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New research suggests that the Leadership That Gets
most effective executives use a
collection of distinct
leadership styles—each in the Results
right measure, at just the right
time. Such flexibility is tough
to put into action, but it pays by Daniel Goleman
off in performance. And
better yet, it can be learned.
Included with this full-text Harvard Business Review article:
1 Article Summary
The Idea in Brief—the core idea
The Idea in Practice—putting the idea to work
2 Leadership That Gets Results
15 Further Reading
A list of related materials, with annotations to guide further
exploration of the articles ideas and applications
Reprint R00204
This document is authorized for use only by Joe Hopkins in 2019.
For the exclusive use of J. Hopkins, 2019.
Leadership That Gets Results
The Idea in Brief The Idea in Practice
Many managers mistakenly assume that Managers often fail to appreciate how profoundly the organizational climate can influence fi-
leadership style is a function of personality nancial results. It can account for nearly a third of financial performance. Organizational climate,
rather than strategic choice. Instead of in turn, is influenced by leadership style—by the way that managers motivate direct reports,
choosing the one style that suits their gather and use information, make decisions, manage change initiatives, and handle crises. There
temperament, they should ask which style are six basic leadership styles. Each derives from different emotional intelligence competencies,
best addresses the demands of a particular works best in particular situations, and affects the organizational climate in different ways.
situation. 1. The coercive style. This “Do what I say” ap- 5. The pacesetting style. A leader who sets
Research has shown that the most success- proach can be very effective in a turnaround high performance standards and exemplifies
ful leaders have strengths in the following situation, a natural disaster, or when working them himself has a very positive impact on
emotional intelligence competencies: self- with problem employees. But in most situa- employees who are self-motivated and highly
awareness, self-regulation, motivation, tions, coercive leadership inhibits the organi- competent. But other employees tend to feel
empathy, and social skill. There are six basic zations flexibility and dampens employees overwhelmed by such a leaders demands for
styles of leadership; each makes use of the motivation. excellence—and to resent his tendency to
key components of emotional intelligence 2. The authoritative style. An authoritative take over a situation.
in different combinations. The best leaders leader takes a “Come with me” approach: she 6. The coaching style. This style focuses
dont know just one style of leadership— states the overall goal but gives people the more on personal development than on im-
theyre skilled at several, and have the flexi- freedom to choose their own means of mediate work-related tasks. It works well
bility to switch between styles as the cir- achieving it. This style works especially well when employees are already aware of their
cumstances dictate. when a business is adrift. It is less effective weaknesses and want to improve, but not
when the leader is working with a team of ex- when they are resistant to changing their
perts who are more experienced than he is. ways.
3. The affiliative style. The hallmark of the af- The more styles a leader has mastered, the
filiative leader is a “People come first” attitude. better. In particular, being able to switch
This style is particularly useful for building among the authoritative, affiliative, demo-
VED. team harmony or increasing morale. But its cratic, and coaching styles as conditions dic-
exclusive focus on praise can allow poor per- tate creates the best organizational climate
formance to go uncorrected. Also, affiliative and optimizes business performance.
leaders rarely offer advice, which often leaves
ALL RIGHTS RESER employees in a quandary.
TION.
A 4. The democratic style. This styles impact
OR
ORP on organizational climate is not as high as you
might imagine. By giving workers a voice in
decisions, democratic leaders build organiza-
tional flexibility and responsibility and help
OL PUBLISHING C generate fresh ideas. But sometimes the price
is endless meetings and confused employees
who feel leaderless.
BUSINESS SCHO
D
R
A
V
OPYRIGHT © 2000 HAR
C
This document is authorized for use only by Joe Hopkins in 2019. page 1
For the exclusive use of J. Hopkins, 2019.
New research suggests that the most effective executives use a collection
of distinct leadership styles—each in the right measure, at just the right
time. Such flexibility is tough to put into action, but it pays off in
performance. And better yet, it can be learned.
Leadership That Gets
Results
by Daniel Goleman
Ask any group of businesspeople the question behaviors yield positive results. Leadership
“What do effective leaders do?” and youll experts proffer advice based on inference,
VED. hear a sweep of answers. Leaders set strategy; experience, and instinct. Sometimes that
they motivate; they create a mission; they advice is right on target; sometimes its not.
build a culture. Then ask “What should leaders But new research by the consulting firm
do?” If the group is seasoned, youll likely hear Hay/McBer, which draws on a random sample
ALL RIGHTS RESER one response: the leaders singular job is to of 3,871 executives selected from a database of
TION. get results. more than 20,000 executives worldwide,
A But how? The mystery of what leaders can
OR takes much of the mystery out of effective
ORP and ought to do in order to spark the best per- leadership. The research found six distinct
formance from their people is age-old. In re- leadership styles, each springing from differ-
cent years, that mystery has spawned an entire ent components of emotional intelligence.
cottage industry: literally thousands of “leader- The styles, taken individually, appear to have a
OL PUBLISHING C ship experts” have made careers of testing and direct and unique impact on the working at-
coaching executives, all in pursuit of creating mosphere of a company, division, or team,
businesspeople who can turn bold objectives— and in turn, on its financial performance. And
be they strategic, financial, organizational, or perhaps most important, the research indi-
D BUSINESS SCHO all three—into reality. cates that leaders with the best results do not
AR
V Still, effective leadership eludes many peo- rely on only one leadership style; they use
ple and organizations. One reason is that until most of them in a given week—seamlessly
recently, virtually no quantitative research and different measure—depending on the
has demonstrated which precise leadership business situation. Imagine the styles, then, as
OPYRIGHT © 2000 HAR
C
harvard business review • march–april 2000 page 2
This document is authorized for use only by Joe Hopkins in 2019.
For the exclusive use of J. Hopkins, 2019.
Leadership That Gets Results
the array of clubs in a golf pros bag. Over the mance reviews, and their divisions underper-
course of a game, the pro picks and chooses formed by an average of almost 20%.
clubs based on the demands of the shot. Our research set out to gain a more molecu-
Sometimes he has to ponder his selection, but lar view of the links among leadership and
usually it is automatic. The pro senses the emotional intelligence, and climate and per-
challenge ahead, swiftly pulls out the right formance. A team of McClellands colleagues
tool, and elegantly puts it to work. Thats how headed by Mary Fontaine and Ruth Jacobs
high-impact leaders operate, too. from Hay/McBer studied data about or ob-
What are the six styles of leadership? None served thousands of executives, noting spe-
1
will shock workplace veterans. Indeed, each cific behaviors and their impact on climate.
style, by name and brief description alone, How did each individual motivate direct re-
will likely resonate with anyone who leads, is ports? Manage change initiatives? Handle cri-
led, or as is the case with most of us, does ses? It was in a later phase of the research
both. Coercive leaders demand immediate that we identified which emotional intelli-
compliance. Authoritative leaders mobilize gence capabilities drive the six leadership
people toward a vision. Affiliative leaders cre- styles. How does he rate in terms of self-
ate emotional bonds and harmony. Demo- control and social skill? Does a leader show
cratic leaders build consensus through partici- high or low levels of empathy?
pation. Pacesetting leaders expect excellence The team tested each executives immediate
and self-direction. And coaching leaders develop sphere of influence for its climate. “Climate” is
people for the future. not an amorphous term. First defined by psy-
Close your eyes and you can surely imagine chologists George Litwin and Richard Stringer
a colleague who uses any one of these styles. and later refined by McClelland and his col-
You most likely use at least one yourself. What leagues, it refers to six key factors that influ-
is new in this research, then, is its implications ence an organizations working environment:
for action. First, it offers a fine-grained under- its flexibility—that is, how free employees feel
standing of how different leadership styles af- to innovate unencumbered by red tape; their
fect performance and results. Second, it offers sense of responsibility to the organization; the
clear guidance on when a manager should level of standards that people set; the sense of
switch between them. It also strongly suggests accuracy about performance feedback and apt-
that switching flexibly is well advised. New, ness of rewards; the clarity people have about
too, is the researchs finding that each leader- mission and values; and finally, the level of
ship style springs from different components commitment to a common purpose.
of emotional intelligence. We found that all six leadership styles have a
measurable effect on each aspect of climate.
Measuring Leaderships Impact (For details, see the exhibit “Getting Molecular:
It has been more than a decade since research The Impact of Leadership Styles on Drivers of
first linked aspects of emotional intelligence Climate.”) Further, when we looked at the im-
to business results. The late David McClelland, pact of climate on financial results—such as re-
a noted Harvard University psychologist, turn on sales, revenue growth, efficiency, and
found that leaders with strengths in a critical profitability—we found a direct correlation be-
Daniel Goleman is the author of mass of six or more emotional intelligence tween the two. Leaders who used styles that
Emotional Intelligence (Bantam, 1995) competencies were far more effective than positively affected the climate had decidedly
and Working with Emotional Intelligence peers who lacked such strengths. For instance, better financial results than those who did not.
(Bantam, 1998). He is cochairman of when he analyzed the performance of division That is not to say that organizational climate is
the Consortium for Research on Emo- heads at a global food and beverage company, the only driver of performance. Economic con-
tional Intelligence in Organizations, he found that among leaders with this critical ditions and competitive dynamics matter enor-
which is based at Rutgers Universitys mass of competence, 87% placed in the top mously. But our analysis strongly suggests that
Graduate School of Applied Psycholo- third for annual salary bonuses based on their climate accounts for nearly a third of results.
gy in Piscataway, New Jersey. His article business performance. More telling, their divi- And thats simply too much of an impact to ig-
“What Makes a Leader?” appeared in sions on average outperformed yearly revenue nore.
the November–December 1998 issue of targets by 15% to 20%. Those executives who
HBR. He can be reached at goleman@ lacked emotional intelligence were rarely The Styles in Detail
javanet.com. rated as outstanding in their annual perfor- Executives use six leadership styles, but only
harvard business review • march–april 2000 page 3
This document is authorized for use only by Joe Hopkins in 2019.
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