Inspiration

Youniversalife leadership is a tool that helps people establish a direction in their lives and potentially unlock their greatness. Leadership is a primary topic that supports the mission of Youniversalife. My vision of leadership is universal and believe that no one style is favorable over the next. I acknowledge that to be a highly effective leader you must pull from all areas. We should all make an attempt to create a universal self where there a few deficiencies. If there are, we tend to those and try to strengthen them. I recognize that we are not all masters of every craft, but there are components of life that we can all strive to better.

There are elements of leadership that we all can cultivate.  Great leaders establish:

VISION and courageously pursue it.  They understand where they are going and communicate it effectively to those under their care.

LEARN everyday.  Highly effective leaders understand that everyone and everything has the potential to be their teacher.  They are students of their craft and do not box themselves into one specialty.  A priority is placed on reading and listening to information that expands their capabilities. Just like any other trade, leadership can be learned.

CREATIVITY that expands ideology and ways of operating.

SIMPLICITY that the organization can understand and execute. It is a belief that all staff must echo down the chain of command. Complexity creates stagnation and anxiety.

Leadership Styles

An interesting insight into leadership was found in the Development of the Vannsimpco Leadership Survey: A delineation of hybrid leadership styles. It discusses six leadership styles that are implemented in various settings in and outside of education.

Transformational

According to the report, “Transformational leadership transcends the limitations imposed by followers and organizational structure” (Vann et al.). Transformational leaders have the ability to connect with followers and meet them where they are.  They are terrific at creating relationships with others and are able to communicate their mission down the line.  Followers believe in the mission because these effective leaders make them feel important.  Transformation leaders are innovators and are able to create new ideas and bend boundaries. This is an appealing trait to most but can be met with pushback by some.  Not everyone wants change.  These leaders use their charisma as a tool to meet goals.  Be cautious however that this gift is not used in a negative way, such as pushing an alternate agenda. 

Transactional

Transactional leaders are task-oriented leaders who are concerned with managing followers, earning results, and preserving the chain of command. They also believe that followers need to be managed closely and motivate through reward / discipline systems.   This style of leadership is often deemed as rigid and leaders do not own their mistakes and cast blame.

Democratic

This style of leadership seeks guidance and information from followers.  They spend a great deal of time listening to their followers and discovering what the majority want.  This can often be counterproductive and short-circuits the decision-making process.  It allows others to feel important but can be detrimental in emergency situations when things have to be determined and acted upon.  This leadership style assumes that all followers have a base knowledge of the inner workings, objectives, and expectations of the entire institution (Vann et al.). 

Autocratic

Leaders who apply this method concentrate on all decision-making themselves.  They rely heavily on their own knowledge and ability.  They are much different than the previously described democratic leader.  There is a clear line in the sand where the leader stands and the follower dwells.  Organizational hierarchy is strong and followers know who makes all decisions.  This leader often believes that it is more suitable to be feared than to be liked.  The benefit of this style is that followers understand expectations (Vann et al.).    

Laissez-faire

The ultimate “hands off” approach to leadership.  The laissez-faire leader allows the followers to embrace their roles and believe that they know exactly what to do. A great deal of trust is placed into the follower’s hands.  This can potentially create dysfunction in any organization, where followers lose motivation and become increasingly unproductive (Vann et al.).

Situational Leadership

This is my favorite leadership style and crosses multiple leadership fronts to create a hybrid of each. In the world of academia, situational leadership makes the most sense. It does not confine itself to one method of leadership (Vann et al.). This style allows the leader to utilize a combination of methods to different situations and groups. The context of circumstances dictates the used leadership technique. It is the universal leadership style.

REFERENCES

Vann, B. A., Coleman, A. N., & Simpson, W. A. (n.d.). (rep.). Development of the Vannsimpco: A delination of hybrid leadership styles (Vol. 3, pp. 28–38). Williamsburg, Ky.

I have been greatly influenced by https://echelonfront.com/ which is a decorated Veteran leadership group that has tremendous content. I highly recommend you check out their material on their website and social media outlets.

Also, check out https://youniversalife.com/climate-culture/ which is my latest blog post on climate and culture in the workplace. Culture is the number one determinant of long-term success in all teams and organizations.