Leaders create a tremendous impact on the company culture as they are the ones who set the agenda, delegate, and lead. And if most staff stay (and go) mostly due to their managers, can you identify your organization’s leadership culture?
When leaders execute business strategies, you’d notice how they might incorporate their beliefs, best practices, and behaviors into the work culture. You can see it in the way they interact, make decisions and -above all- influence people.
Eventually, these build the leadership culture within the organization. With the different types of leadership styles — what company culture are they cultivating?
According to Berett-Koehler Publishers, here are some types of the leadership styles companies follow:
Directive Leadership: Culture of Consistency
Directive leadership is one of the most common leadership styles. Using a pyramid structure, those at the top will usually give those at the bottom specific instructions and tasks.
While this style rarely encourages a culture of collaboration, it does create a culture of consistency where results are predictable, with consistent employee performance and overall organizational culture. However, such ingrained predictability and set structure might hinder a company to be agile.
Transformational Leadership: Culture of Inspiration
If your company follows a more explorative culture, the leadership style could probably be transformational. When faced with a project or concern, transformational leaders will start by bringing the team together to provide honest feedback. They will then identify challenges and opportunities, as well as personal goals and aspirations, followed by aligning the organization’s goals and values with those of its team members — resulting in a culture of inspiration.
Such culture picks into staff’s personal beliefs and goals, which prioritises more than just a paycheck — giving meaning and purpose to their jobs. However, Hubspot believes that transformational leaders may risk losing sight of everyone’s individual learning curves if direct reports don’t receive the right coaching to guide them through new responsibilities.
Servant Leadership: Culture of Inclusion
Everyone is a leader in a servant leadership style. Flipping the organisational pyramid, servant leaders create cultures where everyone feels trusted, empowered, supported, and treated fairly. Servant leaders usually focus on serving organizational stakeholders, establishing an organization’s vision and strategic direction; leaving managers to serve in a support role as other members work to achieve these objectives.
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