By Lindsay Marcaccio
The open board meeting earlier this month included special guest, Kerry Woodcock PhD, RSCC, CPCC, PCC, who livened up the evening and challenged everyone to unpack their leadership styles. As a Novalda principal and change leadership coach, Woodcock travels the world explaining the five different leadership styles and coaching professionals how to develop leadership skills.
The five leadership styles are: leader within, leader beside, leader behind, leader in the energetic field and leader in-front. All leadership styles are linked to leader within; without a solid foundation of self acceptance and self authority, the extending leadership styles will not function to their fullest potential.
Naturally we gravitate towards one leadership style, however we have the potential to slide into another if team dynamics or a situation calls for it. There is a constant ebb and flow between leadership styles and the more we understand their value and components, the easier it will be to transition between them.
A key takeaway for the group was communicators tend to default to leader beside since we often work in tandem with colleagues and challenge others to think outside the box. An area we could use improvement in, is being a leader in-front. Apparently we don’t like to be on centre stage.
Further information about Woodcock’s professional profile and coaching programs can be found at Novalda. For a deeper look into the five different leadership styles, check out the Co-Active Training Institute’s Blog.
