You've probably worked for at least one leader who made you feel energised, capable, and eager to contribute—and at least one who made you dread Monday mornings. The difference wasn't their intelligence or experience; it was how they led.
This article explores the seven core leadership styles, how to identify your default approach, when to adapt, and how to measure your impact on culture and results.
What Is Leadership Style And Why Does It Matter
Leadership style is the pattern of behaviours, characteristics, and methods you use to direct, motivate, and manage your team. It's how you make decisions, communicate expectations, and respond when things go wrong. Your leadership style shapes everything—from how quickly your team makes decisions to whether people stay or leave.
I've watched businesses succeed or fail based purely on how their leaders showed up. The same team, the same market, the same resources—but a different leadership approach created entirely different outcomes. Your style influences team performance, workplace culture, and whether people feel energised or exhausted at the end of the day.
Here's what matters: understanding different leadership approaches gives you options. You're not locked into one way of leading. You can recognise your default patterns, spot when they're working, and adapt when they're not.
The 7 Essential Leadership Styles Managers Should Know
1. Visionary Leadership
Visionary leaders paint a picture of where the team is heading and why it matters. They create a sense of purpose that goes beyond the daily tasks. This style works brilliantly during change or when you're setting long-term direction.
Think of it as showing your team the destination while letting them figure out parts of the journey. You're providing the 'why' that makes the 'what' meaningful.
- When to use: During organisational change, when launching new initiatives, or when your team feels disconnected from the bigger picture.
- The upside: Motivates teams, drives innovation, creates alignment.
- The downside: Can overlook day-to-day operations and practical details.
2. Servant Leadership
Servant leadership flips the traditional hierarchy. Instead of your team serving you, you serve them. You prioritise their needs, growth, and wellbeing first—believing that when they thrive, the organisation thrives.
I've seen this approach build extraordinary loyalty. People don't leave leaders who genuinely invest in their success.
- When to use: When building team capabilities, establishing trust, or developing future leaders.
- The upside: Builds deep loyalty, creates strong culture, reduces turnover.
- The downside: Can be perceived as lacking authority if you don't also set clear expectations.
3. Transformational Leadership
Transformational leaders inspire people to achieve more than they thought possible. They challenge teams to grow, take on new responsibilities, and push beyond comfort zones. This style treats every project as a development opportunity.
The focus isn't just on getting work done—it's on who people become while doing the work.
- When to use: During major transformations, when pushing performance boundaries, or when your team has untapped potential.
- The upside: Drives long-term growth, fosters purpose, develops high performers.
- The downside: High expectations can lead to burnout without careful management.
4. Democratic Leadership
Democratic leaders involve their team in decisions. They ask for input, encourage discussion, and build consensus before moving forward. This collaborative approach recognises that the people closest to the work often have the best insights.
It's slower than making decisions alone, but the quality and buy-in are typically higher.
- When to use: When team expertise exceeds your own, when buy-in is crucial, or when decisions significantly impact your team.
- The upside: Encourages innovation, increases engagement, improves decision quality.
- The downside: Decision-making takes longer, can be impractical in crisis situations.
5. Coaching Leadership
Coaching leaders focus on developing each person's individual skills and potential. They invest time in one-on-one conversations, provide targeted feedback, and connect personal goals with organisational objectives.
Every interaction becomes a chance to help someone grow. It's leadership as development, not just direction.
- When to use: When team members are developing skills, during career transitions, or when building long-term capability.
- The upside: Develops talent, improves performance over time, increases retention.
- The downside: Time-intensive, doesn't work well for urgent situations.
6. Delegative Leadership
Delegative leadership—sometimes called laissez-faire—gives people freedom to make their own decisions and own their work. You provide resources and support, then step back and trust them to deliver.
This works brilliantly with experienced, self-motivated professionals. It fails spectacularly with teams that need structure or guidance.
- When to use: With highly skilled, motivated, and experienced teams who thrive on autonomy.
- The upside: Empowers employees, fosters creativity, attracts independent thinkers.
- The downside: Can create lack of direction with unmotivated or inexperienced teams.
7. Transactional Leadership
Transactional leadership operates on clear rewards and consequences. You set explicit expectations, monitor performance, and provide incentives for meeting targets. This structured approach works well when consistency and efficiency matter most.
It's straightforward: hit the target, get the reward. Miss it, face the consequence.
- When to use: In structured environments with clear processes, when managing routine operations, or with teams that respond well to concrete goals.
- The upside: Creates clear expectations, drives efficiency, works well for routine tasks.
- The downside: Doesn't inspire long-term loyalty, can stifle creativity.
How To Identify Your Default Leadership Style
Most of us lead from a default style we've developed over years—often without conscious awareness. Understanding your natural tendencies is the first step toward intentional growth.
1. Reflect On Past Feedback
Look back through your performance reviews, 360-degree feedback, and informal comments from team members. What patterns emerge? Do people consistently describe you as collaborative, directive, supportive, or demanding?
The themes that repeat across multiple sources reveal your default approach. Pay attention to what people say when they think you're not listening—that's often the most honest feedback.
2. Observe Decision-Making Patterns
Pay attention to how you typically make decisions. Do you instinctively gather input from your team, or do you prefer to analyse information independently? Do you delegate authority easily, or do you find yourself double-checking others' work?
Your decision-making patterns reveal your underlying leadership style more accurately than your intentions do.
3. Use A Leadership Style Assessment
Validated leadership assessments provide objective insights into your natural tendencies. Tools like the Leadership Styles Inventory or emotional intelligence assessments can highlight blind spots and confirm what you already suspect.
The key is using the results as a starting point for reflection, not as a definitive label. You're more complex than any assessment can capture.
When To Switch Or Blend Different Leadership Approaches
Leadership Styles
The most effective leaders I know don't stick rigidly to one style. They read the situation, assess their team's needs, and adapt accordingly.
Situations That Demand A Style Shift
Different circumstances call for different approaches. A crisis demands more directive leadership, while a creative brainstorming session benefits from a democratic or delegative approach. Your team's development stage also matters—new team members often need more coaching, while experienced professionals thrive with greater autonomy.
- Crisis management: Move toward more directive styles to provide clarity and swift decisions.
- Team development: Adjust based on team competence and confidence levels.
- Organisational change: Blend visionary leadership with democratic approaches to create buy-in.
Signals It's Time To Blend Styles
Watch for signs that your current approach isn't working. Declining performance, increased disengagement, or resistance to your decisions all suggest a mismatch between your style and your team's needs.
Sometimes the same team needs different approaches at different times—coaching during skill development, delegative during execution, and democratic when planning the next phase.
Step-By-Step Plan To Develop A New Leadership Style
Changing how you lead takes conscious effort and practice. Here's how to expand your leadership repertoire without overwhelming yourself.
1. Pick One Behaviour To Change
Start small and specific. Instead of trying to completely transform your leadership approach, choose one concrete behaviour. If you tend toward directive leadership, you might commit to asking for team input before making decisions.
If you're naturally hands-off, you might schedule regular one-on-one coaching conversations. One behaviour, practised consistently, creates more change than grand intentions.
2. Seek Mentorship Or Coaching
Find leaders who exemplify the style you want to develop. Watch how they interact with their teams, ask about their decision-making process, and request feedback on your attempts.
Working with an executive coach can accelerate this process by providing structured reflection and accountability. Sometimes you need an outside perspective to see your own patterns clearly.
3. Practise In Low-Risk Scenarios
Test new approaches in team meetings, small projects, or one-on-one conversations before applying them to high-stakes situations. This gives you space to experiment, make mistakes, and refine your approach without significant consequences.
Think of it as a leadership laboratory—a safe place to try things that feel uncomfortable.
4. Gather Real-Time Feedback
Ask your team how changes are being received. Simple questions like "How did that meeting feel?" or "Was my level of involvement helpful?" provide immediate insights.
This feedback loop helps you calibrate your new behaviours and adjust course quickly. You're not guessing—you're learning from the people most affected by your leadership.
Measuring The Impact Of Your Leadership Style On Culture And Results
You can't improve what you don't measure. Tracking the right metrics helps you understand whether your leadership approach is actually working.
Key Metrics To Track Engagement And Performance
Employee engagement scores reveal how connected and motivated your team feels. Retention rates show whether people want to stay or are quietly looking for the exit. Productivity measures—whether sales targets, project completion rates, or customer satisfaction scores—indicate whether your leadership style enables or hinders performance.
Pay attention to the quality of feedback you receive as well. Are team members bringing you problems or solutions? Are they sharing ideas or waiting to be told what to do?
Continuous Improvement Loops
Build regular check-ins into your leadership practice. Quarterly reviews of team engagement data, monthly one-on-ones focused on your leadership effectiveness, and annual 360-degree feedback all create opportunities for adjustment.
The goal isn't perfection—it's continuous evolution based on what your team actually needs. Leadership is a practice, not a destination.
Want to develop stronger leadership capabilities across your organisation? Book Naomi Simson as a keynote speaker to inspire your team with practical insights on leadership, culture, and building businesses that bring people together.
Lead With Purpose And Curiosity To Unite Your Team
After 25 years in business, I've come to believe that leadership isn't about wielding authority or having all the answers. It's about bringing people together, fostering genuine community, and creating an environment where everyone can do their best work.
The most powerful leadership style is one grounded in curiosity—about your team, your customers, your industry, and yourself. When you approach leadership with genuine interest in understanding what your team needs, you naturally adapt your style to serve them better.
Purpose matters too. People don't just want to hit targets or complete tasks—they want to contribute to something meaningful. When you connect daily work to a larger purpose, when you help people see how their efforts create positive impact, you unlock engagement that no management technique can manufacture.
The leaders who inspire me most aren't the ones with the most polished presentations or the biggest offices. They're the ones who show up authentically, who admit when they don't know something, who celebrate their team's successes more than their own.
Your leadership journey is exactly that—a journey. You'll make mistakes, try approaches that don't work, and occasionally feel like you're fumbling in the dark. That's not failure; that's learning.
FAQs About Leadership Styles
Can leadership styles differ across cultures?
Yes, cultural values significantly influence which leadership approaches are most effective and accepted. What reads as collaborative and inclusive in one culture might be perceived as indecisive in another. If you're leading diverse or international teams, invest time in understanding cultural expectations around hierarchy, communication, and decision-making.
Does remote work favour certain leadership styles?
Remote work typically benefits from coaching, democratic, and delegative styles that emphasise trust, communication, and autonomy rather than direct supervision. The physical distance makes micromanagement impractical and demoralising. Leaders who succeed remotely focus on outcomes rather than activity, create strong communication rhythms, and build connection through intentional touchpoints rather than proximity.
How long does it take to change your leadership style?
Developing new leadership behaviours typically takes several months of consistent practice, though you can implement initial changes immediately with conscious effort. The timeline depends on how different the new style is from your default, how frequently you practise, and whether you're getting regular feedback. Expect to feel awkward at first—that discomfort signals you're genuinely changing, not just going through the motions.
