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Finding Success Through Your Leadership Adaptability
Church leadership involves more than just delivering inspiring sermons or organizing community events. It’s about navigating complex relationships, making critical decisions, and guiding your congregation through various seasons of life. Research from Daniel Goleman, in his widely praised article in the Harvard Business Review, "Leadership that Gets Results," shows us that the most effective leaders employ a variety of leadership styles, each fitting the right context and moment. This blog post seeks to take his main points and make them applicable to ministry leadership.
Personality and Leadership
Often, ministry leaders may think their leadership style is a product of personality rather than strategic choice. Too often, personality becomes an excuse for poor leadership. Don’t be an old dog that can’t learn a new trick. Leadership is a habit that requires adaption. I would say adaption is an inherent function of leadership.
“Leadership is not a one-size-fits-all role. It’s about understanding your team and adapting to serve them better.” -Patrick Lencioni, renowned author and leadership consultant.
According to Goleman, successful leaders exhibit strengths in five emotional intelligence competencies: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skill. Sometimes the value of a leader is measured by their ability to motivate themselves and others and their social skills. This is a shallow definition of leadership and a standard that is too low for ministry leaders.
The Importance of Self-awareness
At times, self-awareness gets lost as leaders grow in influence because leaders grow accustomed to those around them agreeing with them and celebrating their decisions because of the value of their position in the organization rather than the rightness of their ideas, strategy, or attitude towards others. It’s hard to watch a leader who is unaware of how others are experiencing them because they are shielded by their success. This leads to a road of pain but can be avoided by understanding your leadership style and adapting to other ways of leading in different scenarios.
Let’s look at six distinct leadership styles influenced by these competencies from Daniel Goleman.
6 Leadership Styles
The Coercive Style
This “Do what I say” approach is effective during crisis situations or when handling difficult individuals. However, in most cases, coercive leadership hampers flexibility and diminishes motivation. Love-based leadership, not fear-based, is the Christian way.
The Authoritative Style
An authoritative leader takes a “Come with me” approach. They set the overall goal but give their team the freedom to choose the means. This style is highly effective when a church is facing a directionless period. However, its effectiveness wanes when the leader is less experienced than their team in a particular area. This is where self-awareness is critical.
The Affiliative Style
A “People come first” attitude is the hallmark of affiliative leaders. Helpful in building team harmony or boosting morale, but it should be balanced. As Brene Brown, renowned for her research on vulnerability, advises, “While it’s important to prioritize people, it’s equally important to hold them accountable.” Not holding low-performance accountable is a demotivator for high achievers and sets the watermark for commitment lower on your team than what will be needed for your team to be its best.
The Democratic Style
By involving members in decision-making, democratic leaders build organizational flexibility and foster fresh ideas. However, the danger lies in endless meetings and a team that may feel leaderless. Ministries need leaders who are willing to step up to the plate and be the bad guy if needed. This does not mean that you really are “the bad guy” it just means you have the strength of character to do what is right even when it is not celebrated, at least at first.
The Pacesetting Style
Leaders who set and exemplify high-performance standards can inspire self-motivated individuals but may overwhelm others. Pete Scazarro, author and pastor, suggests, “Leadership isn’t about setting unreachable standards. It’s about walking alongside others and helping them find their own pace.” Pacesetting leaders must remember that people move forward one step at a time, and need consistency-not big leaps and sudden shifts.
The Coaching Style
Focusing more on personal development, this style is effective when individuals are aware of their weaknesses and open to improvement. Yet, it may not work as well with those resistant to change. Many successful leaders believe they are good coaches, but coaching is a habit that must be developed. You cannot expect to coach well just because you succeed in another area. It is a skill you must invest in.
The most effective ministry leaders master more than one style and have the flexibility to switch between them as circumstances dictate. By adapting our leadership styles to meet the needs of our congregation, we can create a more inclusive, resilient, and dynamic church community.
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