Leadership
Mr. Amory Wong
Carson Graham Secondary (IB) School
Styles

Autocratic

Democratic

Lead-by-example

Mentor

Macro-manager

Micro-manager
Autocratic

Military or military-like (police, firefighters, search-and-rescue, …)

Team Coach, Film Director, Executive Chef (not always)

Used when coordination of many people is vital

Often used when there are many rules to follow

Used frequently when time is limited

Must give and ask for loyalty for this style to work

Must make team members feel valued
Democratic

Gives team members satisfaction and ownership

Used when team is skilled and/or self-directed

Used when creativity or problem-solving is required

Requires time otherwise there is a risk of incompletion

Leader is generally responsible for overall vision, maintaining focus, schedule,
and morale

Outcome can be better than your original vision

Risk mutiny if no vision or control

You must make the final decision!
Lead-by-example

Generally very effective

Used by team captains, smaller military-like units, middle managers

Can often be used with autocratic or democratic

Demonstrates that everyone is in the same boat

Be sure not to have a double-standard

Show that you are willing to do less desirable work

Make sure to spend some time leading
Mentor

Not everyone is interested in dead-end jobs

Mentoring allows team members to gain responsibilities and skills

Set achievable goals

Help them self-assess

Share your experiences (good and bad)

Encouragement to work through difficulties

Generally monthly or longer between meetings
Macro-manager vs Micro-manager


In general, it is best to be a macro-manager

Makes the team feel responsible

Frees up your time for vision and morale

Don’t be completely hands-off
Micro-manager

When training someone for new skills

When re-training someone who has failed

When the project is in trouble
Competition vs Teamwork

Allowing individuals to be competitive

Allowing groups to be competitive

Successful teamwork can instill as much satisfaction as winning
Giving Instructions

Give oral and written instructions whenever possible

Give vision

Allow questions

Chair the meeting to ensure that there is focus and order

Don’t run meetings without an agenda

Don’t let a meeting drag on

Only invite the relevant people into a meeting

Do an early follow-up then a later one
Giving Feedback

Sandwich feedback – positive, wish, positive

Let people know when they are doing a good job

Give your people the credit they deserve

Constructive criticism – don’t be afraid to tell people their work isn’t good
enough, but be specific on how they can improve

It’s better to let people know about poor performance than have resentment
from other team members

For negative feedback

don’t be angry

be specific about what is wrong

give time for them to think about a response
Building a Team

Choosing like-minded vs different people

Always more difficult when you can’t select your team

Find positive people – it only takes one negative person to hurt morale

Experience – provides stability and knowledge that the job will get done

Inexperience – provides enthusiasm and new points of view

Letting bad team members go is more productive for the team – it also lets
the people find a position where they can be productive
Concluding Remarks

Always use opportunities to watch and learn others leading
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Coaches

Bosses

Teachers

Movies and Shows

Case studies
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If you are going to be an employee, use this info to look for a good boss
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This takes practice!