Thoughts on Leadership Style

Have you ever met a manager for the first time and in their introduction to the team they talk about their style? What is management style anyway? Does style assume there is a base understanding of what a subject pertains and that whatever you add or subtract from it is a matter of personal prerogative? Style is typically something we do that is distinct. Is style developed over time? Is it deliberate and if not can it be? Are there bad styles? Good styles?

First and foremost, I want to note that I have found management style to be a bit of a misnomer. There does not seem to be a style. You need to adopt your style to whatever situation you are in. There will be times when you can sit back and think of strategy and be hands-off. There will be times when you need to get down in the trenches and begin sorting things out. I have heard some people describe “war-time” and “peace-time” managers and the different skills involved. Some managers are either/or, some rare ones are both. I tend to think style becomes more about how effective you are at building high-functioning teams and strategic thinking and the tools you use to get there. However, I wanted to approach style in terms of influence and think through what has impacted me over the years.

My style, if there is one, is heavily subsidized by the formal leadership training I’ve received. Probably the most influential to me is what I received volunteering with Scouting America. When I was active with them as a leader, I took all of the training courses they offered (every Scout deserves a well-trained leader), including the five day Wood Badge training course, which is considered their pre-eminent offering. I also worked with another leader in my time there, someone who would become my own mentor, who taught me more about leadership than I’ve ever learned in the workforce, and I am forever grateful to her for that support. Leadership in Scouting is a form of servant leadership, and development of others is based on helping them find self-sufficiency and self-reliance. I have found this “style” works well with highly skilled engineers who appreciate ownership over their work and autonomy. Would this work with another team doing highly programmatic and clerical work? Probably not. If I were to manage an accounting team of clerks, where oversight becomes more important, taking a hands-off approach would not suffice. Not only would the work not call for it, but the team would not want a hands-off approach either.

My second influence comes from what I am learning in my MBA class. There are excellent approaches to leadership and frameworks to adopt. In this way I believe style can be deliberate and developed over time, but it is more of developing tools than settling on one approach. Because there are best practice approaches to leadership, it also means there are bad practice approaches to leadership. I want to be aware of all of it, which is a big reason I am getting an MBA in the first place. I will also add that there are many wonderful books on management and leadership out there in the business press, and a subscription to Harvard Business Review is an excellent investment. I also read a lot and plan on spending some more time on this blog exploring those concepts. Writing about them tends to allow you to synthesize and adopt better.

My third influence comes from my time with the Northern Kentucky Fly Fishers. Our fly fishing club was comprised of business leaders, senior managers, attorneys, engineers, doctors, and other professionals who taught me a lot about dealing with different personalities. As President and a long-time board member I learned a lot about how to handle myself by watching them interact with each other. I know I need to come prepared, find consensus, and be consistent. With seventy active members we were a fairly large club and the different personalities and agendas and how they interact taught me a lot about people, which I struggled with at times. I also learned a lot about organization, communication, and “not getting buffaloed” as one fellow board member advised me on. Is what I learned there a good style of leadership? Yes,building relationships is paramount to be an effective leader, and I did learn a lot here with this group and I am thankful for them.