If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
– John Quincy Adams
When doing my leadership assessment as part of my Innovative Planning Pathway, I noticed that I didn’t fall into one category completely, but my predominant style is the Democratic (or participative) leadership style. This means that I take the views of others into account, encourage people to not only participate but to also have their own opinions because let’s be frank…I don’t have all the answers.
The democratic leadership style handles conflicts with respect and aims to gain consensus. There are some criticisms to this style as leaders can often seem indecisive or seem to “waste time” making decisions due to consulting with their team. It’s also been said that consulting is seen as inaction.
The other style that I sometimes fall into is the Bureaucratic style because I am a follower of rules and when there are exceptions, I make new rules.
This is the style where people tend to micro-manage, they are seen to care more about processes than people, with little or no flexibility to changing procedures during a crisis. I know that there are many parts of this style that I no longer practice, but it really made me think back to my younger days when I first started managing a team and I noticed that I was the copy and paste of this style.
Let’s go back in time so that I can fill you in…
I was in my first management role in my 20’s and had no clue what I was doing. Companies don’t tend to send you on a leadership course before you get promoted to a manager or what we now like to become, a leader. They generally choose their top performer or in my case we were a small business so as I grew, I needed to hire a team underneath me to take over tasks that I used to do. The challenge is that you are still solely reliant on your technical skills and make many mistakes along the way as you are now dealing with people and not tasks.
Throughout the years I liked to be in control of a situation, seeking approval from my manager and my teammates. I liked to direct the team on what to do and often took over or micromanaged the situation when it either wasn’t getting done or done correctly. Often thinking: “I may as well do it myself”.
I have been a control freak my whole life and in my career have been let down quite a few times so trust has never been a strong point for me when it comes to getting the job done, and at the end of the day who does the buck stop with? Me.
Let’s fast forward to today…
I started working with an inspirational leader who helped me to see things in a very different way. He always put people first and was known for saying “everyone is doing their best, nobody messes up with malicious intent” – he inspired me to start challenging myself to become a better leader and see things differently. Seeing how his ultimate trust in my abilities along with his charismatic leadership style made me feel, I knew that I wanted to be better.
They say that true leadership shines through when you make ordinary people do extraordinary things. Well in my case I am pretty lucky because I have a team who were already extraordinary, so I guess it makes my job that much easier.
Am I the perfect leader? No, I often still slip into rules mode, I still offer up ideas and solutions instead of guiding my team on finding the solution themselves, this ends up making the team depend on me more, and maybe I kind of like that as it feels like I am needed in a way. But the learning here is this is not what leaders should do… coaching a team, and asking the right types of questions to help them become solution orientated is key to their growth and helping them become the best versions of themselves.
Do I let the fact that I am not a perfect leader get me down? No, every day I wake up, go to the office and work hard at being better. I am always open to new ideas, to collaboration and to basking in the joy of success together as a team.
I’m glad that I did this assessment as part of my Toastmasters pathway. I was very happy to see that I have grown as a leader and will continue to work hard on becoming a leader who inspires and motivates my team and others to reach not only the companies goals, but also their own aspirations. This, I believe, will allow us to enjoy the sweet smell of success and taste the fruits of our labour.