5 Leadership Styles

The 5 leadership styles described here were developed by Robert Blake and Jane Mouton, and is one of the most well-known leadership theories.

Known as The Managerial Grid, this theory describes five leadership types and focuses on two facets of the leader's attitude: 

• Concern for people
• Concern for results

Leaders who lead focus on both:  concern for people AND concern for results.

A visual representation of the Managerial Grid is shown below.

The 5 Leadership Styles

As you can see from the "grid" shown above, the five leadership styles are as follows:

1. Organization (Wo)/Man
2. Country Club
3. Impoverished Manager
4. Authority/Compliance
5. Team Manager

The 5 styles reflects a combination of the two concerns:  concern for people and concern for results.  These two concerns run along a continuum (High to Low).

Concern For People

This quote by Theodore Roosevelt rings true, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."  So, as a leader, it is important that your employees and team members believe that you care about them as a person. 

Doing so, greatly affects how you interact with them, and they with you.

Concern For Results

The hallmark of leaders who lead is their ability to get results.  They are able to lead the charge in getting work done, especially as they lead others.  Without results, no person, position or organization can survive and thrive.

Summary:  The 5 Leadership Styles

Now, let's take a deeper look at the 5 leadership styles, which are a combination of concern for people and concern for results.  They are:

1. Organization (Wo)/Man
2. Country Club
3. Impoverished Manager
4. Authority/Compliance
5. Team Manager

#1 - Country Club

The Country Club style is a combination of the following:

High Concern For People + Low Concern For Results

The Country Club Manager gives thoughtful attention to the needs of their people, but it is taken to the extreme. 

Working for a manager with this style may feel good in the moment; but at the end of the day, the inability to get results becomes problematic.  

#2 - Impoverished Manager

The Impoverished Manager is a combination of the following:

Low Concern For People + Low Concern For Results

Have you ever reported to an impoverished manager, one who does just enough to get by?  This style is also referred to as a laissez-faire leader, which means this type of leader goes with the flow, avoids conflict and lays low.

#3 - Organization (Wo)/Man

The Organization (Wo)/Man is a combination of the following:

Medium Concern For People + Medium Concern For Results

#4 - Authority/Compliance

Authority/Compliance is a combination of the following:

 Low Concern For People + High Concern For Results

Efficiency is the keynote of this manager, even when it hinders effectiveness.  In their minds, they are synonymous.  Some people feel like a "human doing" not a "human being" when working for a manager with this style.  

#5 - Team Manager

Team Manager is a combination of the following:

 High Concern For People + High Concern For Results

The Team Manager style combines "optimal" concern for people with "optimal" concern for results.

Leaders with this style get their people to work with them to achieve mutually beneficial goals.

Summary

Of the 5 leadership styles, aspire to be a Team Manager.  It balances both the concern for people and the concern for results.  This is the stuff leaders who lead are made of!

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