There is no one-size-fits-all approach to effective leadership. Take a look at dozens of different leaders all of whom share a track record of success and you’ll find a number of different personalities and approaches to leadership. While many people will experiment with different leadership styles and approaches over time, most leaders will ultimately develop a dominant leadership style.
Why is assessing your leadership style important?
Assessing your leadership style is essential for anyone looking to become more effective in their role. Being able to recognise your own leadership style helps you to identify your specific strengths, ensuring they’re deployed to create the maximum impact. It can also highlight areas where you may not be as effective as you might wish. If your leadership style leads to particular weaknesses in some areas of your role, such as conflict resolution, then understanding these weaknesses is the first step in addressing them.
While all leadership styles have their own strengths, it’s possible to incorporate elements from other leadership approaches which can enhance your core competencies. By understanding your leadership style, you can become more adaptable, adjusting your approach based on the needs of a situation, your team and your organisational goals.
How to assess your leadership style
Knowing how to assess your leadership style begins with honest self-reflection. This is critical to any kind of leadership success. Think about how you approach your leadership role. Is your focus primarily on inspiring and motivating your team to achieve exceptional results, creating a vision that aligns with company goals and motivating your team to achieve that vision?
Or perhaps you prefer a more team-oriented approach where collectively you reach decisions, inspiring and motivating each other on a daily basis. Maybe you are more situational and flexible, adapting your leadership style not only to different situations but also to different individuals.
Assessing your leadership style should also involve extensive and honest feedback from the people you work with. Ask them how they feel you operate in the workplace, what works in your approach and what might need improvement. How would the people in your team describe your leadership style and do they think it’s effective?
While this can be a challenging exercise it’s essential for anyone who is serious about improving their leadership style and approach to better achieve their goals.
Identifying Your Leadership Style with Leadership Success
At Leadership Success, we can provide the tools that ambitious individuals and organisations need to achieve their goals.
Our key leadership assessment tools provide critical insight and information into areas of strength and areas that may need further development. It can help you develop a deeper understanding of your own leadership style, enabling you to work more intelligently and effectively in your role.
The Leadership Success suite of assessment tools is comprehensive and easy to deploy across leaders and individual contributors.
Contact our experienced friendly team today to find out more.
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