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So, What IS Your Leadership Style?! | LinkedIn

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Dilip Saraf
LinkedIn's Top Re-Invention Guru: Career
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So, What IS Your Leadership Style?!

Sep 13 2014

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In my coaching practice I often help clients prepare for job interviews. My client pool
is full of middle managers and executives, who are often looking for new
opportunities. One of the common interview questions that stumps them is when
their hiring manager or others interviewing them ask this dreaded question: So, what
is your management style?
Initially, during the our practice interview session most of my clients respond with the
pabulum: I always have an open door policy; I communicate openly and keep all my
direct reports in the loop; I do not micromanage; I ask for teams input; and so on.
Although there is nothing wrong with this response it does not paint you as an
inspiring leader for whom their team members will go above and beyond to deliver
the exceptional, not merely what is expected.
So, what would be a good response to this question: What is your management
style?
To answer this question one must reflect on what brings out the best in anyone
doing their job. Studies have shown that in a creative environment team members
do their best when they are given the freedom to pursue:
Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose
Lets look at each one and see how we can respond to the original question with a
compelling answer:

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9/15/2014

So, What IS Your Leadership Style?! | LinkedIn

Autonomy has to do with how much freedom you are providing your team members
to operate within the framework that allows them to carry out their mission. So, for a
leader (or manager) to be effective their first order of business is to understand the
context in which the team members are expected to deliver what is required.

Search for people,

jobs, companies,
and
more... Profile
Autonomy
excludesHome
micromanaging.

Advanced

But,
Connections
as a leader/manager
Jobs you
Interests
have the

responsibility to ensure that things stay on track when you provide this autonomy to

Pulse

your team members. So, creating clear accountabilities up-front is an essential part
of providing autonomy.
So, What IS Your
Leadership Style?!
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Another factor that enters this discussion is being hands-on. Most people confuse
being hands-on with being a micro manager (on both sides of this conversation). So,
when the question of being hands-on comes up in this discussion, a good way to
clarify your style would be to say, Once I set the context for my project I provide my
team members the autonomy they need to create the best outcome. I set up clear
accountabilities and then provide oversight to ensure that things stay on track,
without micromanaging. Then repeat, I am very hands-on that way, but I do not
micromanage.
Mastery has to do with ones desire to constantly get better at what they do. This
can happen in a variety to ways: Letting your team members take calculated risk for
them to learn new ways of doing things; mentoring them as they are navigating
through their project to find ways to improve things; challenging them to create new
outcomes, which they may not on their own; etc. By creating a leadership
environment where team members are encouraged to create new breakthroughs by
risk-taking and by constantly challenging them is a good way to help them seek
mastery.
Purpose has to do with why we are doing what we do. So, setting the context (see
Autonomy above) and tying that to the overall purpose of your work can be
presented in a compelling way. In a purpose-driven workplace team members are
driven by something larger than themselves. A good leader constantly reminds their
team members of this purpose and keeps them inspired to do their very best. Often,
once the purpose is clear the leader does not even have to remind the team
members of what the purpose is. Purpose-driven teams breathe fire!

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Game

One other factor that can be added to this discussion is recognition and reward. If
team members show initiative, autonomy, take risks, and deliver the exceptional,
they must be recognized for their work. Sometimes, this happens through both
reward and acknowledgement of their contribution to success. As their leader you
have the responsibility to ensure that team members are properly acknowledged
and rewarded for their contributions.
So, there you have it. Once you understand the spirit of this idea of how a strong
leader/manager gets things done, you can package the message in a language that
works for you and then deliver your response to this all-important leadership
question.
Good luck!
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