Effective Leadership
“At the age of seven, a young boy and his family were forced out of their home.
The boy had to work to support his family. At the age of nine, his mother
passed away. When he grew up, the young man was ready to go to law school,
but had no education.
At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. At 23, he ran for state legislature and
lost. The same year, he went into business. It failed, leaving him with a debt
that took him 17 years to repay. At 27, he had a nervous breakdown.
Two years later, he tried for the post of speaker in his state legislature. He
lost. At 31, he was defeated in his attempt to become an elector. By 35, he
had been defeated twice while running for Congress. Finally, he did manage
to secure a brief term in Congress, but at 39 he lost his re-election bid.
At 41, his four-year-old son died. At 42, he was rejected as a prospective land
officer. At 45, he ran for the Senate and lost. Two years later, he lost the vice
presidential nomination. At 49, he ran for Senate and lost again.
At 51, he was elected the President of the United States of America.”
The man in question: — Author Unknown
Seven Secrets of Communication that
Abraham Lincoln used for Effective Leadership
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If you want to communicate effectively, you must
have something to say.
Use stories, analogies, and imagery.
Ask questions.
Know your audience.
Convince the audience that you have their best
interest at heart.
Consider the consequences of your message.
Improve your ability each day.
Key Leadership Attributes
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Authenticity
Integrity
Positive Attitude
Shared vision
Communication
Leadership Quotes
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“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do
something you want done because HE wants to do
it.
“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I
can give you the formula for failure, which is: try to
please everybody.”
“Leadership involves finding a parade and getting in
front of it.”
Leadership Styles
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Autocratic leadership
Bureaucratic leadership
Charismatic leadership
Democratic
leadership/participative
leadership
Laissez-faire leadership
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People-oriented
leadership/relationsoriented leadership
Servant leadership
Task-oriented leadership
Transactional leadership
Transformational
leadership
What Leadership Style do you Fall Into?
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Which style:
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Is most comfortable?
Is in sync with your personality?
Would you feel most comfortable enforcing?
The Case for Natural Leaders:
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If we had to vote as a workshop/class on a leader, who
would it be?
Even if you do not know someone well, you can
sometimes tell who could be an outspoken leader
Leadership Style Objectives
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Pros and Cons
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Each leadership style will work better in certain
jobs/industries
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Examples of leaders who exhibit these styles
Autocratic Leadership
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Extreme form of
transactional leadership
Examples: Martha Stewart,
Bree – Desperate
Housewives
Leader exerts high levels of
power over team
Team is given few
opportunities for making
suggestions
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Leads to high levels of
absenteeism and staff
turnover
Team’s output does not
benefit from creativity and
experience of all team
members
Can remain effective in job
fields where the advantages
of control outweigh the
disadvantages
Bureaucratic Leadership
Appropriate for work involving safety risks or money
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Work “by the book”
Ensure staff follow procedures exactly
Examples: Banks, Heavy equipment/machinery, Toxic
chemicals, Lawyers, Judges, etc.
In other situations
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Can demoralize staff and diminish the ability to react to
changing external circumstances.
Charismatic Leadership
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Injects huge doses of
enthusiasm into his/her
team
Very energetic in driving
others forward
Can be positive OR
negative
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Examples: Cults
(Negative) vs. Religious
Leaders (Positive)
Can create a risk that
project might collapse if
leader is not present
Requires great
responsibility and longterm commitment
Democratic Leadership
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Leader makes final decision, yet invites other team
members to contribute in decision-making process
Increases employee job satisfaction and helps
develop people skills
Employees feel in control of their own destiny
Motivated to work hard by more than just financial
reward
Accomplishments happen more slowly but end result
is often better
Most suitable where team working is essential and
quality is more important than quantity
Laissez-Faire Leadership
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French for “leave it be”
Leaves team to get on
with their work
Works for teams with
experienced, skilled, and
self-starter employees
that don’t need a lot of
direction
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Effective if leader
monitors what’s being
achieved and
communicates on regular
basis
Can refer to situations
where managers are not
exerting sufficient
control
People-Oriented Leadership
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Totally focused on organizing, supporting and developing
employees
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Example: Human Resources, Retention Committees
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Tends to lead to good teamwork and creative collaboration
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If taken to extremes, can lead to failure to achieve goals
Servant Leadership
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Leads by virtue of meeting needs of team
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Lack of delegation or authority
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Whole team is involved in decision-making process
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Achieve power on basis of values and ideals
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In competitive leadership situation, may find themselves left
behind by leaders using other styles
Task-Oriented Leadership
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Focuses only on getting
the job done
Can be quite autocratic
Example: Parts per
minute, sales goals, timed
tasks
Actively define the work,
roles required, put
structures in place, plan,
organize and monitor
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Spare little thought for
the well-being of team
Difficulty motivating and
retaining staff
Could work well in an
industry that is numbersbased for a competitive
advantage
Transactional Leadership
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Team members agree to obey leader totally when they take a
job (transaction) on
Examples: Construction, plumbing, electricians, accountants
Leader has right to ‘punish’ team members if work doesn’t
meet pre-determined standard
Team members can do little to improve job satisfaction
Can give team members some control of income/reward by
offering incentives
Way of managing vs. leading
Focused on short-term tasks
Transformational Leadership
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Inspires team with shared vision of the future
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Highly visible to the team
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Spend a lot of time communicating
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Tend to delegate work among their team
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Enthusiasm is infectious
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Need to be supported by ‘detail people’ – have overall vision
Using the Right Style-Situational
Leadership
Transformation Leadership approach is often highly effective
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No “right” way to lead or manage that suits all situations
To choose the most effective approach for you consider:
 The skill levels and experience of your team members.
 The work involved (routine or new and creative)
 The organizational environment (stable or radically changing,
conservative or adventurous)
 Your own preferred or natural style
A good leader will find him or herself using “Situational Leadership.”
Effective Leaders
How Many of these Traits do you Possess?
 Make others feel important
 Promote a vision
 Follow the Golden Rule
 Admit mistakes
 Criticize only in private
 Stay close to the action
 Make a game of the competition
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more
and become more, you are a leader.”
-John Quincy Adams
Leadership Questions in Interviewing
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Describe one experience where you had to lead a
team.
How would you describe your leadership style?
What is the difference between a leader and a
manager?
How would you motivate a team?
Do you feel that you work more effectively on a
one-to-one basis or in a group situation?
Conclusions
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Sometimes it just takes the right situation to make
you stand up and lead others.
The most effective leadership style for a situation
may not be the most comfortable style or based on
your personality style.
Good leadership boils down to respecting those
who work with you and for you, and doing what is
right for the team to succeed.