Back when I was a new mom, a good friend told me about a fantastic organization called “Love & Logic.”
Since my son James did not come with an owner’s manual, it really helped me evaluate and fine-tune my approach to parenting.
There are three distinct parenting types outlined in the L&L materials:
• A helicopter parent who hovers over a child and rescues him or her from the hostile world in which they live;
• The drill sergeant parent who commands and directs the life of a child;
• The love and logic parent who provides a child with guidance, empowerment and facilitates “teachable moments.”
Of course, the love and logic parent gets the brass binky.
Love and Logic helped me, for example, be one step ahead of the dreaded grocery store child temper tantrum. Their materials guided me on a course of action that didn’t unconsciously reinforce bad behavior. Whew!
Now James is a teen and I suppose I’m due for another infusion of L&L insight. I may not agree with everything, but I do appreciate a fresh perspective.
So as a small business owner, what style of “parenting” facilitates the best employee performance?
According to an excellent article in the Harvard Business Review, the most effective businesspeople use a collection of distinct leadership styles. The article “Leadership That Gets Results” by Daniel Coleman outlines six leadership styles:
• Coercive (do as I say or else)
• Authoritative (come with me)
• Affiliative (you come first)
• Democratic (let’s hear what everyone has to say)
• Pacesetter (follow my high performance standards)
• Coaching (let’s work on your personal development together)
Coleman makes a great point that many of us believe leadership style is a function of personality, rather than a choice. Understandably true leaders know how to orchestrate a mixture of styles to facilitate outstanding employee performance. To learn how to do this, Coleman recommends we tap into our emotional intelligence.
What does this mean? According to Coleman, one might consider the following strategy with a new employee:
• Start with an affiliative style to get to know an employee as a person;
• Transition to the coach style to help your new employee achieve job expectations;
• Throw in some democratic style to encourage an employee to share frustrations and solutions regarding workplace issues to help everyone feel connected to outcomes;
• Then sprinkle in authoritative style to articulate back a shared vision and the employee’s vital role in achieving “big picture” goals.
The Harvard Business Review article goes into a lot more detail. The example above serves as a snapshot. If you have a spare 20 minutes, you may enjoy reading “Leadership That Gets Results.”
Have you ever taken a leadership class or read a book or an article that was truly valuable in evaluating your management style? What stands out as one of those Oprah “ah-ha” moments?
