Ready To Lead?

former. If the attitude is not right, then being a good at the job is not

enough. You need both.

Applying your style in practice

These five scenarios should demonstrate the need for you to ‘think’ as

much as to ‘act’ when you become a leader. Leading people is rarely

trouble-free and many situations will arise which require significant

analysis before acting – often this has to be done under pressure. The scen-

arios also highlight that flexibility in your approach will be essential and

applying the best leadership style to fit the needs of the situation will be a

challenge. There is unfortunately no simple formula that can serve as a

guide for all occasions. However, as a rule, you should try to adopt an

engaging style with your team for as much of the time as possible once you

have established yourself with your team.

These scenarios also show that much of your time at work will be taken up

in dealing with people-related issues as you strive to ensure that outcomes

are achieved. That is why the leadership profile and the core leadership

skills are so important. Without working on developing your potential

through achieving your personal goals, then the application of any leader-

ship styles will become extremely difficult for you. It is not so much the

style that you will adopt which is important, but whether you have the per-

sonal capacity or skills to carry it off.

Another point is evident here. As we said earlier, the idea promoted about

leadership being concerned with the transforming hero seeking to change

the world is clearly not the reality for most first-time leaders in the work-

place. That is why we have tried throughout this book to place leadership

at work in the right context. Leading people at work can be exciting, chal-

lenging and rewarding, but it often has to focus on the ordinary and less

stimulating aspects of getting the job done well. That does not mean that

the leader’s role is mundane, but some of the things you will have to do

are.

As a general rule, when you start in your leadership role, you will tend to

adopt the steering style of leadership during the early days. You want your

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team members to understand where you are coming from and what you

expect from them. You will also need to define what the acceptable behav-

iours are. This requires direction and control on your behalf until you get

the team operating in the way that you want. Once you see that they are

progressing, then you can shift to a more engaging style.

But don’t think that, even at the start, you will only use the steering style,

although this will likely be your predominant approach in the first few

weeks. You need to judge the best

response to each situation as it

arises.

READY TO LEAD?

140

‘‘

You need to judge the best

response to each situation as

it arises.

’’

As a leader, you must:

Stop Start

Acting first, then thinking Thinking about the best approach before

you act

Believing that one leadership style will

fit all occasions

Understanding that flexibility in your

leadership style will be key

Worrying when you get the approach

wrong

Learning from the experience and

aiming to be better next time

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