Every entrepreneur is by default a leader. But few are really effective. In this article, expert Kim Olver explains what it takes to be a true leader.
Three Different Leadership Styles
There are three basic types of leaders. Glasser speaks mainly of Boss and Lead Managers, with Lead Managers being those who practice Choice Theory. However, there is another type of manager, often referred to as the Laze-Faire Manager which can be just as dangerous as the Boss Manager. Glasser focuses his energies at eliminating Boss Management in the workplace because he would like to rid the world of external control, however, I have also seen the dangers of using a “hands off” approach to management which shall be discussed further.
I like to think of management styles on a continuum:
Laze-faire – Lead – Boss
Boss Management:
Boss managers are the ones who want to control everything. They often micromanage. They tend to look for the person or persons to blame for a situation that has gone wrong. When things are not going well, a Boss Manager will use coercion to get people to do what he or she wants. Occasionally, rewards will be used with the goal of getting employees to do something they don’t naturally want to do. The Boss is most concerned with production of the goods or services. He or she is not particularly interested in the people who are producing those goods and services.
Laze-Faire Management:
Laze-Faire Managers are typically the managers who want everyone to like them and who don’t manage conflict well. Laze-Faire Managers are most concerned with the people at work being happy and don’t particularly focus on quality services or products.
Confused Management:
Sometimes people develop a confused manager style. One day, they will be a Laze-Faire Manager and another day, a Boss Manager. The employees never know whether they will be working with the “good boss” or the “bad boss” on any given day.
This typically occurs when managers take a hard approach when the task is time-sensitive or there are outside forces impacting the job. But then afterward, it’s as if the manager realizes he or she has been too hard and feels guilty, and then attempts to be overly friendly with the people that were just mistreated.
Pendulum Swing
One of the things I have found that often happens in teaching Lead Management, particularly to Boss Managers, is that realize they have been Boss Managing and want to stop. Often, in their guilt and haste, they actually move all the way down to the Laze-Faire Management style. Then over time, they become frustrated because their people have started to walk all over them and never seem to be satisfied, always wanting more and more. When this occurs, they will swing back to the Boss Management style, claiming Lead Management doesn’t “work,” when in essence, they weren’t using Lead Management at all.
Lead Management:
The Lead Manager has mastered the balance between focusing on the product or service and the people who produce the product and/or service. When there are difficulties, a Lead Manager does not look to place blame, but instead adopts a problem-solving mode and seeks to fix the problem, while preventing future occurrences. Lead Managers do not seek to blame individuals but rather tend to examine the system for flaws and look to adapt and/or correct the system that is causing the problem, not the individual.
What kind of manager are you? What kind of manager would your people say you are? What kind of manager do you want to be? If you are more of a boss, then you will want to focus more on the needs of your employees. If you are more a Laze-Faire Manager, then you will want to focus more on the goods or services being produced. Good coaching can help you accomplish your management goals.
Kim Olver kim@coachingforexcellence.biz
For your peace and prosperity,
Vaya con dios,
