Leadership Styles -Part 2

Leadership styles
Leadership style plays a very crucial role in determining the effectiveness of a leader. In fact, the entire effectiveness of a leader rests on leadership style.
The style of a leader entails the behaviour pattern that he adopts when working with and through the subordinates, as perceived by those subordinates. Here it must be noted that it is the perception of the subordinates based on their experience of the leader in guiding them in various situations, and not what the leader imagines to be his style, that is relevant. This pattern of behaviour emerges as the person in a leadership position begins to respond in the same fashion under similar conditions. It almost becomes his trademark which the subordinates can invariably predict correctly in due course of time.
Leadership essentially involves influencing others, and style is a form of behaviour. You will find that right from childhood you make forays into the realm of leadership by trying to influence playmates, friends and the like. The same propensity continues during the formative years when you try to influence friends, peers,associates, and even brothers and sisters in the family to adopt your choice of action. Gradually, a preferred style of behaviour emerges with which you are identified by pepple who come in contact with you. This style is essentially a function of your inborn and acquired characteristics. It gets ingrained in your system as your personality gets firmed up.
Flexibility of style
You can adopt a different style through determination and constant practice while you are still young. Later it may take years to accomplish the same modification. At times, when your personality traits are well set, any attempt to change the style radically may end up with disastrous results because under stress you would invariably revert to your basic style as the veneer of the lately acquired style would quickly disappear. The best advice in such a situation is to stick to the basic style. Of course, a few an¬gularities and abrasive facets can always be smoothened to make your style more palatable. It should be possible for anyone to keep the style flexible enough so that he can adapt it to meet the demands of his environment by effecting the necessary changes in behaviour.
Study your own style
The most opportune time to make a self-appraisal in this regard is at the beginning of your service. If you have already acquired a preference for domineering, you will become worse when you become aware of your power and authority and the ease with which you can order people about. The theme is that you could be aware of your dominant style of dealing with the people you would be working with, and to introduce enough plasticity in it so that it can be harmonized with the expectations of the subordinates and the requirements of the situation on hand. In other words, you should master the positional style of leadership in which the behaviour of the leader in relation to the behaviour of his subordinates is given paramount importance. The main problem, however, is how' to find out what is your dominant style because it is not your perception that counts but the experience based assessments of your subordinates. Therefore, a feedback must come from subordinates. This is a very difficult proposition in a uni-formed service where coaxing and even promises of impunity will not embolden a subordinate to say something uncharitable about a boss to his face. There is, therefore, no alternative but to develop the grapevine alternative sources of information. This is not the same thing as encouraging backbiting, which is a despicable habit.(to be continued...)
(courtesy- N.K Saraf)