I’ve asked a few colleagues, ex-colleagues, friends and family to seek an alignment with the kind of leadership style and my personal deduction of what my style really is.
And here’s what I found out.
To be honest, I was surprised that the Authoritarian was higher than the Participative. I thought I was more Participative. I guess I am getting impatient these days. But many have agreed that my default leadership style is Transformational and Servant based. No surprises there.
If you’re unsure about what the above means, then you might want to consider reading this article that I wrote previously — The Various Leadership Styles.
Why am I a mix of Transformational and Servant?
For the simple fact that I need a purpose or vision that resonates with the company’s vision. Without it, my motivation falls. And because my pride doesn’t allow me to give up, I’ll be dragging myself.
I’ve always been Customer focused as thinking for and behalf of my clients so that I can deliver my best. In short, over-deliver without eating much into the profit margin. The question that I always ask myself is — if I was the product owner, what do I want this product to do and then switch hats and ask — how to I deliver this efficiently with the budget I have, but yet deliver more value.
For those who do not know the difference between transformational and servant leadership styles, the following table summarises it:
| Transformational | Servant |
|---|---|
| Focused on the goals of the organisation | Focused on service to followers, customers, and the organisation |
| Influence by modeling | Influence by serving the needs of others |
| Use persuasion | Promote team problem-solving |
| Promote individualised influence | Individualised development |
| Motivate with charisma to attain a common goal | Motivate by providing autonomy and resources |
Driven by Goals
Goals, be it personal and organisational, are important to me. If I do not have goal, or if I’m not able to meet them, it will take a huge toll on my morale and motivation. And of course those goals would need to resonate with me too and not a goal that was forced upon. That’s another attributing reason for low morality.
I’ve always feel that goals of a company and personal goals must work hand-in-hand. Employees and employers should discuss them together. This ensure leaders and team mates have plenty of face-time that builds relationships, empathy and mutual understanding.
Modelling and Promote Individual Development
I try my best to influence my junior peers through modelling but still promote their individual development to define and refine their style of project management. It’s tiring but seeing how and what they have grown into based on some of the lessons they learned, makes it worthwhile.
I might nag or sound naggy but the underline reason is because I genuinely care for their well-being and development — no bullshit and no hidden agenda behind it; especially since I come from an educational background. Only parents would nag no matter how many mistakes you’ve made. But it’s never because they hate you. It’s always the opposite.
To show my sincerity, I extend help to other project managers who are not even in the organisation I’m currently working in.
Serving Others
Junior Staffs
For junior peers, I would always ask them at the start, what do they intend to gain from their time working with the company and me. From there, I’ll try my best to tailor or recommend projects that would meet their goals and objectives.
Influence by Modeling
If they do not have a project preference, I will provide them with a variety of projects for them to explore their interest. Ultimately, this will enable them to be the kind of PM they aspire to become and I’ll be the benchmark for them.
Individualised Influence and Development
This would also means elevating their strengths to greater heights, covering and supporting them in their weaknesses — this is where it gets tiring but seeing them blossom, gives me the motivation to continue. Slowly but surely, they will be able to mimic my approach, ways and methods and eventually, cover or even overcome their own weaknesses by themselves. Support here is key. Genuine support is not passive and based on lip service — it’s active; if you’re genuine.
If a person doesn’t scream for help, that doesn’t mean that they are not drowning. It could be because they have no time or means to call for help or simply do not want to trouble others or do not want to seem incompetent or even uncertain as to whom they should ask for help. It’s just human nature. And I feel leaders should understand this. Especially since an organisation is entirely made up of people.
Senior Staffs
For senior peers, I will mostly play an advisor role. Experience will come in handy here. I’ll also take up a supportive role and allow them to run the projects their way. If they need help, I’ll just jump in.
Otherwise, they will continue running the show themselves unless clients/stakeholders approach me personally saying that there is a problem.
Promote team problem-solving & Use Persuasion
If a problem happens, I will take control of the project for a while have internal discussions on the problems and how we should tackle it, resolve the problem and hand it over back to them. This is a crucial move as no matter how bad the screw up is, the contention here is to say, “I still trust you” and persuade them to continue running the project and provide the support they need. Sometime the project vision and objective will be re-interated again.
During this heighten period, I will also monitor the high level progress and look at some of their emails sent. If it still poses a problem with the client after a few tries, I will switch to a mix of Participative and/or Authoritarian style.
Summary
In summary, more Servant leadership for junior team members and Transformational leadership style for senior team members.
If this fails, instead of Transactional (which most Transformational leaders will default to), I would default to a Participative Authoritarian style.