We hope you’ve had the chance to follow our blogs during the past few weeks, as we’ve talked about different Leadership Styles, and highlighted the difference between servant, transformational, strategic, and cross-cultural leaders. Some types of leadership heavily emphasize the importance of leading in the service of others, while other types of leadership stress letting people learn for themselves. Every leader has similarities and differences, as well as strengths and weaknesses, which should be explored in order to learn and improve.
In this week’s blog, our goal is to share information to help you (and us) assess our individual leadership styles. We do this as a way of keeping ourselves in check. Be sure to take the time to question your style. Is it effective? Are there measures we can implement or practices can we change to improve? Most importantly, does our leadership style, skills, and abilities deliver results?
If you remember, earlier this year, we talked about tools for getting to know ourselves, using various tests like the Myers-Briggs and the DiSC profile assessments. Here is a link to the blog if you missed it or want to review: https://sarahboxx.com/tools-for-getting-to-know-yourself/.
Today, we will explore a different tool to assess our leadership styles. The tool is actually a test created and developed by the Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2015/06/assessment-whats-your-leadership-style. It is called, Assessment: What’s Your Leadership Style? The test aims to provide “immediate feedback about your style — potential strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots — and pinpoints the settings where you’ll be most and least effective.”
The group conducted a survey where US-based Executives in different agencies were asked questions about their way of leading. They were asked to rate themselves on many choices, such as “I love to win” versus “I hate to lose”. The series of tests resulted in the definition of eight different archetypes of leadership.
COLABORATOR: empathetic, team-building, talent-spotting, coaching oriented
ENERGIZER: charismatic, inspiring, connects emotionally, provides meaning
PILOT: strategic, visionary, adroit at managing complexity, open to input, team oriented
PROVIDER: action oriented, confident in own path or methodology, loyal to colleagues, driven to provide for others
HARMONIZER: reliable, quality-driven, execution-focused, creates positive and stable environments, inspires loyalty
FORECASTER: learning oriented, deeply knowledgeable, visionary, cautious in decision making
PRODUCER: task focused, results oriented, linear thinker, loyal to tradition
COMPOSER: independent, creative, problem solving, decisive, self-reliant
There are a variety of leadership styles to be considered, as each person has a unique set of characteristics and qualities that create the type of leader they are. The HBR tests combined a multitude of leadership styles and came up with eight different styles that we can be grouped into.
What does this mean?
It all comes down to the fact that there are 8 billion people in the world, with different personalities, preferences, and experiences. With that thought in mind, there must be different leadership types as well. From the HBR study above, they’ve narrowed it down to eight different leadership styles that people use. Some of us even combine different styles to fit the need and the environment where we will implement it.
What does this teach us? IT IS okay to not have a specific style in leadership. After all, there is not ONE best leadership style. The most important thing to consider is if it will work. Will it deliver the results you seek?
“The best leaders don’t know just one style of leadership–they’re skilled at several, and have the flexibility to switch between styles as the circumstances dictate.” Daniel Goleman
In the HBR test, you are asked to pick three leadership styles: your primary or “go to” style, and two supplementary styles which you sometimes use. Here at Sarah Boxx, LLC, We whole-heartedly believe in practical application of tools like these, so we asked a few of our team members to take this assessment and report back with their results. From those results, we were able to identify shared strengths and blind spots, as well as where we complement each other to ultimately work better as a team.
For example, in Summer’s case, her go-to style is Collaborator. She chose the Pilot and Harmonizer as her supplementary styles. My style is, you guessed it, Collaborator, with Pilot and Composer as my secondary styles.
Now – we ask that you take five minutes and complete the test as well. You may be surprised to see how you can apply the results in your own personal or professional relationships.
With all these tests, including Myer-Briggs and DiSC, and an endless variety you can find online, what do they all imply? Why is it necessary to assess your leadership style?
The ultimate reason is improvement.
You know the style you use. You implement it. You live and breathe it.
But you do not know how to make it better. You do not know how to cultivate it.
That is why assessment tests exist. To provide us with the opportunity to reflect. It is important to remember that without self-reflection, our capacity to learn is diminished.
“What we call our destiny is truly our character and that character can be altered. The knowledge that we are responsible for our actions and attitudes does not need to be discouraging, because it also means that we are free to change this destiny. One is not in bondage to the past, which has shaped our feelings, to race, inheritance, background. All this can be altered if we have the courage to examine how it formed us. We can alter the chemistry provided we have the courage to dissect the elements.”
― Anaïs Nin, The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Vol. 1: 1931-1934
We have to remember that there is always room for improvement. With practice and perseverance, we can be better versions of ourselves. We can be a better family member, a better coworker, a better friend. Please remember to come back and let us know what new things you found out about your leadership styles this month!
In line with this, we encourage you to join our Gratitude Challenge for December. We hope you come back each day, during this final month of the year, to receive your new challenge. There are no guarantees, but we promise that taking two minutes will have you feeling refreshed, in a more positive and grateful mindset. So, let’s get ready to do this!
We are well into our challenge, but jump in anytime! Feel free to go back and make up the ones you missed at the next opportunity. Good luck!
P.S. If you don’t have time to join the challenge today, START FRESH in JANUARY! Sign up to receive the challenge from #1 to #31, starting January 1st, 2018. Click here: https://sarahboxx.com/gratitudechallenge/
