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Let's imagine an enormous polyhedron with multiple facets that is constantly modifying its dimensions. Human organizations are similar to it therefore it is not an easy task to direct them. Every change on the surface within the framework will demand a certain style of leadership or even a combination of different styles of it on the part of the leader.
The leader must adapt his behaviour, his capacities and his style of leadership to the needs each and every moment. Every profile will prevail according to the moment, the circumstances and the requirements of the organization. Nevertheless, the prevalence of one of the profiles must not discard the presence of the rest.
We can distinguish four styles of leadership: Strategic leadership, Leadership of Development, Inspiration Leadership and Operative Leadership.
We can refer to the Strategic Leadership when we are talking about the long term, with a vision of the future. In this sense three aptitudes will define the strategic leader: to want and to be capable of receiving all the information that affects his activity; to identify the causes, the origins and the future tendencies to prepare models of action; and, finally, to be self-critical with respect to the conclusions made ,assuming criticism on the part of others. As Machiavelli says warning The Prince, “it is necessary to understand that the subjects that surround you do not offend you when they tell you the truth”.
The Leadership of Development is performed by the person who prepares the company to face the future needs. That's why his capacities are more than just an excellent knowledge of the information necessary for the business and the conceptual models that have to lead the future course of the organization. The promoter of the development is a person of open mentality, who must know how the others think and why do they think this way. The objective of this process of analysis is to motivate his team so that they realize their functions with the same spirit of open mentality.
The second ability that characterizes this type of leader is the aptitude to impel the common reflection between disciplines, achieving that all the members of the team take part and make contributions according to their specializations. Finally, and connected with the above-mentioned aspects, the leader has to be sure that the success of his collaborators will be his own success, that's why he must help them to develop their capacities.
When we speak about Inspiring Leadership, we are referring to the human necessity to be stimulated or inspired in order to reach the established objectives. The main capacity of this style is to be able to unite the wills, so that people could know that the only way to obtain results is the teamwork. The second capacity is to inspire confidence to the members and associates of the company: shareholders, financiers, providers, clients or the administration. Finally, the leader has to have natural abilities of communication. There has to be no ambivalence, the messages must be transmitted in a clear and concise form.
The last, but not the least style of leadership, is the Operative Leadership, which is realized to obtain results. Its absence or shortage of it, provoke the appearance of immediate malfunctions in companies. What characterizes the operative leader is his obsession with the profitability, which is reflected even in the small details: clean industrial plants; tidy storehouses; direct and effective administrative processes; an excellent dealing with clients, etc. This attitude allows the leader to be ready to confront the problems providing advanced indicators of the efficacy and the profitability. The same way, the operative character is demonstrated at the time of confronting the problems. Any difficulty offers no threat to him, what is more, for him it is a natural aspect of human organizations, owing to which major commitments between people and progress can be obtained. He is used to taking down the obstacles, both technical and bureaucratic, and to intensify the actions.
If a leader is capable of combining these four styles of leadership, intesifying and managing each capability that characterizes the style, success of management will be more proximate.
José Maria Cuadro
Psicotec
