Leadership Styles for Managers – Part 2

In this two part series, Jeff Hodgkinson, senior program manager at Intel, discusses how leadership style is a primary success factor for collaborative efforts. Jeff explains three styles of leadership (Decision-Making, Activity Management, Personal Authority). For more information about leadership styles, and to see how you or your peers fit into the spectrum, check out Part 1 of the series.

3) Personal Authority Styles

Organizational: Receives authority due to position in organization. This is the normal starting point on any given project. As the project progresses and the team gets to know the leader, the personal authority style should change to one of the more active styles. A project manager (PM) who cannot motivate respect through anything other than position in an organization needs to improve their personality and style.  Generally, if Organizational authority is all the manager has, team members will become either apathetic or disrespectful over time. Thus the project will suffer.

Charismatic: Leads a team primarily through magnetism of personality.  Charismatic leaders inspire a high level of enthusiasm and success on short projects, but have the focus wrong. Focus should be on the project goals and team development, not on the leader. Further, if the teamwork is based on the charismatic leader, the project may fail if the manager changes. There is great danger that a charismatic leadership style may devolve into an autocratic one, so a charismatic leader must always be on the guard not to indulge personal ego in this way. However, a charismatic leadership style can be very effective if combined with preferred styles, such as democratic, consensus, coaching or empowering.

Transformational: Inspires team with a shared vision of the future. Similar to Charismatic, but in this case it is the leaders’ vision rather than personality which provides the motivational aspect. The great value of a transformational leadership style is the level of commitment and enthusiasm it elicits from the team. Teams thus motivated need very little supervision and are likely to be very proactive and innovative. Even if the PM leaves the project, a Transformational leader will leave a legacy of enthusiasm to the team.

Referent / Expert: Gains cooperation of the team due to their respect of project manager’s personal expertise in the subject matter. A manager who knows nothing about the subject of the project will gain little respect from the team. A manager who is knowledgeable about the project subject will get much greater respect, cooperation and results from the team. A combination of good subject skills plus good PM skills will result in the best possible results for the project. The Referent/Expert must be on the guard against internal bigotry regarding the subject. Frequently subject matter of the project will have two polarized camps, such as “Windows versus UNIX” or “old way versus new way.” The PM must rise above these emotional ‘religious disputes’ to unite the team, applying the Intel Value of ‘disagree and commit.’

Summary

Jeff Hodgkinson

Although some of these styles are generally less favored, all of them have an appropriate place. A great manager will employ any or all of these leadership styles depending on the situation. A blending of styles is usually needed. The leadership styles properly used in a given situation depends on several factors as follows:

• The personality and maturity of the manager. An immature or ineffective manager will use the same management style in all situations. A mature and effective manager will evaluate the circumstances and vary management style to match the situation.

• The urgency and criticality of the situation. A long-term development project, for example, will allow relaxed style will great latitude for dealing with conflicts and issues. This type of situation gives the manager the ability to focus as much on the development of the individuals and the team as on the project. A short-term crisis project (such as a multi-user outage) requires a more directive approach, with greater emphasis on the issue than on team or personal development.

• Maturity level of the individual. Individuals with more experience can be allowed more leeway and freedom from management. Recent college graduates or new hires will benefit from tighter boundaries and more direction. Less mature team members will actually stress more from having to make decisions or engage in activities for which they have less training and experience – they need a teacher/coach rather than a mentor. Mature teammates will chafe and resent similar boundaries.

• Maturity Level of the team. Teams which have not previously worked together may require greater oversight. Long-established well-motivated teams may be managed better with a Referent/Laissez Faire approach. A newly established team, even if it is made up of experienced team members, may need more of a Consensus/Transformational emphasis.  Teams with a mixture of maturity levels and expertise may need more flexible direction, such as Democratic or Coaching.

• Structure and working model of the team. Teams which are co-located and meet face-to-face frequently may benefit from a more casual approach. Virtual or dispersed teams may need a more directive leadership style because they have less direct communication

• The culture of the company or organization. In a company with a very tight, directive culture the PM will be expected to give more frequent and detailed reports. This, in turn, will require more reports and structure from the project team. However, even in such a culture, the PM needs to be a positive influence to develop the team members’ skills and also the team’s spirit.

In summary, the mastery of ‘soft skills’ in knowing and understanding the different leadership styles and when to apply them will greatly benefit your project management abilities as each has a place and time given the situation.  It is a good bet that not just in work but in life you have had to use each one of the leadership styles listed in some form but not known it.  In all styles, you should know when they are being applied to you and how to respond back.