Successful Leaders @ work

There is no one optimum leadership style as it will always be determined by the unique and individual factors of time, situation and circumstances.

Leaders must think audience. Their composition and their expectations.

Good leadership can only be defined in its application context rather than a role model with an amazing suite of skills. Is good leadership then the domain of the person or the situation?

Leadership incorporates two factors. The first one is you must empathise with the audience you are leading and secondly your leadership style which will very much depend on your personality type. For example if you are leading a group of highly technical executives and begin to motivate them by an enthusiastic, energetic, ebullient presentation, then it is very likely that they will not respond to this style of approach. Technical executives will react best to a more pragmatic approach with less of the, what they consider to be, an unnecessary and over-emotive, artificial delivery.

On the other hand, if you are chairing a sales convention and you present an enthusiastic, positively charged, good-to-be-with persona, then this type of presentation is likely to provoke a very positive reaction. So the first conclusion we can draw is that it is vital to know your audience in terms of personality profiling. And if the audience you are leading will include all types and in these circumstances it is best to adopt a more neutral style focusing on content and outcome.

Leadership is always contextual and relational. It can be described but not defined. We cannot abstractly define the universal qualities of a successful leader. The role of Prime Minister, Archbishop, CEO and entrepreneur will have disparate objectives. The Prime Minister’s strategy must incorporate the political manifesto, the Parliamentary party and the voting trends. The Archbishop will promote positive morality and lead on spiritual matters. The CEO will focus on the needs of shareholders and employees and the stakeholders as incorporated within the CSR policy. The entrepreneur will view investment and ROI as their main preoccupation and concentration.

It would be difficult to define a leadership template which will embrace politics, religion, governance and profit-taking collectively and give equal emphasis to the differing strategies, functions and objectives.

We can conclude that successful leadership is when the style of delivery is in sympathy with the audience and subject.

I demonstrate this point more explicitly in my descriptors of the Lowe Personality Profiles jobcoach.org.uk