Management style is the manner in which a leader directs and influences a team. It has a significant impact on how effectively a team works together and achieves its goals. Cultivating a strong and flexible management style is essential to team leadership success. This guide will give you insights from leadership training on how to develop a winning management style that promotes team success and creates a positive work climate.
Understanding Different Management Styles
Overview of Common Management Styles
Over the years, a number of management styles have been unveiled: some supporting the act of commanding, others trying to fit into a horizontal approach, some encouraging the autonomy of their team members, and others trying to manage different creative individuals. The first step is to understand which of these styles you are employing.
Autocratic Management Style: A manager using this style will make decisions on their own and expect the team to follow without question. This approach can be useful for quick decision-making in complex situations or in teams that are working together for the first time and need direction. However, it can lead to a lack of creativity and team members becoming disengaged if used too often.
Democratic Management Style: As its name suggests, it is the opposite of the autocratic style. Democratically, the manager solicits opinions from the team before making a decision. This style is collaborative and creative, and in most cases, it results in higher employee engagement. When the team is part of the decision-making process, the manager benefits from wider thinking and creates shared ownership. However, the democratic style slows down the decision-making process. It is likely to be ineffective in crises requiring rapid action.
Transformational Management Style: Transformational leaders inspire, motivate, and challenge their teams by focusing on the bigger picture and driving change through vision, desire, and energy. This style is useful in organizations that are changing or growing, where managers can inspire innovation and encourage staff to realize their potential. Transformational managers concentrate on developing those who report to them, creating a culture of continuous improvement and high morale. It is a highly focused style but requires a strong leader to inspire. It may need to be more effective in highly structured or routine environments.
Laissez-faire Management Style: The laissez-faire management style is when managers delegate very little information and allow team members to make their own decisions and lead themselves. This style is ideal when working with a highly skilled, self-motivated team that will thrive from the autonomy and minimal direction given. However, it can lead to a lack of direction and accountability if the team is self-disciplined and clear goals are established.
While each of these management styles has its own advantages and disadvantages, their effectiveness also tends to depend on the context in which they are exercised. Knowledge of these styles enables managers to select the appropriate style in accordance with the situation and type of team.
Assessing Your Current Management Style
Being self-aware is a very important part of being a good leader. If you want to have a management style that works, you have to start by finding out how you currently run things and how that affects your team. Ask yourself questions about what kind of decision-maker you are, what type of communicator, and how you deal with problems.
Questions you might ask yourself include: What are my general approaches to decision-making? Do I generally involve my team in decision-making, or do I make decisions on my own? How do I communicate goals and expectations to my team? Do I give specific directions, or do I expect my team members to figure it out? How do I handle mistakes or setbacks? Do I offer support and encourage my team members, or do I emphasize accountability and take corrective action?
Further insights into your management style can be gleaned from your own team. Send out an anonymous survey or hold one-on-one meetings to get candid feedback on your leadership. Pose questions such as ‘How do you feel I make decisions?’ and ‘How do you feel I communicate with you?’ You can also ask, ‘How do you feel I solve problems?’ Getting feedback on how your management style is received can give you insight into your strengths as a leader and where you may need to make adjustments.
It starts with acknowledging both the advantages and disadvantages of your current style. For instance, if your autocratic ways are leading to disengagement, you might consider whether you can infuse your leadership with more democratic elements. Suppose your laissez-faire approach is leading to a need for more direction. In that case, consider whether you need to provide a more structured direction. This doesn’t mean that you need to change your style in every situation. What it does mean, if you’re being self-aware and open to change, is that you’ll develop a style that better supports the needs of your team and that drives success.
The Role of Leadership Training in Shaping Management Style
Leadership Training Fundamentals
Leadership training is a valuable tool for managers who wish to develop their skills and formulate an efficient management style. Leadership training helps managers understand the principles of leadership and management so that they can effectively lead a team in an organization.
Leadership training usually comprised topics related to communication, decision-making, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, and team building.
A key benefit of leadership training is that it informs managers on how different management styles have a decisive effect on the composition of their team and its work. In other words, leadership training allows managers to learn about different leadership theories and models that impact how they motivate, lead, and communicate with their teams, thus allowing for more informed decisions on how to lead teams in different scenarios.
Furthermore, leadership training often involves experiential sessions and simulations through which managers can practice what they’ve learned in a safe environment. In these sessions, managers have the opportunity to experiment and try out various management techniques—to see what works for them and how. With guided practice and feedback, managers can hone their skills, develop a style that suits their strengths and the needs of their team, and build confidence in their abilities.
Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses
Another critical component of leadership development is helping managers better understand their strengths and weaknesses. When you understand your innate leadership style and where you excel, you can leverage those areas in your management style. Suppose you’re naturally empathetic and great at relationship-building. In that case, you might have a natural affinity for a transformational or democratic style that emphasizes relationship-building and emotional intelligence.
On the other hand, training in leadership can help you to identify how you perform poorly and how you might better perform in a range of situations. If you are poor at making quick decisions or delegating, maybe you will learn a ‘recipe’ that can help you improve these skills. By correcting weaknesses, you will become a more versatile manager.
You might also undergo some type of self-assessment, such as a personality test, 360-degree feedback, or leadership style inventory, that helps you better understand your current leadership skills. For example, if you have a strong need for control, a leadership assessment might suggest that you trust your team more and give them more autonomy. It’s better for you to recognize where you fall short and then try to improve, becoming a more versatile and effective manager.
Adapting and Evolving Your Management Style
Leadership is not a one-size-fits-all discipline. Good managers know that their management style should shift to match the needs of their team and the demands of the situation. Leadership training gives managers the skills and techniques they need to change the way they manage as circumstances evolve.
Changing your style of management might mean that you need to find hybrid methods that suit you and your team—for example, the certainty of an autocratic style combined with the collaboration of a democratic one or the freedom of a laissez-faire approach balanced with the direction of a transformational one. Leadership training provides the guidelines by which to make those adjustments so that your management style works for you when your team or organization changes.
Further, leadership training teaches that learning and development should continue as a manager gains experience. Suppose you were a manager with a certain style when you were 25. In that case, you should be a different manager with a different style when you are 40, and your style should continue to shift throughout your career as you grow and your team’s needs shift.
Leadership training urges managers to request feedback periodically, to keep up to date with research on shifts in leadership trends, and to be open to experimenting with new approaches as the leadership landscape changes. Suppose you continually hone your management style; the thinking goes. In that case, you will always be leading in the best (or most appropriate) way possible.
Key Elements of a Winning Management Style
Effective Communication
Communication is key to management. Clear communication is the first pillar of a good management style. Your team members should know that you are transparent, that you speak from the heart, and that you have nothing to hide. They should also know exactly what you are asking them to do and what you expect from them. Clear communication between you and your team members is crucial to ensuring that everyone is on the same page and is following the same strategy. When your team members know exactly what they are supposed to do and how they are supposed to do it, they are able to do it with greater precision and accuracy.
It’s just as crucial to communicate transparently. By explaining decisions, changes, and the rationale behind them as a manager, you help to create a culture of trust and respect. Team members are more likely to feel that their opinions are being heard when they understand the context of the decisions that impact them. Communicating consistently helps to ensure that messages are delivered in the same way across the team, helping to emphasize alignment and ultimately boosting the manager’s credibility.
Communication Is Key to Building Trust: Trust is the foundation of any good team. When managers communicate well with their team members, they can convey information openly and honestly, providing opportunities for team members to do the same. When managers and team members communicate with each other regularly, it encourages a collaborative environment where innovation can thrive. This can lead to better outcomes for the team.
It is not unusual for leadership training to focus on improving communication—through learning clear, transparent techniques, e.g., active listening, nonverbal communication, and feedback loops. Mastery of such techniques can help managers build stronger bonds with team members, thus creating a better, more cohesive team.
Empathy and Emotional Intelligence
Understanding and meeting emotional needs: to be a successful manager requires empathy and emotional intelligence. Empathy refers to the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to perceive, understand, and manage your own emotions, as well as recognize and manage the emotions of others. People like to be managed by others with these qualities because it helps to develop relationships based on mutual respect and trust.
When managers are empathetic, they are saying to their team members, ‘I care about how you are doing.’ This can lead to a number of positive consequences, including greater job satisfaction, loyalty, and motivation. For instance, if a member of the team is struggling with a problem at work because they are dealing with a personal challenge, the empathetic manager might offer support by granting the employee flexible working hours or more resources to ensure that they are able to overcome the challenge. The management of emotions in this way helps not only the employee but also builds the relationship between the manager and team members.
Role of Emotional Intelligence in Management: Emotional intelligence is also important for managing a group of people and working out their conflicts. It is often necessary for a manager to be able to handle difficult situations, for example, when people aren’t getting along or when someone isn’t performing to expectations, in a constructive and positive manner. A manager with a high level of emotional intelligence is better able to read the emotional cues of the people they are managing and get to the root cause of the problem, then communicate and solve the issue while maintaining harmony and productivity.
It is common to see modules on emotional intelligence as part of leadership training to train managers in empathy—recognizing and understanding others’ emotions—and self-management—employing emotional awareness to guide thinking and behavior. Role-playing and self-assessment tools and techniques for improving emotional intelligence are often used in these sessions. Managers who are more emotionally intelligent are able to create a work environment in which employees feel engaged, cared for, and appreciated, and who are more likely to be motivated to do their best.
Decision-making and Problem-solving
Management Tip: The Importance of Making Decisive Decisions Quickly It is of utmost importance for a person in a leadership or management position to make decisions in a timely manner to keep the team moving forward, to capitalize on opportunities, and to prevent small issues from turning into big problems. Decision-making, however, is not only about the speed of the decision but also about the thoroughness of the thought process that goes into it: all available information and potential outcomes must be weighed to reach the best possible decision.
Good decision-making means balancing the pros and cons, taking into account team input, and choosing a direction that satisfies the team’s goals and values. Decisive managers can make difficult choices, know when to let things go, and communicate their decisions to the team in a way that demonstrates confidence in their leadership and keeps the team focused on the right matters.
Leadership training enables managers to make better decisions. Leadership training helps managers make better decisions by providing them with tools and frameworks. These can include techniques for gathering information, analyzing information, assessing risks, and evaluating the impact of different options. Training will often encourage the team to be involved in the decision-making process when this is feasible, as this can lead to better decisions and higher buy-in.
Another key skill for managers is problem-solving. This is closely related to decision-making and is another important area where managers can receive training. Solving problems involves first identifying the underlying cause of the problem, then considering possible solutions, and choosing the best way forward. Leadership training can help managers learn structured approaches to problem-solving, for example, by using problem-solving models or a brainstorming technique. Doing this can assist managers in developing the skills they need to make sound decisions and solve problems, which in turn helps them to lead their teams more effectively.
Accountability and Delegation
Accountability versus empowerment: The right management style strikes the right balance between accountability and empowering team members to take ownership of the work. Accountability entails setting clear expectations, monitoring progress, and ensuring that team members deliver on their commitments. It is critical for maintaining high standards and achieving the team’s objectives.
However, accountability is not the same as micromanagement. Keeping team members accountable means maintaining oversight of their work. Still, delegation means letting people make decisions and take ownership of their work.
The Art of Delegation: Delegating is the act of assigning tasks, accountabilities, and responsibilities to team members. This involves giving team members work that is meaningful, equipping team members with the necessary resources and support, and holding team members accountable for results. It is not a case of ‘Ship the work, get rid of the work.’ If done well, delegation empowers team members to grow, take ownership, and deliver.
Leadership training can provide managers with the tools to help them delegate, such as learning to choose the right tasks for the right people, providing clear direction, and setting expectations for performance. Training also helps managers learn to provide feedback and recognition, which enhances a person’s performance through reinforcement and encourages further improvement.
Managers can help team members perform at their best by providing accountability without hampering their sense of empowerment, which in turn enhances overall team performance.
Implementing Your Management Style in the Workplace
Building a Strong Team Culture
Creating a Team Culture That Matches Your Style: A strong team culture is necessary to implement a management style. This means building a team culture that’s conducive to your style of leadership and encourages collaboration, creativity, and productivity. A strong team culture has clear values, behaviors, and practices, and it reinforces those values and behaviors day in and day out.
For example, suppose you’re a participative manager who likes to work with a team and openly communicate. In that case, you can create a team culture that leads to regular team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and open feedback. If you’re more of a results-driven manager with a focus on accountability and goal setting, you could create a culture that emphasizes setting goals, measuring progress, and celebrating success. Regardless of your management style, you can create a culture that supports it and helps your team thrive.
Encouraging Collaboration and Innovation: A culture of collaboration and innovation is also vital to a high-performing team and the long-term success of your organization. When team members feel comfortable contributing their ideas, taking calculated risks, and bringing out the best in one another, it ignites creativity and problem-solving. Leadership training can give you tools to foster a collaborative culture, such as team-building exercises, cross-functional projects, and innovation challenges.
Similarly, fostering a culture of learning can be achieved by encouraging team members to take advantage of professional development opportunities, teach their colleagues, and be receptive to feedback from others. A strong team culture encourages team members to do things the right way, not the easiest way. By developing a management style that complements your team culture, you can create a work environment where everyone feels empowered to contribute and succeed.
Providing Feedback and Recognition
The Need for Good Feedback: One key task that managers must perform is to provide feedback to team members. This feedback should indicate strengths, areas that need correction and further development, and how the team member’s work fits into the bigger team goals. Feedback should be specific, timely, and linked to controllable behaviors, and that can be improved. When done well, feedback can keep team members on the right path, improve performance, and reduce and prevent problems from growing larger.
Many leadership programs teach leaders how to deliver feedback in a way that helps people hear and utilize it ‘for good and ill’ (to use Covey’s words). One common approach is to provide encouragement or positive feedback (‘the bread’) on either side of the feedback sandwich so that the encouragement softens the sting of any constructive criticism. The criticism mitigates the ‘pat on the back’ that praise can feel like.
Celebrate Success: As well as providing feedback, you can also celebrate successes as a team with your team. These celebrations can be small or large, from verbal praise and written notes to formal rewards and incentives. The most important thing is that the recognition you provide to your team is meaningful and in line with their values.
Leadership training stresses the need to cultivate an ethos of recognition, which is essential to motivating a team. By recognizing both individual and collective contributions on a regular basis, you reinforce good behavior, increase morale, and encourage high performance. When you cultivate a culture of feedback and recognition as part of your management style, you’ll develop an environment in which team members feel supported, inspired, and encouraged to give their best.
Continuous Learning and Adaptation
The importance of ongoing learning: things change in the workplace, and your management needs to change as well. If you are to remain an effective manager, you need to learn and adapt over time. This might involve keeping up with changes in your industry, learning new management techniques, or checking in with your team to see if your style is having the impact you want it to.
Training is another way that leadership is viewed as a practice. Leadership training programs, workshops, and ongoing professional development enable managers to keep themselves abreast of the state of the art in leadership and to perfect their approach over time.
Adaptability: Adaptability is another hallmark of a winning management style. Teams or situations are different, and effective managers are those who are able to adapt their style to the situation at hand. This could mean shifting from more directive to more collaborative styles as your team gains more maturity or changing your style to better communicate with different members of your team.
This might be one reason why leadership training often features exercises to build flexibility in management, scenario planning, role-playing exercises, and case studies. By practicing flexibility, managers can develop ‘muscles’ for resilience that enable them to respond more effectively to challenges and change.
Conclusion
Having a winning style of management is a key to leadership success, and leadership training can help you develop one. Managers will need to continuously refine their approach to respond to changing team needs; a good style of management will lead to great teams and better organizational performance. So, embrace the process of continuous improvement, and your team and organization will thrive.