Summary of Leadership Styles - Goleman. Abstract

In order to be able to properly understand the six leadership styles Goleman introduces in his book Primal Leadership (2002, with Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee), it is useful you first understand his human communication / interaction concept of resonance.

In the view of Goleman, good leaders are effective because they create resonance.

Resonance comes from the Latin word resonare, to resound. Effective leaders are attuned to other people's feelings and move them in a positive emotional direction. They speak authentically about their own values, direction and priorities and resonate with the emotions of surrounding people. Under the guidance of an effective leader, people feel a mutual comfort level. Resonance comes naturally to people with a high degree of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management) but involves also intellectual aspects.

Creation of resonance can be done in six ways, leading to Six Leadership Styles. Typically, the most effective leaders can act according to and skillfully switch between the various styles depending on the situation.

	Visionary	Coaching	Affiliative	Democratic	Pacesetting	Commanding
Leader characteristics	Inspires, believes in own vision, empathetic, explains how and why people's efforts contribute to the 'dream'	Listens, helps people identifying their own strengths and weaknesses, counselor, encourages, delegates	Promotes harmony, nice, empathetic, boosts moral, solves conflicts	Superb listener, team worker, collaborator, influencer	Strong drive to achieve, high own standards, initiative, low on empathy and collaboration, impatient, micromanaging, numbers-driven	Commanding, "do it because I say so", threatening, tight control, monitoring studiously, creating dissonance, contaminates everyone's mood, drives away talent
How style builds resonance	Move people towards shared dreams	Connects what a person wants with the organization's goals	Creates harmony by connecting people to each other	Values people's input and gets commitment through participation	Meets challenging and exciting goals	Soothes fear by giving clear direction in an emergency
Impact style on (business) climate	+ + +	+ +	+	+	Often ― ― when used too exclusively or poorly	Often ― ―
When style is appropriate	When changes require a new vision, or when a clear direction is needed, radical change	To help competent, motivated employees improve performance by building long-term capabilities	To heal rifts in a team, motivate during stressful times, or strengthen connections	To build buy-in or consensus, or to get valuable input from employees	To get high-quality results from a motivated and competent team. Sales.	In a crisis, to kick-start an urgent turnaround, or with problem employees. Traditional military.

Creating Resonance

Leadership Styles

Summary of Leadership Styles - Goleman. Abstract

Visionary

Coaching

Affiliative

Democratic

Pacesetting

Commanding