What I read

Being Nice and Effective

m.subbu.org / 6 November 2021

I’m writing this article for the nice people in leadership roles. By the meaning of the word “nice,” such people are kind, polite, and friendly. They generally trust the goodness of the people they lead. They are not usually difficult to work with, care for others, are patient, and listen. They venture to be vulnerable. You don’t hesitate to approach them.

Here are the six leadership styles.

  1. Coercive: This style demands immediate compliance. You get told more often than being asked about what you think. This style hurts the climate.
  2. Authoritative: This style mobilizes people towards a vision. They motivate people through vision and work to maximize your commitment to goals. You would know how your work is contributing to the broader vision. This style has the most positive impact on the climate.
  3. Affiliative: This style creates harmony and builds emotional bonds with the people. Under such leadership, people share ideas and their inspiration with one another. This style also has a positive impact on the climate.
  4. Democratic: This style forges consensus through participation. This style is characterized by listening to people and getting their buy-in to drive flexibility and responsibility, even if it takes more time. This style also has a positive impact on the climate.
  5. Pacesetting: This style sets high standards for performance and creates “do as I do, now” pressure on people in an “I know it all” mode. Of course, this style also harms the climate.
  6. Coaching: This style develops people for the future. In this style, you will see delegation get challenging assignments. You will be lucky to work with such leaders since you grow. This style also has a positive impact on the climate.

He identifies that authoritative, democratic, affiliative, and coaching styles have “the best climate and business performance.” The other two styles, coercive and pacesetting, hurt the climate. I’m sure you all have worked with or for managers that employed these two negative styles, and you could not run away from them fast enough.