Leadership Styles

This page describes eight leadership styles that are related to your personality type. If you would like to discover your leadership style, complete our leadership test.

Different situations require the use of different leadership styles. A good leader will be able to:

• develop flexibility to be able to use any of the styles
• recognise the different demands of each situation
• adapt appropriately, by using the style(s) that will give optimum success
• ensure one's own personality needs are met

Balancing your own needs with the changing demands of the situation is one of the main challenges of modern leadership. This involves asking two questions.

The first question is what is your natural leadership style? What are you good at? What strengths and weaknesses do you have?

The second question is what leadership style does your job demand? What are the needs of the situation? What do you have to do to be a successful leader?

Modern leadership demands finding the right balance between both. You need to recognise your own strengths and exploit them, but you also need to have an ability to adapt your style to different situations in order to achieve the maximum effectiveness. If you lead in a manner that is solely in line with your own preferred leadership style, then you will fail to be effetive. If you only try to adapt to the situation, you will suffer from executive burnout.

The table below describes each of the eight leadership styles, and gives examples when the style should or should not be used.

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LEADERSHIP STYLE Myers Briggs type, Jungian type, MTR-i team role
	Description	When to use	When not to use
PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP ESFJ/ENFJ, Extraverted Feeling (Jung), or Harmonising (MTR-i)
	People-oriented, motivator, builds personal relationships, likeable, interpersonal skills, cares for others	Commitment from others is critical, or sensitive situations	Decisions need to be forced through, conflict is being avoided
IDEOLOGICAL LEADERSHIP ISFP/INFP, Introverted Feeling (Jung), or Campaigning (MTR-i)
	Value-driven, has passion for key issues, focuses on important themes, champions the cause	The group has lost its sense of identity, or it is doing too many unimportant things	There is a problem that needs to be solved with dispassionate objectivity (eg: technical issues)
CHANGE-ORIENTED LEADERSHIP ENTP/ENFP, Extraverted Intuition (Jung), or Exploring (MTR-i)
	Tries things that are new, prototypes, introduces change, looks for unexpected outcomes, creates new opportunities, experiments	The group is 'stuck in a rut', or the status quo needs to be challenged	There are already too many initiatives under way and some stability is needed
VISIONARY LEADERSHIP INTJ/INFJ, Introverted Intuition (Jung), or Innovating (MTR-i)
	Develops long term vision, produces radical ideas, foresees the future, anticipates what is outside current knowledge	Radical change is needed, change is a long term activity	There are immediate dangers, the group may not survive in the short term
ACTION-ORIENTED LEADERSHIP ESTP/ESFP, Extraverted Sensing (Jung), or Activating (MTR-i)
	Takes action, produces results, leads from the front, sets an example, does what is asked of others	There is some inertia, or lack of achievement has destroyed motivation	The group is being too expedient, current success may ebb in the future
GOAL-ORIENTED LEADERSHIP ISTJ/ISFJ, Introverted Sensing (Jung), or Clarifying (MTR-i)
	Observes, listens, clarifies goals, establishes realistic expectations, makes aims crystal clear	The direction is vague or expectations have not been articulated	There are already too many goals or too much information
EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP ESTJ/ENTJ, Extraverted Thinking (Jung), or Conducting (MTR-i)
	Organises, makes plans, sets measurable goals, coordinates work of different people, manages resources	There is chaos/lack of organisation, or there are no measures of achievement	There are so many processes that creativity has been stifled
LEADERSHIP THEORIST ISTP/INTP, Introverted Thinking (Jung), or Analysing (MTR-i)
	Analyses, uses models, produces explanations, compares other situations, engages in intellectual debate	The situation is complex or driven by technical solutions	People's feelings are paramount, or the group go round in circular arguments

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Finding the right balance

Our leadership report helps you to identify the differences between your natural style and the leadership requirements of the situation you are in. Understanding those competing demands is an important step towards finding the right balance between success and personal fulfilment.

Develop Your Potential

Our personality questionnaire can help you:

• become much more self-aware;
• develop your leadership, management or influencing skills;
• find a career that matches your personality;
• Improve teamwork and team relationships.

You can either do the personality test yourself, or administer multiple questionnaires for use in team building and leadership development.