LEADERSHIP THAT GETS RESULTS HDCS 4393/4394 Internship Dr. Shirley Ezell

What should leaders do? Get results! New research by consulting firm Hay/McBer draws on a random sample of 3,871 executives from a worldwide data base of 20,000 global executives. The research found 6 distinct leadership styles coming from emotional intelligence. These styles appear to have a unique impact on the working atmosphere of a company.

What should leaders do? Get results! (Cont.) The research indicates that leaders with the best results do not rely on only one leadership style. They use most of them based on the business situation. Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage ourselves and out relationships effectively. The 4 capabilities are: self-awareness self-management social awareness social skills.

What are the Six Leadership Styles? Brief grouping includes: Coercive: leaders demand immediate compliance. Authoritative: leaders mobilize people toward a vision. Affiliative: leaders create emotional bonds and harmony. Democratic: leaders build consensus through participation. Pacesetting: leaders expect excellence and self-direction. Coaching: leaders develop people for the future

How do we Measure Leadership’s Impact? David McClelland (Harvard) found that leaders with strengths in a critical mass of 6 or more emotional intelligence competencies were far more effective than peers who lacked such strengths. When he analyzed division heads of a global food and beverage company, he found that among leaders with a critical mass of emotional intelligence, 87% placed in the top 3rd for annual salary bonuses based on their business performance. These leaders and their divisions outperformed others by 15 to 20%.

What was McClelland’s Research Trying to Find? The research was trying to find links among leadership and emotional intelligence, and climate and performance. Climate refers to 6 key factors that influence an organization’s working environment including flexibility (how free employees feel to innovate) responsibility to the organization, standards that people set, clarity that people have about the mission and values, and commitment to a common purpose.

What were the Findings of the Research? A. All 6 leadership styles have a measurable effect on each aspect of climate. B. There was a direct correlation of the impact of climate on financial results such as return on sales, revenue growth, efficiency, and profitability. C. Leaders who used styles that affected the climate positively had decidedly better results than those who did not. D. Climate was not the only driver of performance, equally important were economic conditions, and competitive dynamics. But climate accounts for nearly a 3rd of the results.

The Leadership Style A. Coercive style is the least effective in most situations. Flexibility is the hardest hit, and the leader’s extreme top-down decision making kills new ideas on the vine. Coercive leadership has a damaging effect on the rewards system, it erodes employee pride. In addition it undermines motivating people who want to see how their job fits into a grand shared mission. When should the coercive style be used? To change the immediate direction of a company losing money, or when a hostile takeover is looming and with problem employees with whom all else has failed.

The Leadership Style (Cont.) B. The Authorative Style: Of the 6 leadership styles, research shows that this style is most effective in driving up every aspect of climate. The Authorative leader is a visionary, that motivates people by making clear to them how their work fits into a larger vision. People working for authorative leaders understand that what they do matters. This style maximizes commitment to the organization’s goals and strategy. An authorative leader states the end but generally gives people plenty of leeway to devise their own means. It works well in almost any business situation.

The Leadership Style (Cont.) C. When doesn’t the Authorative style work? When leaders are working with a team of experts or peers who are more experienced than the leader is. If a manager trying to be authorative becomes overbearing, he can undermine the egalitarian spirit of an effective team.

The Leadership Style (Cont.) D. The Affiliative Style’s general positive impact makes a good all-weather approach. Leaders should use it when trying to build team harmony, increase morale, improve communication, or repair broken trust. It should not be used alone and when people need clear directives to navigate through complex challenges. This style leaves them rudderless.

The Leadership Style (Cont.) E. The Democratic Style helps a leader spend time getting people’s ideas and buy-in and builds trust , respect and commitment. This style has it’s drawbacks: it can result in endless meetings to build consensus. The democratic style works best when a leader is uncertain about the best direction to take and needs ideas and guidance from able employees. It does not make sense when employees are not competent or informed enough to offer sound advice.

The Leadership Style (Cont.) F. The Pacesetter Style should be used sparingly. It often destroys climate because many employees feel overwhelmed by the demands for excellence. As for rewards, the pacesetter either gives no feedback on how people are doing or jumps in to take over when they think they are lagging. This approach works well when all employees are self-motivated, highly competent, and need little direction or coordination. It is a style that should not be used by itself.

The Leadership Style (Cont.) G. The Coaching Style is used least often. Many leaders feel they don’t have the time in this high-pressure economy for the slow and tedious work of teaching people and helping them grow. But actually, after a first session, it takes little or no extra time and has a positive impact on climate and performance. This style is not effective when employees are resistant to learning or changing their ways and it flops if the leader lacks the expertise to help the employee along.

Leaders Need Many Styles Generally, the more styles a leaders uses the better. Mastering the authorative, democratic, alleviative, and coaching styles help create the very best climate and business performance. A leader can build a team with members who employ styles they lack.