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7 Innovative Leadership Approaches to Try

Some people don’t give much thought to their leadership style. They feel that what they do works, and that’s okay.

However, other business leaders are always trying to get better at what they do and experiment with different approaches. There are a lot of leadership approaches out there and if you’re looking to refine your methods, consider the seven styles below.

Relying on expertise

Leaders with strong technical knowledge can lay out a roadmap for employees and point them in a desired direction. This style isn’t completely authoritarian, as it includes inspiring individuals to be creative and leverage their individual talents, albeit within a defined structure.

Down-to-Earth

The down-to-earth leader strives to be as honest and transparent as possible with his or her team members. While most employees will appreciate a leader who is upfront with them as much as possible, a leader who is always keeping it real can be seen as erratic and unreliable.

This style is most effective when it makes you relatable and it help to create a family-like atmosphere amongst a team.

Lead by example

Strong and silent, those who lead by example are most effective when they are surrounded by a highly-competent team. Highly-skilled workers don’t need to be micromanaged. They just need someone to set the tone and provide assistance when challenges arise.

Clearly, this is not a great approach for employees who need a lot of training and direction.

The Coach

A coaching approach to leadership involves grooming employees for larger roles or advancement up the company ladder. This approach is very effective in dealing with ‘big picture’ issues, but less effective when it comes to addressing day-to-day details. A coaching approach also work best with employees who are motivated to learn and grow.

The Politician

Those with political savvy know how to pull strings, whether that’s getting resources from upper management or keeping employees all rowing in the same direction. While this approach can be useful, it isn’t great all on its own and should be combined with another leadership style.

The hands-off approach

There’s an emerging school of thought in corporate America that says company leaders ought to be doing more to empower employees and following their lead, as opposed to telling employees what they should be doing and how to do it.

This approach is most useful when the success of an organization is driven by information and feedback from lower-level employees, such as retail businesses.

Building consensus

A democratic approach to leadership is by far the most popular with employees. While this approach leads to higher employee engagement and morale, it can backfire if employees aren’t effective contributors to the team. A democratic approach is particularly bad in times of crisis, when strong decisive leadership is most effective.

At Career Concepts, we support our clients by providing them with custom talent acquisition solutions. If your organization is currently looking for staffing assistance, please contact us today to find out how we can help.

Blog published date

Jul 17, 2018
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