HBR Leadership Styles & the Six Domains of Leadership
When coaching clients on their leadership, the question of leadership style comes up at times. Recently, the Harvard Business Review posted a summary in LinkedIn of Rebecca Knight’s article in HBR “6 Common Leadership Styles — and How to Decide Which to Use When” that addresses common leadership styles.
The Six Domains of Leadership™ (SDL) model provides a different view, dimension if you will, into leadership. The six domains are relevant with any leadership style. Some styles (e.g., Coaching Leadership) leverage the model to a greater degree than others (e.g., Coercive Leadership). It behooves a leader to know both concepts, SDL and leadership styles.
Leadership Styles and the Six Domains of Leadership
Let’s review each style and its use of SDL:
Coercive leadership demands immediate compliance. This style is most useful in emergencies (“Fire! Get out of the office! Now!”) It relies heavily on the chain of command. However, it can benefit from SDL. Is the leader Credible? That’s the leadership effect of Personal Leadership. If they are not credible, will the team members listen to them and follow the instructions? If the fire is visible, they’ll follow the instructions. But if it’s not, such as an overheating computer that is not smoking yet, they may question why the leader is demanding compliance. Similarly, do they Trust the leader? This is the leadership effect of Relational Leadership. If they trust the leader, they are more likely to respond to the instructions than if they don’t trust the leader. See “Leadership Effects — How to Achieve the Results You Want” for details on SDL and leadership effects.
Authoritative leadership mobilizes “…people toward a vision.” This style not only relies on Personal Leadership and the Vision subdomain, and Relational Leadership, but also Contextual Leadership to give team members a sense of Community (leadership effect) and how they fit into the larger organization. It can also leverage Inspirational Leadership (leadership effect of High Aspiration) and Supportive Leadership (leadership effect of Initiative).
Pacesetting leadership “…involves expecting excellence and self-direction.” It works well with high-performing teams who are highly motivated and very competent. Building high-performing teams, ones who are highly motivated and competent, should be the goal of every leader. SDL can be very helpful in building such teams, not only based on the five domains (Personal, Relational, Contextual, Inspirational, and Supportive) but also the sixth domain, Responsible Leadership which aims to make every leader and member good stewards (leadership effect) of the organization’s people and assets. It is not easy to build high-performing teams but it is a worthwhile goal that the leader should aim towards.
Affiliative leadership “centers on building emotional bonds.” This is one of the styles that leverages SDL the most. All of the SDL domains aim to improve how team members work, perform, and feel about the overall team. But as HBR points out, “it [affiliative leadership] shouldn’t be used in isolation. It may not provide sufficient feedback to address performance issues or deal with complex challenges.” The leader can leverage Contextual, Inspirational, and Supportive leadership to encourage high performance from the team.
Democratic leadership “involves creating consensus.” It is very useful to leverage the team’s knowledge (e.g., highly technical situations where the team members have more technical knowledge than the leader). The top domains in the pyramid, Inspirational, Supportive, and Responsible are very useful with this style. Be aware though, as HBR indicates, that the team members need the knowledge and experience. Otherwise, not much will be accomplished.
Coaching leadership “focuses on developing people for the future.” HBR indicates this is best during 1:1 meetings. But actually coaching can happen at the group level too. All six domains can be helpful with this style of leadership. Key, though, is Relational Leadership to ensure the trust between the leader and team members is built for the team members to accept the coaching.
Conclusion
Leaders do not use just one style, just like they don’t rely just on one leadership domain. They adjust based on the situation at hand, the leader’s objective, and how the team is feeling. Is it highly motivated? Then it may need just permission (Supportive Leadership and Pacesetting leadership) to perform. Is the team struggling to come together (see “Helping a ‘Storming’ Team” for insights on using SDL and the Tuckman model in these situations)? The leader is key in helping them come together.
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