Leadership Skills

Leadership requires many skill sets. To be a good leader, we attempt to master those skill sets to improve our success in a leadership role. The desire to develop a successful style of leadership should be inherent in the position. In 1939 Kurt Lewin identified three leadership styles:  authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. In my work with coaches, I discuss these styles of leadership and have added one more style—abusive. Generally, the authoritarian leader has the attitude of “My way or the highway.” This leader makes all the decisions, does not trust others, and is inflexible. The democratic leader makes decisions with input from the group, but the leader has the deciding voice. Where the authoritarian leader tells information only, the democratic leader tells, listens, and asks. This leader is more group-centered. The laissez-faire leader is a delegative leader; this leader is not a motivator, has no objectives, and does not really care about outcomes. I have added the abusive leadership style to the list as too many coaches, whether cheerleading, baseball, or soccer, exhibit this style. This leader yells, screams, and curses the group; this person is demeaning, threatening and abuses his or her authority.  The motivating factor here is fear.

When I discuss leadership style with coaches, they often nod in agreement with the descriptions and can mentally visualize someone from each group. I’m sure my readers can picture a coach or boss who fits each category. The successful leader learns how to use a combination of styles. Imagine an emergency situation needing an instant response. You don’t have time to allow the group to discuss which options are best for this particular emergency. You must be the authoritarian leader; the democratic style will not work for this situation. Leaders find a balance that allows them to lead as the situation directs.

In my last blog, I discussed Dr. John A. Kline’s pamphlet on listening. Dr. Kline authored an article titled Communication and Leadership in which he talks about the working climate in a group. Savvy leaders foster good working climates. Kline labels his organizational climates as dehumanized climate, overhumanized climate, and situational climate. These climates mesh well with leadership styles. The dehumanized climate assumes subordinates cannot perform without directives—much like the authoritarian leadership style—and must be told exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. As you have probably guessed, the overhumanized climate is the opposite of dehumanized. In a sense, this is similar to the laissez-faire leadership style. Motivation (if any) comes from the individual and concerns for the individual are more important that meeting objectives or production. The situational climate is a balance of the dehumanized and overhumanized. The name describes the term—the climate is flexible so that it changes to fit the situation. Smart leaders learn how to lead for the situation at hand.

Our leadership style also guides our verbal communications to the group and individuals. The use of “you” or “you people” is like pointing a finger—blaming or criticizing. The use of “we” is inclusive—it includes the speaker and the group. “We” indicates teamwork; it shows that all are important to the group or organization.

Our leadership style demonstrates how we feel about our organizations, our people; it is a form of communication. Another form of communication that can help build healthy and productive organizational climates is internal communication. This includes the variety of ways we communicate within our organization. This may be memos, guidelines, newsletters—those forms of communication that get information to those whom it relates. The Community Tool Box has an excellent website devoted to sharing information to help build successful and productive organizations.  They assert several good reasons for using internal communication:  to improve the efficiency of the group, to keep everyone updated on recent events in the group, to be able to react quickly to emergencies or major changes, to provide a means for everyone to share ideas, to promote an open climate and collegiality in the group, to empower those in the group, to demonstrate fairness and respect for all, to promote transparency as it relates to problems or concerns, to ensure accurate information is being shared by all. Organizations who communicate successfully through internal communication can be more productive and find their employees feel as if they are part of the team.

Newsletters are an excellent means of internal communication. Weekly or monthly newsletters can meet a variety of needs—important employee information, organization updates, calendar of events, highlighting teams and individuals for success, even birthdays and new babies can be part of the recognition. These can be printed or emailed. Adding audio, video and hot links adds to the entertainment and informational value of newsletters. I know owners of large cheerleading and gymnastic gyms that publish monthly newsletters. These are important to their members as they include a monthly calendar with competitions and team practice dates. The newsletters also give parents information about traveling arrangements, fee updates, charity events, etc. The cheerleaders, gymnasts, parents, and coaches are part of the organization as a whole as well as smaller groups within the organization.

Some organizations find newsletters impractical or not as useful, so they may turn to emails for the majority of their internal communications. Emails are immediate and can be as short or as long as needed. They can also be saved and filed electronically. Distribution lists make this process easy if only one group needs to be contacted. In a study by Parsons and Urbanski those surveyed in a media organization said email was the best method of communication within their group.

A company in Korea, LG CNS Co., has developed their own type of Twitter for their 7,000 employees to communicate internally. Their employees use the smart phone application for reminders about seminars, find help with test products, and a myriad of other professional uses. As their tweets are accompanied by the employee’s name and picture, chances are slim the app is misused or abused.

Being a leader can be daunting. Leaders are required to be proficient in an amazing number of skills—some believe communication is the most important of these. Developing a balanced style of leadership, promoting a climate of trust and openness, and meeting the communication needs of those above and below on the organizational chart will help ensure the success of any organization or business.