Emerging Leaders: Official Leadership Style Guide

Emerging Leaders: Official Leadership Style Guide

Welcome to the Emerging Leaders Blog series. Center for Work Life put on thinking caps to determine a method for reaching out and assisting leaders in the local Orlando community. The Emerging Leaders blog series based on the Spony Profiling Model (SPM) was the result. Not only did the series assist notable female professionals who have participated, but the posts have helped readers assess their own style and leadership qualities. Each blog post revealed a leadership style, discussed that style’s characteristics and featured a local leader who embodies the style.

The Emerging Leaders blog series has been a wonderful opportunity for leaders to grow and sometimes connect. It’s been revealing of leadership dynamics that are lesser known in the business world. This Emerging Leaders post is designed to begin wrapping up this blog event and fill in the holes on any remaining questions for leaders who are trying to better understand their leadership style.

Leadership Styles Chart:

Based on the SPM (Spony Profiling Model), created by Dr. Gilles Spony, at Cranfield School of Management, Presentation Trainer Marion Chapsal, developed a model of 12 leadership styles. The purpose of determining one’s fit in the model is to understand their strengths and learn from a mentor with the opposite leadership style.

Leadership Styles Explained:

By self-evaluating qualities, one can determine their leadership style based on the explanations below. This explanation will also help leaders determine the opposite leadership style to their own, which will help them know what qualities to look for in a mentor.

Which style describes you?

Achiever:
According to Chapsal, Achiev­ers bring to their organizations a deter­mi­na­tion to achieve and an effec­tive, focused and fast-paced work­ing style. Sen­si­tive to con­crete results, Achiev­ers are more com­fort­able with con­cise and fac­tual infor­ma­tion rather than too much detail. Assertive and direct, they can become blunt and impa­tient under stress. Assistant Vice President at Bank of America in Orlando, Alex DiCaro and CEO of Xerox, Ursula Burns, embody this style. Facil­i­ta­tors are the opposite of Achievers.

Analyzer:
The Analyzer stresses the require­ment, before mak­ing deci­sions, to gather exter­nal infor­ma­tion com­ing from the outer world as opposed to the inner world. The social value is about pro­tect­ing the group from any sub­jec­tive or irra­tional per­spec­tives and avoid­ing any bias involv­ing per­sonal inter­pre­ta­tion. This vision implies the gath­er­ing of objec­tive and com­pre­hen­sive infor­ma­tion, and a cool minded approach to prob­lem solving (SPM Profile). Chief Executive Officer of Gulf One Investment Bank, Nahed Taher, largely embodies the Analyzer style. Dr. Nahed Taher was one of just four Arab women to be recognized by Forbes in its list of the 100 most influ­en­tial women in the world in 2006. Innovators are the opposite of Analyzers.

Driver:
Drivers value effort, power, status, determination, rewards, success, recognition, authority and hierarchy. According to Chapsal, French Businesswoman and CEO of Areva, Anne Lauvergeon, largely embodies the Driver style. Once a leader understands their style, they now also understand an ideal sponsor for them would be someone with the opposite style. Humanists are the opposite of Drivers.

Facilitator:
Chapsal highlights three main values of the Facilitator: team spirit, simplicity and loyalty. Similar to famous sports teams like the Golden State Warriors, they value and empower each member of the group. More important values for Facilitators include diversity, ethics, equality, belonging, inclusion, respect and peace. Cori Powers, Marketing Director at The Health Law Firm and Indra Nooyi, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo, both largely embody the Facilitator style. Achievers are the opposite of Facilitators.

Humanist:
According to Chapsal, Humanists are friendly, relaxed, non-aggressive, excellent at understanding others, good at cross-cultural experiences, open-minded, respectful, supportive and trusting. Andrea Jung, Canadian-American Executive, embodies this style. Once a leader understands their style, they now also understand an ideal sponsor for them would be someone with the opposite style. Drivers are the opposite of Humanists.

Innovator:
Innovators typically value optimism, trust and sharing. They are known for seeking new possibilities, solutions and collaborations. Char­lene Li, founder of Altimeter group, embodies this style, according to Chapsal. Analyzers are the opposite of Innovators.

Maintainer:
Obe­di­ent, watchful, cau­tious, loyal and mod­est are often qualities of Maintainers. They value stability, sincerity, morals and traditions. According to Chapsal, Hyundai Group Chairwoman, Hyun Jeong-Eun, largely embodies the Maintainer style. Pioneers are the opposite of Maintainers.

Moderator:
Moderators are viewed as diplo­matic, sen­si­tive, modest, fam­ily-oriented and they express themselves in a sup­port­ive and warm way. According to Chapsal, Spanish Businesswoman, Ana Patricia Botín, largely embodies the Moderator style. Sandi Vidal, the Executive Director of Christian HELP and the Central Florida Employment Council also has a Moderator leadership style. Persuaders are the opposite of Moderators.

Monitor:
Mon­i­tors value dis­ci­pline, which includes self-discipline as well as group dis­ci­pline. They love to be in con­trol, are hard-working, task focused, per­se­ver­ing and metic­u­lous (SPM Model). Dong Mingzhu is a Chinese Businesswoman and President of Gree Electric. According to Chapsal, she largely embodies the Monitor style. Once a leader understands their style, they now also understand an ideal sponsor for them would be someone with the opposite style. Networkers are the opposite of Monitors.

Networker:
According to the SPM, Net­work­ers have a strong per­sonal drive for social inter­ac­tion under­pinned by the need to attract oth­ers and enjoy the plea­sure of new encoun­ters. Their fun lov­ing atti­tude is dri­ven by the belief that the organization will only sur­vive and pros­per if it builds strong inter­nal and exter­nal net­works. Arianna Huffington, Greek-American Author and Oprah Winfrey, embody this style, according to Chapsal. Monitors are the opposite of Networkers.

Persuader:
According to Chapsal, Per­suaders have a strong per­sonal drive to lead and guide oth­ers. They often have a solid abil­ity to con­vince oth­ers through a vari­ety of com­mu­ni­ca­tion skills, which can include com­mu­ni­cat­ing with a large audi­ence, assertive­ness and under­stand­ing the moti­va­tional dri­ves of others. Their Ver­bal and non-verbal com­mu­ni­ca­tion is clear, with a direct but well-structured argu­ment and free flow­ing body move­ments. Typically they are vocally force­ful with­out rais­ing their voice. Additional qualities include excel­lent at express­ing ideas, assertive, self con­fi­dent, deci­sive, com­pet­i­tive and autonomous. President of Hylant, Andria Herr and American Business Executive, Meg Whitman, embody this style. Moderators are the opposite of Persuaders.

Pioneer:
“Enthu­si­as­tic, expres­sive, bold, risk-taker, not dis­cour­aged by fail­ures, dar­ing, inde­pen­dent, ambi­tious. They do not hes­i­tate to change their minds to adopt a new course of action. Full of con­fi­dence, brim­ming with energy, Pio­neers bring to their organization a capac­ity to ini­ti­ate change and an abil­ity to deal with the unex­pected” (Spony Pro­fil­ing Model Feed­back Guide). Body Bi Vi Promoter, Karla Head, CEO of Tempstaff, Yoshiko Shi­no­hara, Natalie Turner, Founder and CEO of Entheo, Gail Evans, author of Play like a Man, Win like a Woman, and Halla Tomas­dot­tir, CEO of Audur Cap­i­tal in Ice­land, embody this style. Maintainers are the opposite of Pioneers.

Leadership Style Diagram:

The diagram below depicts even further analysis of the leadership styles. Notice that the innovator falls into the individual dynamics, where their thinking is more independent and task focused, where as the analyzer falls toward the group dynamics and thinks more in terms or relationships. By contrast, the achiever acts quickly to gain recognition on the self-enhancement side of the diagram while the facilitator takes action but their thinking is often geared toward consideration for others.

To better illustrate the concept of finding an opposite style mentor or mentee, let’s think about the achiever and the facilitator with the diagram in mind. One has an internal drive to be recognized by others while the other has an internal drive to take care of and recognize others. Both are action oriented. Putting them together will help each find a middle ground, while still maintaining their strengths. Together they form a fierce duo for getting the job done.

Background, education and title aren’t indicative of leaders; just look at college drop-out Bill Gates who didn’t earn a degree until long after the success of Microsoft. It is the internal motivators to make a difference in other people’s lives, and the continual effort to grow on the way that marks a leader. In fact, many have said that being a leader isn’t about reaching goals, it’s about helping others reach their goals.

As we near the conclusion of the Emerging Leaders blog series, Center for Work Life hopes to encourage all leaders to go forth and make great things happen. We also want to once again thank all participants and readers of the Emerging Leaders blog series.

Remember to return for the final Emerging Leaders guest feature on Wednesday, April, 30th 2014.