Natural Leadership Styles

In this episode Gerard shares the four natural leadership styles that can form the backbone of your success as a leader.  With each leadership style reflecting your natural strengths, motivations and life experiences, he shows how greater energy, authenticity and effectiveness can flow from pursuing your natural and instinctive approach to leadership.

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Transcript

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It's not about the ordinary. We've got enough of that. It's about 

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the extraordinary. And we need more 

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either. I'm gerard PENNER, and welcome to the Extraordinary Leaders podcast, where we spend time with recognized leaders and global experts exploring the art and science of remarkable leadership. 

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Welcome to the extraordinary latest podcast where we explore topics and speak with global experts and practitioners on how we can all become better leaders. I'm your host, Gerard Pena. It's been a busy month since our last podcast episode for All Things Leadership, at least in the extraordinary ladies universe. We've been working with quite a number of leadership teams in organizations where they need to come together with greater clarity, alignment, commitment if they're to lead their organizations well and create the right conditions for the employees and team members in their organizations to be able to succeed. 

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Which further research over the last month has shown us is such an incredibly important function of leadership teams, with some empirical research out of the Netherlands and Spain, from some university researchers showing very clearly that the. United Ms. or the effectiveness and functioning of senior leadership team in any organization can have a profound impact upon the engagement of team members and employees right through the organization, as it appears that when leadership teams are fractured, dysfunctional in conflict, don't work well together and generally promote silos across the organization, it promotes dissatisfaction and drives morale down within their organizations. 

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So less effective leadership teams in terms of their clarity, alignment and commitment and ability to work together seem to correlate very strongly with particularly higher levels of intentions of employees to leave their organizations in high turnovers. We've also discovered that the quality of leadership that's being exhibited at the next level below those leadership teams has a profound impact as well in terms of whether it is effective at shielding employees and team members further down from that dysfunction, where leadership is more effective when leaders take up their role and understand that even despite what's going on at more senior levels in the organization, they can create the sorts of cultures and dynamics that are more supportive of teams and team members who are seeking to perform the work at the organization, who are seeking to achieve the objectives and the goals and the outcomes that matter to them. 

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That that leadership behavior can have an extraordinary impact even in those conditions. You can find out more about that topic on the blog on our website. Extraordinary leaders dot com dot IU. And I've also been posting on this topic on LinkedIn as well, so you'll be able to find something there. 

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Another thing has been happening in the last month, of which I am extraordinarily proud, is the next round of annual leadership program that I have designed, facilitated on behalf of one of my long term clients, a global top 20 top 50 organization headquartered out of Australia. And we've been taking high potential future senior leaders and accelerating their development through quite an immersive and intense experience. 

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We've been doing this now for close to 13 years. We've gotten to the point now where one of the most gratifying parts of that program is the participants from the early programs are now actually members of the global senior leadership team for the function that we've been doing this for. And the program has also been expanded to a number of other functions within this organization. So it is clearly, by all measures, has been contributing long term to the success of leaders and growing better leaders for tomorrow. 

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And we'll be kicking off another one of those programs in the next few weeks. And I am very much looking forward to meeting the next batch of high potential leaders who are going to be participating in this program. 

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Also very pleased that we have another energized program that we're going to be offering here in Melbourne from the 15th to the 17th of November. That's a three day immersive leadership development experience for leaders who want to learn how to get better results through others and improve the quality of the relationships that they have with their teams and their peers and people around them. It's certainly a program which we've been getting very positive feedback around. It's been based upon a program that we've been running within corporates for now quite a period of time. 

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And of course earlier this year we made the decision to run it as a public program and we've been extremely pleased with the participation by quite a number of people from organisations who otherwise wouldn't normally get access to our leadership program. And they've come from a variety of places, including large corporate but also smaller and mid-sized organisations, not for profits and NGOs. So it's 

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terrifically rewarding to be able to provide this experience once more before we close out this calendar year. So if you or someone that you know would benefit from participating, please reach out to us and let us know by contacting us at interact at Extraordinary Leaders dot com or just visit our website extraordinary leaders dot com Donohue and fill in a contact request form and we'll certainly get back to you as soon as we possibly can. Something else has been happening over the last month is I've been working on a article for a prestigious management journal, which I'm sure many of you have read. 

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I was invited to write on the topic of leadership styles. What are they? How do they impact the effectiveness of your leadership and how can you develop and grow them? I chose to write about what I call natural leadership styles, which are concerned with the different ways in which we can show up as leaders based upon our natural tendencies, our natural strengths and natural motivations, and instinctual automatic ways of operating in the world that we've been building and shaping in ourselves for our entire lives. I was partly motivated to write about leadership styles in this way because of two reasons. 

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The first is that in my work with leaders coaching and developing them, I have found inevitably that when leaders develop a version of leadership which is really reflective of themselves or the better aspects of themselves, it's much easier. To use. It's much more natural. We can find the energy and the motivation for it, and it just shows up more authentically. The second reason that I thought it was particularly important to write about natural leadership styles is that the vast majority of people are thrust into leadership roles at some point in their career without being provided any guidance or any training or any kind of form of support. 

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So all we're left with to support our transition into leadership and to ideally be successful is what we bring. And that is all of the natural tendencies and the automatic instinctual responses we have to the world, which we've been shaping through our entire lives. So finding a way of leveraging that productively and leveraging that effectively and efficiently into our leadership seem to be a natural and naturally advantageous way of taking up leadership. So this topic, natural leadership styles. What are they? How can they be helpful to our leadership and how can we shape them and grow into them in more productive and useful way so that each of us can become more effective in our leadership? So hang around for this episode. 

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It's going to be a good one. 

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Becoming a manager for the first time can be one of the most challenging transitions in your work life. It can feel daunting to cultivate a leadership style that feels authentic as well as inspires everyone around you, especially the team that you lead. A 2019 survey by DTI of over 23,000 managers showed that new leaders are often thrown in the deep end, left to either sink or swim. With more than 84% of them reporting that they felt stressed about their first leadership role. 

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The research also revealed that people received little or no training when they become first time leaders, waiting on average until they're 40 years old before attending their first course. That's a delay of several years after first being appointed. What's more, while new leaders reported a higher confidence in their skills related to personal abilities like empathy, adaptability and determination, most felt under confident when it comes to important leadership abilities, like inspiring others, developing their team's potential, and enabling collaboration. 

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So how can you develop a more effective leadership approach sooner rather than later? And how can you do it in such a way that it works from where you're at right now rather than where you might hope to be with your leadership in ten or 20 years time? One way is to work on developing, nurturing and cultivating your natural leadership style. 

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At the foundation of this approach. The idea is to focus on improving what you're good at rather than trying to correct your weaknesses or improve the things that you're not good at. That's because when we focus on developing our strength instead of just overcoming our weaknesses, research says that we're more likely to feel energetic, feel well-rested, be open to learning new things, and ultimately improve our performance at work. 

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The best leadership style for you reflects who you are. That is your core strengths and motivations. This strength based approach works because it leverages aspects of your identity that are already well formed and practiced so it will feel easier and more natural doing so. For example, if you characterize yourself as a people person, which many people do, you're probably warm and you probably enjoy connecting with people. As a result, your social skills and your emotional intelligence may be more developed. So building trust and connection with your team members is something that you'll enjoy. 

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It will feel easier for you, and that will form a foundation stone for your leadership success. Your natural leadership style will also reflect your strongest motivations, and that makes it easier to access the energy needed to fuel your leadership efforts and success, particularly when the going gets tough. And the good news is that you already possess much of what you'll need to succeed. Over 35 years, I've observed, evaluated, trained and coached thousands of leaders around the world. And I've concluded that the seeds of the leader that you'll instinctively become are already planted within you in time, producing your natural leadership style. 

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You just need to unearth and cultivate it. That said, unilateral leadership style may also produce some natural instinctive tendencies that will limit your leadership effectiveness. For example, being a people person who desires connection and belonging, it may create a reluctance to give tough feedback or a reluctance to go against the prevailing view of the team. In their book, Scaling Leadership. Bob Anderson and Bill Adams reported that more than 1 million assessments of leaders around the globe showed that overplayed instinctive leadership tendencies have an inverse correlation with leadership effectiveness. 

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In other words, if we rely too much on our instinctive leadership tendencies and allow them to play out in our leadership unfettered and unconstrained, it can actually reduce our leadership effectiveness. Likewise, the research by Anderson Adams showed that. 

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Overplayed instinctive leadership tendencies can have a negative correlation with business results. These results were across a large range of metrics that included things like sales growth, profitability, quality, even product innovation. So given that these negative aspects of your natural style can hinder your success, it will also pay to cultivate a natural style in such a way that it limits those impacts. So how can you become your leadership self? I became aware of natural leadership styles through my work as an executive coach, observing my clients leading in ways that reflected the life journey that had shaped them. 

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Their individual life experiences, backgrounds, motivations and strengths within reflected in the way that they managed and led their team. The way that you instinctively lead as an adult has already been shaped by your experiences in childhood and adolescence as you've learned to navigate your way through life. During this time, you've had to work out how to be okay in the world. You've had to discover and refine who you needed to be to get what you required from the people and the environment around you. Emerging into adulthood. 

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Your way of being and succeeding has become your calling card in the workplace, and it's become the foundation of your natural leadership style. For example, a client of mine, Michelle, was the eldest of seven siblings in a large working class family in urban Australia. From early on, she realised that money was always tight at home and started helping out by doing cleaning and housework for neighbours and other odd jobs. 

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When her father died unexpectedly, Michelle had to quit school. She took up a job at a local supermarket, often taking extra shifts to help pay the household bills and to put food on the family table. Her work ethic was noticed by a manager, and she was quickly promoted into a supervisory role at the age of 17. That was the first of many promotions. Each one leading to more responsibility and a bigger pay packet. Michelle's mother and her siblings were appreciative of the part that she played in the family, and they expressed their gratitude regularly. 

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Michelle learnt that being committed and diligent was what she was good at and that it produced positive feelings and other rewards in life. I'm a hard worker is how Michelle described herself naturally when she started to lead teams. She valued and cultivated the same belief in others that hard work and effort were what mattered. Over time, Michelle rose through the ranks because of her reputation for getting things done. This was a natural leadership style. Michelle, and engage me as an executive coach because she suspected that her natural leadership style was also holding her back. 

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She'd had recent feedback that her energy, intensity and relentless drive meant that she was also pushing her teams to the brink of exhaustion. Her drive for results was coming at the cost of people and their well-being. At the same time, Michelle also realized that she was also at the risk of burnout, and she knew that something needed to change. She understood that she needed to grow beyond her natural leadership style if she and her teams would be more sustainable. 

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My work is now focused on helping people leverage the strength that come from their natural leadership style. At the same time, helping them grow beyond the limitations that can accompany them. Based on that of defined for natural leadership styles. Achiever, expert team player and catalyst. 

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Each star reflects a unique combination of strengths. Motivations that give work its meaning. In the identity that you formed as an adult. 

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One way to identify your natural leadership style is by finishing the following sentence with one word. So grab a pen, piece of paper and write down the one word that immediately comes to mind. When I read out the sentence. I have been successful because I have been. 

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Right down the wood rings true for you. That word will usually fall into one of the four following categories. 

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The first natural leadership style category is achiever and the typical words that. Reflect that style. Things like hard working, tenacious, focused. Discipline. Resilient. Driven. 

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The second natural leadership style that of the expert often has words like smart, intelligent, competent, knowledgeable, bright, rational. Usually words to do with our intelligence or our knowledge or our expertise. The third natural leadership style is that of the team player and the kinds of words that relate to the team player. Words like connected, loyal people oriented. Diplomatic, liked, loved. 

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And the fourth natural leadership style is that of the catalyst and the typical words that people will share in response to that statement. I have been successful because I have been of words like conscious, aware, giving, empowering, purposeful. 

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Now, it's also possible that you might identify with more than one natural style, and that's okay. Most of us are more complex than any framework can possibly reflect. It does make it easier, however, if you focus on cultivating the most dominant style first. So when you identify your natural leadership style, you can then immediately begin to hone and leverage its strengths as well as limit its potential downsides. So let's break down the four natural styles of leadership. 

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The first style is the achiever. Here. Leadership is about making things happen. Such leaders identify themselves as doers or those who like to complete tasks and accomplish things on time and on target. They have a strong bias for action, preferring to focus on quickly finding solutions when faced with an opportunity or challenge. In general, they focus on making as much progress as possible in the shortest time and are often high performing contributors themselves. Similarly, they also look for similar qualities in their team members, and they may push and encourage their teams to achieve and often exceed targets and expectations. 

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That said, this leadership style is also prone to prioritizing results over people, the relationships in their desire to move quickly. They can often ignore other people's perspectives, ideas or views, causing them to show up as an autocratic micromanaging. My way or the highway type of leader. The tendency to push harder to overcome resistance or barriers can fill abusive and neglectful to those who might have legitimate concerns, and it might also drive their own teams to the brink of exhaustion or beyond. 

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They may also be prone to acting before thinking in some situations. The achieved style has some natural gifts that should be leveraged. Those gifts include focus, resolve, tenacity, commitment, initiative, action, orientation, and driving for results. 

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If you have a natural leadership style which is based on the achiever, there's some areas that you should look out for, some cautions, if you like. It includes ignoring other people's needs or concerns. 

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Acting without thinking. 

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Becoming addicted to doing. 

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Burning out. And being unable to let go. 

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When I work with leaders who may have an achiever, style is their natural leadership style. I encourage them to think deeply about this idea. And that is, you can't control. We influence everything. If you try to, you'll just burn out. So if you're going to maximize your impact and ensure your own well-being and sustainability, the achiever needs to learn when to take control and when to let go. 

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The second natural leadership style is that of the expert. This is a way of leading that is built upon deep competence in one or more areas of professional knowledge and expertise. 

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Leaders of teams in highly technical fields such as engineering, accounting, medicine, law, technology are just a few prime examples with their deep knowledge, and their rich experience means that they really understand how things work and often have the answers to the questions that other people are asking. So therefore, providing insightful perspectives and evaluating the pros and cons of proposed approaches makes them invaluable in managing risk and developing effective ways of responding to problems and opportunities. That same ability to judge and evaluate can also make them effective teachers and technical coaches. 

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Although needing to be right and having all the answers can come with a dark side. It can cause these leaders to look only for faults and gaps in what other people put forward, which then limits engagement and trust, as well as creating a reputation for the leader as a blocker rather than an enabler. Their need to have All the answers can also mean that they might fail to invite or acknowledge other people's views or perspectives, and it may also leave them reluctant to admit that they don't have all the answers or perhaps even the best answers. 

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What's more, the uncertainty and ambiguity that can arise in chaotic and disruptive environments. It can leave the expert paralyzed because there is no single perfect answer to the challenges that are emerging. 

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The natural gifts that the expert leaders should leverage are competence, insight, knowledge, judgment, expertise, advice and teaching. 

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The areas that the expert leader should be cautious about and be aware of, a tendency is to ignore other people's views. 

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Not really listening. Focusing mainly on what's wrong. Being overly critical. Expecting perfection. Over arguing. Seeking to lay blame and being paralyzed by uncertainty. In my experience of coaching individuals who have built their leadership around the style of the expert. A key area for them to develop and grow into a more complete version of themselves. 

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Involve them acknowledging that they can't possibly know everything all of the time, that they're going to have to get used to hanging out with uncertainty and get comfortable with not knowing. 

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So let's take a look now at the third of the four natural leadership styles. This is the team player. 

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Some leaders simply love being close to their team. Cultivating warm relationships gives them energy and deepening connection with other people feels really rewarding. They get along well with people and they tend to fit in easily with the goals and ways of working that exist within the group. 

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They're also especially loyal to their team members. They'll support them in their views and they'll go to great lengths to maintain the well-being and positivity of the team. When conflict emerges within the team, they are quick to respond and restore harmony. 

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The team player's likeability and concern for others is, however, at times limiting to their leadership effectiveness. They can appear to easily flip flopped between positions on contentious issues as they align with the latest views shared rather than holding a potentially unpopular stance. What's more, they can sometimes fail to make the tough calls and hold people accountable. Because this leadership style can struggle to hold people in the discomfort that may accompany tough feedback or necessary performance management. 

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You may remember I talked about this topic. In an earlier podcast called Regulating Heat. 

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Likewise the tendency of the team player leader. 

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Has a tendency to hose down conflict too quickly, and that can mean that team issues are not addressed and instead are left to grow and fester over time instead. The natural gifts for the team player to leverage into their leadership are loyalty, optimism, agreeableness, support, obvious connection, care, empathy and thoughtfulness. 

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The areas associated with the natural style of the team player as a leader that they should be aware of. And be on alert for include avoiding productive conflict. Sugarcoating issues or sweeping issues under the carpet. Flip flopping between views. Being too agreeable and avoiding giving tough feedback. When I work with the team player has a natural leadership style. I encourage the individual to be aware that sometimes the most helpful thing that they can do for their team members is to create heat rather than avoid it. 

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You know, sometimes speaking up and challenging the status quo is what's needed. Creating some tension is what's needed. To do that, though, you need to have the courage to be disliked. So perhaps the old adage here is most helpful that leadership is not a popularity contest. 

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The fourth natural leadership style is called the Catalyst. Now, the term the catalyst or catalyst is taken from basic chemistry. And the idea of a catalyst is that when you add a catalyst to otherwise inert. 

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Inactive material. It changes that material, releases energy from it. And that's the work often of leadership is to release the energy of others. And you'll notice that there are some people. Who naturally show up that way. In fact, one of the more noticeable hallmarks of this leadership style is they serve a bigger purpose that calls to them. And that passion and that desire to make a difference is quite infectious, and it sparks action from others towards a shared vision or goal. And realizing that the status quo may hold the team back from succeeding. 

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The catalyst is often prepared to speak up and challenge the existing norms and ways that things get done. And in their desire to make change, they challenged their team to step up to a different level of contribution, a greater level of contribution. 

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It's not uncommon, though, for this style of leadership to leave others behind, especially those who don't share the same level of passion or commitment to the cause that they're pursuing. The catalyst leader can also at times create too much disturbance and instability as their appetite for change can exceed that of their team members, their peers, or even their bosses. 

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Like the achiever pattern. This style of leadership can also contribute to burnout and exhaustion amongst the team as it demands more in the name of the purpose or the vision that it serves. 

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The natural gifts of the catalyst leadership style that should be leveraged include courage, selflessness, energy, drive, passion, care, authenticity and integrity. The areas of caution for any leader who is adopting the natural leadership style of the catalyst is to be aware and careful of creating too much heat or trying to change things too quickly or stepping too far beyond the boundaries of your authority. Also be aware of leaving people behind. 

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Burning yourself out or burning others out. 

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The Pro-tip for the catalyst leaders allows them to grow into an even higher level of leadership effectiveness is remember that what energises you may not be the same for others. You need to tap into their individual motivations and reasons to act, and that can help generate more support and can also help overcome resistance. 

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The four natural styles of leadership are a great place to get started. On to growing into the leader that you've already started to become. Take the time to nurture and cultivate the seeds of leadership that have already been planted by your life experiences. A rich harvest will surely follow. At the same time, note that farmers who plant the same crops every season find that their fields yield less over time and become more prone to disease, weeds and pests. Seeding the field with different crops and introducing diversity helps restore soil health and productivity. 

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The same is true of growing your leadership, growing beyond your natural style and embracing aspects of the less natural styles will be essential in balancing out your limitations and in mastering leadership as you encounter new challenges and opportunities in your journey through life. But that's for later, though. For now, just focus on becoming the best version of your natural leadership self. And that's it for this episode of The Extraordinary Leaders Podcast. And I hope that in some way has informed and involved your thinking about your own leadership. 

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I'm looking forward to sharing another episode with you in a few weeks, and if you want to make it easy to stay up to date with new episodes as they're released. Simply subscribe. It doesn't matter whether it's Apple, Spotify, Google or some other platform, they'll make it easy for you to be notified whenever a new episode is published. But in the meantime, LEAD will take care.