Leadership That Gets Results by Daniel Goleman (Harvard Business Review) is the best article I have read so far in this class. I have learned so much from it. In the article, Daniel Goleman argues that there are six leadership styles:
- Coercive leaders demand immediate compliance
- Authoritative leaders mobilize people toward a vision
- Affiliative leaders create emotional bonds and harmony
- Democratic leaders build consensus through participation
- Pacesetting leaders expect excellence and self-direction
- Coaching leaders develop people for the future
Going through Managerial Style Questionnaire is quite a self-discovery process. My final scores are:
- Coercive: 3
- Authoritative: 8
- Affiliative: 3
- Democratic: 8
- Pacesetting: 5
- Coaching: 9
My dominant styles are: Authoritative and Coaching
My back up style is: Democratic
The insights from this exercise are:
– Although I have a tendency to be nice and compassionate to people, my score on Affiliative style is not high (30 %). I do push back on things that I don’t agree with, although I hardly ever confront people.
– On the other hand, my score on Pacesetting style is 50 %. I can see that I can be easily trapped in this style because I am perfectionist and can be intense sometimes, I have a tendency to demand others to do the same.
– I am surprised to see that Democratic is my backup style. Sometimes I have strong opinions and I like to do the things the way I wanted. I guess over time I have learned to be democratic!
– People who don’t know me well have a hard time to believe that Authoritative is my dominant style. The fact that I am quiet, speak softly, shy sometimes and smile all the time makes people think I am not a strong leader.
I am a little surprised to learn that success of a leader has so much to do with his/her emotional intelligence. Going through the emotional intelligence capacities, I did a self-assessment:
The things I believe I am doing well:
Self-Awareness
– Emotional self-awareness: the ability to read and understand your emotions as well as recognize their impact on work performance, relationships and the like.
Self-Management
– Trustworthiness: a consistent display of honesty and integrity.
– Conscientiousness: the ability to manage yourself and your responsibilities
– Achievement orientation: the drive to meet an internal standard of excellence
– Initiative: a readiness to seize opportunities
Social Skill
– Visionary leadership: the ability to take charge and inspire with a compelling vision
– Developing others: the propensity to bolster the abilities of others through feedback and guidance.
It seems that areas that I need pay most attention are:
Social Awareness
– Organizational awareness: the ability to read the currents of organizational life, build decision networks, and navigate politics.
– Empathy: skill at sensing other people’s emotions, understanding their perspective, and taking an active interest in their concerns
Social Skill
– Communication: skill at listening and at sending clear, convincing, and well-tuned messages.
– Conflict management: the ability to de-escalate disagreements and orchestrate resolutions
– Building bonds: proficiency at cultivating and maintaining a web of relationships
To summarize, I am doing better in self-awareness and self-management. I am not doing so well in social awareness and social skill. That’s why I feel uncomfortable at workplace. I feel I cannot be myself. I found this analysis extremely helpful. Now I have a clear picture what I can work on to improve myself in order for me to be successful in the work environment!!