Volume 5, 2007

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Featured Topic: Leadership Styles

Inside This Issue

DISCover Your Leadership Style

Following is a choice.  Leading others is a responsibility.  So who are you leading?  More importantly, with your current leadership style, are you more likely to see a multitude of people following you, or will you be standing alone?

At TLC, we take pride in being industry leaders in teaching leadership skills.  Diversity now incorporates differences emerging from communication behavior and approaches to problem solving.  Perhaps 40-50 years ago, the leader expected everyone on the team to adapt to the leader.  Today, work cultures thrive so much on team efficiency, the corporate culture now requires more flexibility on the part of the leader to adapt to the needs of the team members.

To understand how to lead, it is imperative to first identify your leadership style.  Although there are combinations, here are the basic four:

1.  Dominant Leaders. 18% of people in the USA are Dominant.  Many of them choose to lead. 

Their leadership style is task focused and their aim is the bottom line.   Expect Dominant leaders to freely say what they are thinking without using any editing. The emotion that they will most likely show is anger.  If team members are not contributing to the solution, those team members may find themselves off the team. It is very important to Dominant leaders to accomplish the goal, so you can expect them to get impatient or vocally aggravated if the team is not functioning according to their expectations. In a crisis, the Dominant leader may take control and make unilateral decisions.  When tasks are performed successfully, as scheduled, the Dominant leader can instill a great sense of accomplishment with those that follow.

2.  Influential Leaders. 28% of people in the USA are Influential.  Many of them choose to lead.

Their leadership style is focused on people.  They are sociable with their team members and often get to know them quite well. The Influential leaders easily see the big picture and may miss the details. They may jump to quick conclusions based upon emotions more than facts.  The emotion that you will most likely notice in this type of leader is their optimism.  They frequently handle challenges by striving to motivate and inspire those on the team. Many times this approach works, although attention to detail could solve the problems they encounter.  They are generally well liked by their team. 

3.  Steady Leaders.  40% of people in the USA are Steady.  Some of them choose, or are chosen, to lead.

Their leadership style is low key and focused on the team as a whole.  Expect Steady leaders to allow their consistent actions speak for them instead of words. They prefer to align themselves as part of the team, rather than the leader.  Some team members may mistakenly think the Steady leader is a push-over.  This leader takes more time to make decisions, usually choosing consensus from the team.  You may not be able to detect much emotion from the Steady leader because they keep their feelings under wrap.  Even in a crisis, you may not see them sweat.  At these challenging times, their tendency to delay may cause difficulties for the team.

4.  Compliant Leaders. 14% of people in the USA are Compliant.  Some of them choose to lead. 

Their leadership style is focused on the details and specifics of the task.  Expect the Compliant leader to focus on quality rather than quantity.  This intense attention to detail can often cause the team to miss deadlines and frustrate members who have a sense of urgency.  The accuracy of the Compliant leader is high, which can instill confidence with the team.  The most frequent emotion the team will sense from this leader is the fear of making a mistake. In difficult situations, the Compliant leader does not accept external or internal pressure and continues on the course to be correct.

Although most leaders are combinations of two and sometimes even three leadership styles, here are some TLC suggestions for each of the four basic styles of leadership:

Dominant Leaders: 

Influential Leaders:

Steady Leaders:

Compliant Leaders:

To learn your leadership style, contact the leadership experts at TLC, 423-622-TALK or tlc@talklisten.com.

What Our Clients Are Saying

When I began the Leadership training, I was skeptical, because I thought my way of communicating was the right way, and that anyone who didn’t communicate the way I did was not communicating well. I also thought that I was a good listener, because I just knew what someone was going to say before they said it. WRONG on both accounts! …. After these initial shocks, I discovered that I could communicate and listen much better by applying certain techniques. It was exciting to try them the first few times and see actual results! I was also excited to realize that my team members each have different communications and listening skills and that I was able to effectively identify them, and act accordingly.

Lori Cooley, Chattanooga, TN

Qualities of Leadership

Think of someone that you know who is an awesome leader. What qualities does this person possess? Think of another person and identify his or her qualities. If you do this enough, you may come up with a list of the most frequent qualities found in great leaders.

TLC has done this for you through research. Below find the top 40 qualities of leadership. By each quality you will find a definition from the American Heritage Dictionary. Decide which qualities you possess. Pick the top ten qualities for you. Determine how to best use these qualities and how to build qualities that might be required in your next role as leader.

  1. Honest – honorable, truthful, trustworthy
  2. Competent – the state of quality or being capable
  3. Forward looking – in or towards the future
  4. Inspiring – to animate the mind or emotions
  5. Intelligent – mentally acute
  6. Fair-minded – just and impartial in judgment
  7. Broad-minded – having liberal or tolerant views
  8. Straightforward – proceeding in a straight course, direct
  9. Imaginative – having a strong formation of a mental image or concept, which is not real or present
  10. Dependable – to rely as for support or aid
  11. Supportive – furnishing support or assistance
  12. Courageous – Having the state of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger with self-possession, confidence, and resolution
  13. Caring – to be concerned or interested
  14. Cooperative – working together
  15. Mature – fully developed
  16. Ambitious – full of an eager or strong idea to achieve something
  17. Determined – marked by showing a fixed purpose, resolute, unwavering
  18. Self-controlled – control of one’s emotions, desires or actions by one’s will
  19. Loyal – faithful to a person, ideal, or custom
  20. Independent – politically autonomous; self-governing
  21. Curious - eager to acquire information or knowledge
  22. Decisive – having the power to settle a dispute or doubt
  23. Discerning – to perceive the distinctions of; to discriminate
  24. Ethical – in accordance with the accepted principals of right and wrong
  25. Innovative – to introduce something new
  26. Responsible – legally or ethically accountable for the care of another
  27. Creative – to originate or bring into being
  28. Cleverness – having mental quickness
  29. Empathy – understanding so intimate that the feelings, thoughts, and motives of one are readily comprehended by another
  30. Sense of humor – the ability to perceive, enjoy, or express what is comical
  31. Persistence – refusing to give up or let go
  32. Confident – a feeling of assurance or certainty
  33. Organized – to put together into an orderly, functional, structured whole
  34. Calm – not excited or agitated; composed
  35. Intuitive – the act of knowing without the use of rational processes;
  36. Adaptable – to adjust to a specified use or situation
  37. Liked – to find pleasant; enjoy
  38. Optimistic – One who habitually expects a favorable outcome
  39. Committed – to place in charge or trust
  40. Passionate – boundless enthusiasm

Further Research on Leadership

Below are some articles you may wish to read to further your study on leadership. 

http://talklisten.com/newsletters

http://crs.uvm.edu/gopher/nerl/personal/Assess/b.html

http://www.infed.org/leadership/traditional_leadership.htm

http://www.pen.k12.va.us?VDOE/Instruction/leadership/main/activities/9-12/act03.html

http://www.educationworld.com/a_admin?TM/WS_leadership_qualities.shtml

For books, TLC recommends the following:

Covey, S. (1990) Principle Centered Leadership, Franklin Covey Co.

Greenleaf, R. (1977), Servant Leadership, Paulist Press

Greenleaf, R. (1998), The Power of Servant Leadership

Holman, L. (1995) 11 Lessons in Self-Leadership, WYNCOM

Kouzes, J. and Posner, B. (1995) The Leadership Challenge, Jossey-Bass Publishers

Lisk, T. (2002) Noble Leadership, Fairway Press

Wheatley, M. (1994) Leadership and the New Science, Berrett Koehler

Fly By the Seat of Your Pants

Vincent Ivan Phipps

If your leadership style is to “fly by the seat of your pants”, how would you lead?  As this term is used today, it refers to a leader who makes quick, spontaneous decisions.   So what does flying by the seat of your pants have to do with making decisions as a leader?

I’ll avoid flying by the seat of my pants and tell you!  This is a piloting term.  To strategically steer and guide an airplane, it is important to securely position yourself in the seat of the cockpit.  Since distribution of weight and keen hand/eye coordination are essential with appropriate footwork in flying, the way you sit is important to maintain control of yourself and the aircraft.

In aerial dogfights (fighter planes engaged in battle), to fly by the seat of your pants literally meant to move and react quickly while in the cockpit.  Sometimes this resulted in the pilot “sitting” on the edge of their seat to increase their ability to maneuver their plane.  In these life and death situations, making quick and less calculated decisions were crucial for survival.

When you are not engaged in mortal combat, avoid “flying by the seat of your pants”.  Instead, slow things down a bit by listening first and asking questions. Check your facts.  Adapt to the situation.  Be sure to communicate to your team any recommended changes.  By doing this, you will be flying right.

Dear TLC,

I am leading a team of sales associates.  Each one wants to be the leader over the other.  They all have strong personalities yet so strong I have to be even more authoritative in my leadership style to keep them from trying to lead each other and sometimes me!  What advice can you give to help me lead my team better?

-One Life to Lead

Dear One Life,

It sounds as if all are looking to position themselves for control.  Give each an area or responsibility they are to lead.  Have each one focus only on their leadership responsibility for a designated duration.  Assign each associate a measurable goal. Based on the results, ask them what further assistance they need and what level of support they felt they received.  This will give each a sense of ownership while holding them accountable.

TLC Featured Service

Therese Padgett

Leadership Training

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language has broken one of my rules. (Actually, it isn’t my rule but rather the rule of my eighth grade English teacher.) “Never define a word using its root.” For example, one of the definitions given for the word, “leadership” is this:  “the capacity to be a leader; ability to lead.”

From where does this “ability” come? Some argue that it is innate: that some are just born lucky with this ability. True, I have known persons who could play the piano by ear and some of them went on to great musical accomplishments. They are the ones who applied themselves to music theory, years of studying the masters and endless hours of practice. The others are still playing love songs and are tolerated at the local pub.

The ability to lead can likewise be cultivated through training and practice. TLC offers a course for businesses that helps leaders to:

  1. Understand themselves
    ۰ Communication styles
    ۰ Leadership strengths and weaknesses
    ۰ Listening preferences
    ۰ Leadership qualities

  2. Understand those who follow and adaptations for connecting with them

  3. Appreciate the importance of listening and getting input from others

  4. Complete the communication loop – giving and receiving feedback

  5. Set the culture

When you are ready to stop leading as a guide who takes others by the hand or by a rope (one of the definitions for “lead”), please call TLC.  Our communication consultants can provide the training and practice that will turn your leaders into able leaders with the capacity to get things done!

Chief Executive’s Opinion

Beverly Inman-Ebel

Leadership Legacy

Who taught you what you know about leadership? The first people who come to mind may be former managers, people who have reached notable levels of success, or significant people in your life. I challenged myself to answer this question and the result was a journey of legacy that took me back to some people I had almost forgotten. Let me share one such person with you.

I was elected captain of my drill team, The Carrolltones, the spring of my junior year of high school. I was chompin’ at the bit with the plans I had for that year of leadership. At the same time, the political structure of the drill team changed.  Instead of being an isolated unit with a teacher as our guide, we became an official part of the marching band. The band director hired a choreographer to teach us new routines.

Her name was Teia Bidesque and she was a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati, majoring in dance. Teia was beautiful, with olive skin, raven black gleaming hair, a figure to die for, clothes like I had never seen and a sports car to top it off. She was everything I was not at the age of 17 and the green monster bit me hard. The drill team loved her and I felt myself not having the leadership experience I had envisioned just a few months ago.

Teia enrolled us in a drill team competition for all of Southern Ohio. The other teams were larger than our number of 33, with more expensive uniforms. The first order of the day was to have the judges inspect the lines. Each team lined up on the football field and the captain of each squad escorted the judges to inspect her drill team. Our band director was a true stickler for detail and said that the band Drum Major out-ranked the Carrolltone Captain and he would escort the judges. The girls started to complain and chaos was just around the corner. Somehow I knew this was not the right action, but my heart was broken with one more rejection.

Teia took me aside for a moment and spoke these words:  “You don’t have to be seen up front to be a leader.”  It clicked. I got the girls together, telling them it just didn’t matter who escorted the judges. I challenged them to hold their chins up high and show everyone we were to be taken seriously. They answered the challenge. We won first place in the competition. We also won an award that we did not even know existed at the time – Best Captain. Teia was right: you don’t have to be seen up front to be a leader.

This advice followed me in my various roles of leadership. I have learned that it is not always important to get credit or to be seen as the one who leads. Don’t get me wrong, I like to lead the charge as much as the next leader. Sometimes it works better to lead from within the group.

What about you? What have people in your past taught you about leadership?  What are you teaching others about this important role? Leadership is a legacy that is passed on with each person adding to the story. Watch. Listen. Learn. Lead. Share. Live your dreams!

TLC establishes long-term relationships with our clients. If we have helped you or if you believe our approach to change would work for someone you know, please request a proposal or phone 1-888-232-2873. We work with individuals and groups on the following subject areas: attitude, listening, body language, voice, leadership, compliments and corrections, behavioral style, teamwork, effective meetings, public speaking, accent reduction and much more!.

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