Walking to an interview for an administrative position? Be prepared to confront the question- “what is your leadership style?” If you haven’t readied yourself for the query beforehand, you might flutter into a cloud of confusion at that moment, asking yourself – “what is my leadership style?”
However, already prepared for it will help you crack out the question smartly without any fear and may ensure your position for the job. How to know the intelligent answer to this question? We have explained in this article.
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Different Types of Leadership Styles –
To get a rational answer regarding your leadership style, you must first have clear thoughts about what leadership style is and its types. Well! Anyone’s leadership style implies their method for guiding, monitoring, or motivating their team.
It’s not necessary for a person has only one leadership style. One, as a leader, might also possess two or more leadership styles. Therefore, you must know how to perfectly manipulate your various leadership styles to achieve your objectives at a specific time. Some of the common leadership styles for inspiring an organization’s employees are:
- Autocratic leadership style: In the case of this style of leadership, the manager remains despotic and makes judgments based on their beliefs without heeding any viewpoints of their associates.
- Democratic leadership style: In the case of this leadership, the chief always makes critical decisions considering the viewpoints of their committee members.
- Laissez-Faire leadership style: The leader allows coworkers to act according to their opinions without supervising their work.
- Pacesetter leadership style: The leader is responsible for setting hard work and excellent standards and motivating their coworkers to meet/surpass the benchmark.
- Coaching leadership style: Here, the leader, utilizing the coaching style, develops the talents of their employees by investing most of their time in them.
- Authoritative leadership style: Here, the leader instructs their team members to do something by giving thorough justifications, and the team members willingly agree to it, believing them.
- Affiliative leadership style: The leaders with this style of leadership always prioritize the emotional needs of their coworkers before coming to any decision.
- Procedural leadership style: The leader, in the case of this leadership, prefers tested and trusted methods for solving any problem and asks their employees to stick to the rules without trying out any new way to solve problems.
Important Tips To Answer “What is My Leadership Style?”
Here are some do’s and don’ts that you need to follow to give a perfect reply with confidence to your interviewer’s question – “what is your leadership style?” Read on –
Don’t Disclose That You Have Never Been A Leader:
Every person at some point or other in his life has undoubtedly experienced leadership experiences, be it in his school, college, playground, or previous jobs, even if he has not actively done the leadership job for a long time. So, whenever your interviewer asks you the question, don’t tell him that you have never been a leader in your previous jobs, even if you have not become one in your life till now.
Instead, remember if you have led a sports team or the batchmate’s team in school, college, or anywhere and with confidence, share that experience of yours before him positively. In other words, if you want to get yourself hired in the company you are in for the interview, then find or manage something to tell without confessing that you are not really a leader.
Show Your Interviewer That There’s A Procedure Or A System That Operates For You:
What is your leadership style? – this is the question your interviewer will ask, and you must know that there’s no individual “right” or “wrong” to it. However, management wishes to know whether you worked in a system or a system that works for you.
So, when he throws the question in front of you, you must be clever enough to understand that what he wants to hear from you is something about the system you have figured out for yourself, the system that invariably works when you are placed into a leadership position. Say something that will sound reasonable to him, and he will easily understand it.
Remember, it would be unfair to say something that will point out that you believe in dictatorship, as it will not work in case you get hired by the company.
Illustrate Your Words With Examples, If possible –
After you complete your answer to the fundamental question of your general leadership style, request the general manager to give you some time so that you can illustrate what you have said just now perfectly with some examples. If he permits you to do so, tell him a specific story about how you have cracked a past project with the help of your leadership ability.
In other words, tell him any real success story of your past based on your leadership ability. You may also disclose your other actual merits of the past, like your role in making money for your former company, your awards winnings while you were in your school or college, etc.
Describe Before Your Interviewer Your Common Leadership Styles:
Explain interviewer that you always lead the team by example in front and take action based on intuition as to what needs to be done at any particular moment. Also, tell him that you constantly try to keep your team organized and lead by encouraging communication among them. You can tell him that you are great at delegating or finding strength in others and prefer to give each individual a chance in every work.
Figure Out Your Actual Leadership Style By Communicating Or Asking Other People:
Sometimes it is hard to figure yourself out all alone. It becomes better if someone gives you an honest review about yourself. It helps you determine your positive and negative sides, and you can rectify them to progress in your life.
So, if you are unsure about your leadership style, you can know about it by surveying the opinions of different people you know. They will help you out with honest reviews, and they will help you determine the exact leadership styles that you possess.
What Is Your Leadership Style? – A Sample Answer:
One can tell his interviewer that-
“I would define my leadership style/ method as direct. I lead by example and always appreciate delegating assignments by working as a leader. However, it doesn’t mean I don’t want to stay involved in the assignment actively. I actively wish to remain engaged in any project with my team and inspire them to work dedicatedly by forwarding my helping hands in front of them.
For instance, while I was at my former job, my team and I faced an emergency condition in which a client’s website suddenly failed to work. I instantly commissioned the tasks to four of my team members in that situation. When I realized that the time was short and it would be tough for those four members to complete the task within the given time frame, I put my hand into it with them to fix the issue. And, to my surprise, the problem gets solved within a few hours.
This incident inspired my coworkers to work hard, putting hand in hand in any crisis, and they confessed it to me later.”
Wrapping Up:
So, from the above, you can understand that it’s not that hard to answer your interviewer’s question regarding your leadership styles. You need just a little confidence, smartness, and abidance to the rules we have discussed above. And be sure that you will crack the interview.
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