and decisions. Scrap your personality traits. What you do and how you show up matters.
There are five notable mentions:
Lewin’s Leadership Styles – 1939
The Ohio State Studies – Late 1940s to early 1950s
The University of Michigan Studies – 1940s to 1950s
Blake and Mouton’s Managerial Grid – 1964
Kurt Lewin’s Leadership Styles
In 1939, Kurt Lewin and his colleagues Ronald Lippitt and Ralph K. White conducted a famous research study. They experimented with a group of boys in a controlled environment.
They observed how different leadership styles affected group behavior, productivity, and team morale.
The experiment consisted of three groups of boys working on various crafting projects. Each leader was instructed to use a specific leadership style - authoritarian, democratic, laissez-faire (delegative).
Key findings:
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