Question

7. If you have just inherited a team and must take over today as its leader, how would you go about quickly getting an understanding of the style of the previous leader?

Answer 1

One common way to gain understanding of the style of the previous leader is to have one-on-one conversations with the team members. Ask questions about their previous way of working, were they given tasks to work independently or as a team, was creativity and innovation encouraged or the employees felt ignored and left out when it came to making important decisions relating to the team. Further, a questionnaire can be prepared with real life work situations and team members may be asked to fill in their responses according to the style of working followed previously. A small survey can be helpful in gaining insights about the leadership style of the previous leader.

There are broadly seven common types of leadership styles. Based on the responses received, the new leader can judge the style followed formerly:

• Transitional: A Strict reward and punishment policy is followed, no confusion as the tasks and responsibilities are clearly stated, lack of innovation
• Transformational: As the name suggests, transformational leader tries to transforms the members by giving them the autonomy to think out of the box and be innovative in their approach towards critical business problems.
• Servant: A leader who not cares about his position and is always ready to help the team members in every manner to accomplish task which they might be stuck at.
• Democratic: Actively involves the members in the decision making and policy making procedures. Understands that employees are more likely to follow the policies happily if they are made in consultation with them.
• Autocratic: Complete opposite of democratic, autocratic leadership does not pay required attention to the members. Leader takes the important decision all by himself, leaving the other members to feel ignored and restricted.
• Bureaucratic: Follows a hierarchy and frequently involves questioning about the way the previous leaders performed tasks to make sure whether the accepted procedure is followed or not.
• Laissez-Faire: Such type of leaders provide the team with the necessary resources and then takes a back seat to let the team make decisions and solve critical problems. The laissez-faire doesn't necessarily supervises the team and is usually involved in only major tasks of the project.