Read time: 2.38 mins
How To Adapt Your Leadership Style to Different Contexts
Different situations require specific leadership styles. A diverse and flexible leader can apply a full range of leadership techniques based on the strength of the team or the complexity of the task at hand. For example, a team that isn’t cohesive may initially require firmer support with more directive. In turn, a stronger team with more experience may merely need delegation, guidance, and mentorship.
Find out more about adapting your leadership style to suit different contexts with Gillian Charlesworth, Guest Expert on the Oxford Executive Leadership Programme.
Transcript
I think it’s really important to think consciously and make sure that you’re taking feedback from others observing you on the leadership style you’re adopting. Because the full range would cover being quite directive in a command-and-control style, right through to delegating, and trusting people completely to do things. And then, in between that, you’ve got areas, such as building consensus for something, or perhaps delegating to a certain extent, but allowing people to do some investigative work into a challenge that you’ve got, but then bringing it back for final approval.
So I think there’s a full range of ways that you can implement leadership styles. And I think it’s vitally important to get the right style.
Embracing your less familiar styles
And I mentioned command-and-control style, that’s not my natural style, but it is a style that I can adopt when I have to. And, particularly when I start on a new leadership task, or leadership role, and find that I’ve got a group of people who really haven’t got all the skills that are needed, they’re not cohesive as a team, perhaps, and I know that I then adopt that more directive style, really begin to instruct rather than advise or consult, because I feel that’s what’s needed. And I think, let’s be honest, if you’re in a situation where there are some big challenges, which need to be sorted out rapidly, quite often, that is the style that you need to adopt.
Selecting the right style
I think you have to get comfortable with all of those different styles. You have to learn to trust people, you have to bring people on, coach them, mentor them. Equally, where you know that you haven’t got people who are quite up to scratch, you have to take control. So I think it’s about listening, interpreting, and making sure that you feel you’ve got the style right, and that people are clear which mode you’re in. I think that’s really important.