Leadership Style - Develop your own style

There is a spectrum of leadership style out there. It can be categorized into two main category, one is purpose, the other one is level of aggression.

For purpose, this includes servant leadership, which touches on why you actually want to lead. The other type is based on aggression level, from the minimal, laissez faire leadership (means not doing anything), to total control, dictatorship and the spectrum in between it. All of these leadership styles have their pros and cons and I believe as leaders, it is important to have a mixture of it to make us truly effective.

Mixture of Leadership Styles
One sole leadership style will have weaknesses and it may not be able to be applied in every situation out there. When new at leadership, it is good to develop a leadership style that is close to your personality style. For introverts, they may choose servant leadership or leadership of less assertiveness. It will help to strengthen who you are as a leader.

However, as you proceed on with leading, you will find that there are flaws in just having one. For above example, they will find themselves hard to get things done when they need to be straightforward with their followers.

Therefore, once comfortable with dominant leadership style, explore the other side which complements your weaknesses. It will be uncomfortable and may clash with our personality, but just push on as habits take time to develop. Remember, leadership is developed.

Balancing between Leadership Style
After gaining comfortable with leadership style, be flexible with the approach to things. Try balancing between giving assertion and not, and you might find yourself becoming a more effective leader, who knows how to get things done, with the human factor still taken care of. Sometimes an alternative leadership style may just bring about an unique result.

End State
After learning more styles and able to balancing it, you will then create a leadership style that is unique to you. Mixture of everything and getting the best out of the generic leadership style. This will help to maximise your charactor and shape how people look at you in a different light.

This journey of finding your leadership style is never ending. Take in mind that leadership styles is dependent on the situation. Some are just better than others in a situation, but not quite so in the other. Look for opportunities to explore other side of you to make your leadership style more comprehensive.