Most effective Leadership vs Management Styles

What’s an effective leadership?

An effective and successful leadership is the one who is capable to lead and see what is going on with clear insight, and flexible to change. They lead effectively because they can see well regardless of any size. (Madanchian et al., p.1047. 2017)

As a manager or leader, motivate people to do their best work and get invested in the company’s success. Understanding and enhancing your management styles is critical for successful leadership. However, both leadership and management are essential for the success of an organisation.

Are leaders born or made? And what personality leaders should have?

According to research conducted by (Marley, 2021) among 361 C-suits, more than 20% believe leaders are born, while the majority believe leaders are made and ranked based on their experiences, training, and attributes. Those who believed that leaders were born ranked features and experiences as fairly equal, followed by training. Some of today’s most successful leaders began their careers with humble career paths (Gupta, 2022).

The expression “know themselves” identifies a fundamental prerequisite for connecting with others (Khan et al., p.10.2022) and be authentic leaders factors are taking responsibility, synthesizing knowledge, trust, and possessing necessary technical skills (Narang et al., p.33. 2016).

Difference between Leadership vs Management?

(Kotter, 1990) argues that leadership and management is an ageless topic and involve two distinct but complementary sets of action. Simply say, leadership is about coping with change while management is about coping with complexity. Here is a summary that to distinguish between the two (Lunenburg, p.2 2011).

In simple, leaders and managers are under different characteristics(Na’imah & Muhibbin, p.60.2020).

Effective Leadership Styles:

A leader’s single responsibility is to get outcomes. Per Harvard Business review (Sexton, 2017), there are six types of leadership style and different strategies

Coercive/commanding leaders:

Require quick acquiescence sample like Rudy Giuliani during 9/11 exemplified command leadership in the immediate aftermath of tragedy (Shoaib, 2022).

Authoritarian/Visionary leaders;

It rallies their followers around a shared vision, There is a good example Elon Musk – CEO of Telsa and Space X, with bold vision, innovative approach achieved international successful leader in Electric vehicle market. 

Affiliative leaders:

It fosters emotional connections and harmony. This approach can consider as people 1^st approach, a good example is Richard Branson has built its Virgin Group with employee engagement and also created positive culture with branding.

Democratic leaders:

It achieves consensus through involvement like Former Coke CEO Muhtar Kent deployed democratic leadership style with inclusive decision making and focus on consensus and outcome drive for innovation and sustainable growth.

Pacesetting leaders:

It values excellence and self-direction, real life example like Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, implemented performance focus, efficiency and result. However this method is creating high pressure environment.

Coaching leaders:

It prepares people for the future, example like CEO of Microsoft, Google, they are empowering employee to take ownership and develop their own skills with all kinds of supports.

Conclusion & Recommendation:

The route to leadership greatness is difficult.  Leaders must have an extensive understanding of themselves and the impact they have on others. The core of leadership is strongly related to the concept of self-awareness. Leaders must also improve their ability to understand how they affect those around them, gain a clear picture of their own strengths and weaknesses, and recognize and control their emotional responses. Leadership is a long-lasting and long-debated topic (CNA, 2024).

An effective leader must be motivated in order to enhance his or her leadership skills. Motivation in leadership is similar to a soul in a body; a body without a soul is equivalent to a robot without feelings.

This also applies to leadership; if a leader has qualities like leadership but lacks motivation, the result will be a monotonous working environment. However, leaders with excellent motivation skills will foster a positive work environment and inspire one another.

The finest leadership can vary greatly based on the situation and individual leader’s strengths.

There is no one size fit all leadership style for effective leaders.  In the previous blog, we have shared diversity team management, leaders that achieve the best result should not only reply on a single leadership style, a “blended” leadership or use a variety of styles throughout the business traits. Leaders should choose the type according to the business settings and find the best fit leadership style.

Reference:

CNA. (2024, June 28). Biden’s debate performance spurs Democratic panic about his ability to lead party against Trump. CNA. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-presidential-election-debates-bidens-performance-spurs-democratic-panic-about-his-ability-lead-party-against-trump-4442431

Gupta, C. (2022, September 6). This is how they started; This is where they are. ETHRWorld.com. https://hrsea.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/industry/this-is-how-they-started-this-is-where-they-are/93934592

Khan, H. G. A., Khan, M. A., Ali, M. I., Salem, S., Rashid, S., & Zahur, H. (2022). Does authentic leadership influences performance of individuals in presence of trust and leader member exchange: an evidence from health care sector. Cogent Business & Management, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2022.2119539

Kotter, J. P. (1990). Force for change. Google Books. https://books.google.com.sg/books?hl=en&lr=&id=CN3XeWDVyWkC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=kotter+leadership+and+management&ots=2Ce3hP-Jqy&sig=3G8FlMghm6RmbU-c-Ur7loptScU#v=onepage&q&f=false

Lindberg, C. (2023, January 23). The Six Leadership Styles by Daniel Goleman. Leadership Ahoy! https://www.leadershipahoy.com/the-six-leadership-styles-by-daniel-goleman/

Lunenburg, F. C. (2011). Leadership versus Management: A Key Distinction—At Least in Theory [Journal-article]. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT, BUSINESS, AND ADMINISTRATION, 14(1), 1.

Narang, A., Kumar, J., & Jatinder Kumar Samyal. (2016). Leadership competencies for librarians. In International Journal of Library Science [Journal-article]. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309407503

Na’imah, T., & Muhibbin, A. (2020). Characteristics of Islamic Education Leadership: Literature review. Technium Social Sciences Journal, 11, 59–67. https://doi.org/10.47577/tssj.v11i1.1423

Marley, M. (2021). What research shows about whether leaders are born or made. People Development Magazine. https://peopledevelopmentmagazine.com/2021/06/19/leaders-are-born-or-made/

Madanchian, M., Hussein, N., Noordin, F., & Taherdoost, H. (2017). Leadership effectiveness measurement and its effect on organization outcomes. Procedia Engineering, 181, 1043–1048. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2017.02.505

Sexton, A. (2017, June 15). Harvard leadership styles: Six leadership strategies. Corporatetraining.ie. https://www.corporatetraining.ie/harvard-leadership-styles/

Shoaib, A. (2022, September 10). Rudy Giuliani said 9/11 was the “worst” but also in some ways the “greatest” day of his life. Business Insider. https://www.businessinsider.com/giuliani-911-worst-greatest-day-of-life-2022-9