We’re all familiar with the old-school style of management. You know, the “it’s my way or the highway” type of attitude and leading from the top.
But leadership today is changing significantly.
With leadership now focusing more on honesty, transparency and empowering employees over stern authority and strict hierarchy, we’re starting to hear the same question from leaders across the globe:
Is there a “right” way to lead?
In this article, we’ll walk through some common approaches to leadership, whether they work, and how you can become a better leader.
Common Approaches to Leadership
When it comes to leadership styles, we often see two common approaches pitted against each other.
The first is the more old-school approach, where leaders are hierarchical and authoritative and focus more on working to best practice.
This approach might get results in the short term. But the problem is that it can create a hostile work environment when employees feel like they’re being micromanaged or are put under massive amounts of pressure to get results. Talented employees are also more likely to disengage and walk away in the long term.
The other approach to leadership is a more relaxed style where you grant employees more independence and control over their work.
“Giving people too much freedom and space has meant that projects have dragged on”
This “laissez-faire” approach might strive to create a more positive work environment and foster higher levels of creativity. But many leaders have found that giving people too much freedom and space has meant that projects have dragged on, balls have been dropped, and people have grown lazy over time.
So, perhaps leadership isn’t so black and white. Perhaps the answer isn’t choosing between a more old-school, authoritative approach and a more relaxed style.
Instead, it’s knowing how to react and adapt to certain situations. It’s about being responsive.
What Is Responsive Leadership – And Is It the Way Forward?
Responsive leadership means adapting and adjusting your leadership style in response to specific situations, people and environments.
It means that instead of taking a “one-size-fits-all” approach, you’re able to adapt your skillsets and tactics to best suit the ways that your people work.
In some scenarios, this might mean taking a more old-school leadership approach. While in others, it might mean taking a more relaxed approach. It’s about being able to fuse the two as well as understanding how to mix different styles of leadership to get the best results.
This approach also comes with a wealth of benefits.
First, it helps you to better motivate, engage and empower employees to do more meaningful work. Second, it enables you to allow autonomy and independence while keeping employees focused on specific goals and objectives. And third, it helps you to adapt to change more quickly and continuously improve your and your teams’ skillsets.
So, how do you actually put responsive leadership into practice?
Leadership consultant and author of The 7 Secrets of Responsive Leadership Jackie Jenkins-Scott advises that there are four essential attributes of a great responsive leader:
- Curiosity: A desire to continuously improve themselves and their teams, and learn from a variety of sources and perspectives.
- Humility: The acknowledgement that they might not have all the skills or answers themselves, and can learn from others.
- Empathy: Understanding others’ thoughts and feelings and taking them into account when finding solutions.
- Resilience: Being able to deal with change, anticipate challenges and bounce back from failure.
If you’re looking to improve your leadership style or adopt a more reactive leadership approach, the good news is that the above four attributes are soft skills that you can work on over time. For more on how to identify and hone your soft skills, see our guide here.
So perhaps there isn’t one single “right way to lead”. Perhaps there’s a combination of ways. It’s about being able to adapt the way you lead to the situation in front of you. That’s what responsive leadership is about.
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