Tatum: High-Performing Teams Can Benefit from Laid-Back Leadership

We have reached the end of our series on leadership styles. The final two styles we will discuss are more laid back. They may be good styles for a manager to employ if they are in a team full of high performing people. One involves a lot of trust, and the other relies on keeping people going and motivated so that they do not get stuck in a rut. If you have not seen your type yet in the previous installments of this series, you might just see it this month. Both leadership types discussed below are good to add to a repertoire if you are not fully one type of leader already.

Hands-Off Leadership

This leadership style is the ultimate way to not micromanage. You are hands-off and put full trust in your team to do what needs to be done to get the job complete. If you are the kind of manager who feels that you can be successful if you give your team the tools and the training, then this is yours. You like to stay in the background and allow your people to make decisions without always watching their every move.

These leaders have employees who are trusting and allow them to be able to focus on other areas of the business. And that is the pro of this leadership style. The con of it is a big one, however, as when things do go awry, it can turn into a cluster of compounding issues as people make the wrong decisions. So, this is one style that incorporates well with others, like a democratic style.

Charismatic Leadership

I would believe that a number of you will fall into this category in some ways. We all know what charisma is and whether you have it. These leaders are great for customer interacting situations. They make a large impact on getting things done by motivating others around them. Because they are not barking out orders, these leaders find ways to huddle their teams around a task and foster a group that is united in completing this proficiently.

There are a few positives to this style. One is these leaders are usually in charge of high-performing teams. They win the company competitions, and they are generally higher in store rankings, if you have these. They are particularly good at communicating objectives and following through using these skills. A con of this style is that they can get “into the zone” and miss opportunities in other areas or push important tasks to the back burner to accomplish the set goal. If you are leading a team that is a little uncertain of themselves, then you can use this style to pump them up and keep them motivated and on task.

This concludes our discussion on leadership styles. These are generalized styles and not specifically for an automotive shop, per say. In the past few months, you have read about styles that are used by leaders in various industries. Which one are you? Did you home in on one or are you, like myself, a mutt that incorporates a few of these styles in your daily routine? Once you know how you lead, do some more research on your style, and round out your skill sets. Once you know the direction you go, build a team of like-minded people to take your shop to the next level. Remember that not all employees are going to mesh in your style, so use this tool as a start to create a long-term environment of success.

In Case You Missed It

Catch up on previous installments of Adam Tatum’s series on different leadership styles:

Learn What Kind of Leader You Are

Two Ways to Take the Lead by Giving Employees a Voice

Demanding Leadership Styles Have Purpose, but Come with Risk