Do You Lead Like You Parent?

My wife and I are getting geared up for the birth of our daughter here in a couple of months. With baby on the way we’re unusually attentive to the different styles of parenting we see around us. Some are high control and overly diligent to every detail. Some seem to be controlled by their children, bending to their every whim. Others allow a great deal of freedom for their growing children enabling their kids to develop autonomy and master aspects of the world around them. Approaches to leadership are as varied as parents’ approach to raising their children.

The helicopter leader overwhelms by hovering over their people with high control micromanagement to ensure things go as desired. I once worked with a VP who would pull out a ruler to measure the margins and spacing on PowerPoint slides to ensure they were to his liking. While output is highly controlled and predictable in a micromanaged environment, it can hinder the development of team members. Some tasks require detailed management, but ideally that’s left to training or retraining people not an ongoing state. Micromanaging those tasks long term creates a stifling environment, especially for the knowledge worker.

The strict authoritarian sets rigid rules and governs with fear and punishment. Also a micromanager, this is the leader who, when asked “why?” implies or overtly states, “because I said so”. Unwilling to equip their team with explanations or strategic perspective, they leave team members feeling inadequate demanding respect, compliance and consequences.

The pushover tends to want the people around them to like them. So, they bend to everyone around them rather than stepping in and leading their team as the organization needs. I worked with a sales manager who was so focused on being everyone’s friend they failed to push their team to hit their sales targets. The pushover tends to be liked in the short term, but overrun by their people as time passes and may struggle to hit their goals when it requires pushing their people. It’s difficult to lead a team or organization effectively when your people know you’ll bend to their every whim.

The free-range leader offers a great deal of autonomy and responsibility appropriate to the role, experience and maturity of their team members. Free-range leaders provide increasing opportunities for their team to take on challenges, grow their knowledge and experience. By doing so, they develop a team capable of not only producing in normal conditions, but who are better equipped to solve difficult problems, add value to their team and organization beyond what’s expected and often advance through the organization. One free-range leader I worked with has seen most on his team go on to leadership within their company or take outside advanced positions.

There are definitely more than four leadership styles. What else do you see out there? In which environment do you work best? What’s your leadership style?

Originally posted on Medium here.