What’s your leadership style?
by Corry Robertson
Many people who seek coaching are in some kind of leadership position, or they want to be. As a coach, it is helpful for your clients if you can help them identify and understand their leadership styles. Have a look below and use these guidelines to help your clients release blockages and build on their strengths.
Keep in mind that most people will not fall squarely into one single category but will exhibit behavioral tendencies. What I really want to do here is to get you thinking about strengths, what to keep, what to build and what does not serve your clients or their people.
The Enhancer: These leaders are self confident, strong; they walk their talk and so have earned the respect of those around them. They lead from a place of personal power (see below for power vs. authority). These are the men and women whom others want to work for because they are known to show a positive attitude, they know how to foster cooperation among others and they are dedicated to spotting the best in others. People produce results for enhancers because they want to and not because they feel they have no choice. Enhancers love to share the credit with their team members and will always protect others from the fall out of things gone wrong.
The Neutralizer: This person will often fall back on authority rather than personal power to get those things done. The neutralizer is generally looked upon with the respect of some, some of the time and the disdain of others, some of the time. Although a neutralizer is capable of expressing emotions, they often don’t so they come across as being impersonal or guarded. Those who report to a neutralizer will do what they have to do to get things done but not a spark of energy more than that.
The Diminisher: Oh my, you don’t want to be this one, that’s for sure! These poor souls are the ones with no self confidence and have no clue when it comes to personal power. Falling back on the authority of their title is key for them; furthermore they will intimidate others. Diminishers are looking out for number one and will not hesitate to hog credit or shift blame. We call them diminishers because they will diminish the organization.
Like I said at the beginning, these are broad stereotypes; however the descriptions do make the point about the direction we should all be heading in. Support your clients through the process of thought in regards to what can be done to develop their own style so that they can land squarely in the Enhancer category. Once they have some ideas about how to improve, then you can get started on goal setting, action planning and making it happen! Yes you can!
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