In his book, Primal Leadership, Daniel Goleman describes six different styles that can be utilized by an emotionally intelligence leader. These styles are known as visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pacesetting and commanding.
In this video, Terry Tate gives us an excellent demonstration of pacesetting leadership. The pacesetting leader:
– expects excellence
– identifies poor performers and demands improvement
– sets exciting goals and holds people accountable to these goals
This leadership style can be used very effectively in some situations. Teams that are already competent and highly motivated can respond well to this approach. Pacesetting can be used to increase productivity short term. This style seems to work well in many sales positions.
Often times this style is overdone or used in the wrong context. The result? Exhaustion, demotivation and a lack of employee empowerment. The pacesetting style usually does not create the safe environment required for creativity.
So remember that a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership rarely works. Depending on the personalities on your team, the stage of your teams development, level of competency and motivation, different leadership styles are required.
If you have a tendency to overuse the Terry Tate approach, try to suppress the urge and watch a few of these videos instead.
Tags: business lesson, Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence, goal setting, high performance team, Leadership Styles, Motivation, Office Linebacker, Pacesetting, team development, Terry Tate