LeadershipMr. Amory Wong

Carson Graham Secondary (IB) School

Styles

Autocratic

Democratic

Lead-by-example

Mentor

Macro-manager

Micro-manager

Autocratic

Military or military-like (police, firefighters, search-and-rescue, …)

Team Coach, Film Director, Executive Chef (not always)

Used when coordination of many people is vital

Often used when there are many rules to follow

Used frequently when time is limited

Must give and ask for loyalty for this style to work

Must make team members feel valued

Democratic

Gives team members satisfaction and ownership

Used when team is skilled and/or self-directed

Used when creativity or problem-solving is required

Requires time otherwise there is a risk of incompletion

Leader is generally responsible for overall vision, maintaining focus, schedule, and morale

Outcome can be better than your original vision

Risk mutiny if no vision or control

You must make the final decision!

Lead-by-example

Generally very effective

Used by team captains, smaller military-like units, middle managers

Can often be used with autocratic or democratic

Demonstrates that everyone is in the same boat

Be sure not to have a double-standard

Show that you are willing to do less desirable work

Make sure to spend some time leading

Mentor

Not everyone is interested in dead-end jobs

Mentoring allows team members to gain responsibilities and skills

Set achievable goals

Help them self-assess

Share your experiences (good and bad)

Encouragement to work through difficulties

Generally monthly or longer between meetings

Macro-manager vs Micro-manager

In general, it is best to be a macro-manager

Makes the team feel responsible

Frees up your time for vision and morale

Don’t be completely hands-off

Micro-manager

When training someone for new skills

When re-training someone who has failed

When the project is in trouble

Competition vs Teamwork

Allowing individuals to be competitive

Allowing groups to be competitive

Successful teamwork can instill as much satisfaction as winning

Giving Instructions

Give oral and written instructions whenever possible

Give vision

Allow questions

Chair the meeting to ensure that there is focus and order

Don’t run meetings without an agenda

Don’t let a meeting drag on

Only invite the relevant people into a meeting

Do an early follow-up then a later one

Giving Feedback

Sandwich feedback – positive, wish, positive

Let people know when they are doing a good job

Give your people the credit they deserve

Constructive criticism – don’t be afraid to tell people their work isn’t good enough, but be specific on how they can improve

It’s better to let people know about poor performance than have resentment from other team members

For negative feedback

don’t be angry

be specific about what is wrong

give time for them to think about a response

Building a Team

Choosing like-minded vs different people

Always more difficult when you can’t select your team

Find positive people – it only takes one negative person to hurt morale

Experience – provides stability and knowledge that the job will get done

Inexperience – provides enthusiasm and new points of view

Letting bad team members go is more productive for the team – it also lets the people find a position where they can be productive

Concluding Remarks

Always use opportunities to watch and learn others leading

Coaches

Bosses

Teachers

Movies and Shows

Case studies

If you are going to be an employee, use this info to look for a good boss

This takes practice!