Work long enough and you’ll likely see a wide variety of approaches to leading. One leader may favor curt, impersonal orders, while another relies on gentle suggestions and encouragement, and yet another leaves you to your own devices.

These differing approaches are known as leadership styles, and they range from autocratic to laissez-faire and everything in-between. The style a leader gravitates toward is generally informed by their personality, intrinsic beliefs, and approach to decision-making.

Every leadership style has its pros and cons, but one, known as transformative leadership, has been proven to be more influential than others.

Fortunately, no one is stuck in the leadership style they naturally adopt. By gaining a deeper understanding of the beliefs and mindsets underpinning your approach to leadership, you can evolve into a truly transformative leader.

5 of the Most Common Leadership Styles

Few leaders can achieve transformative leadership without some level of coaching. Instead, they naturally lean toward one of these styles or some combination of them.

1. Autocratic leadership

This leadership style is characterized by a take-charge attitude and direct, goals-oriented decision-making. Autocratic leaders tend to solicit little team input, preferring to make decisions on their own.

Autocratic leadership is generally considered undesirable because it can create an impersonal, micromanaging work environment. There are some high-stakes environments, however, where the efficiency of autocratic leadership is beneficial.

2. Laissez-faire leadership

On the other end of the spectrum is laissez-faire leadership, in which leaders let their subordinates make their own decisions unless a leader’s input is necessary.

Employees may appreciate laissez-faire leaders because they allow more autonomy and decision-making power. However, unless team members are particularly competent, a laissez-faire leader runs the risk of enabling low productivity or cultivating an environment of confusion.

3. Democratic leadership

Democratic leadership gives every team member a voice. It means decisions are made through collaborative discussion, with the leader primarily facilitating as the team reaches a consensus.

Democratic leadership guarantees everyone feels empowered to speak up, and the emphasis on collaborative decision-making may result in more creative ideas. However, it can also be inefficient and chaotic.

4. Holistic leadership

A holistic leader takes on the responsibility of managing the whole person, rather than just that person’s work. Holistic leadership focuses on encouraging individuals to cultivate their strengths while accepting their flaws.

While holistic leaders certainly make subordinates feel good, this style isn’t always focused on business results. It has the benefit of boosting morale and minimizing burnout, but the detriment of potentially holding people back from growing as a professional.

5. Transactional leadership

A transactional leader provides rewards in return for performance. In contrast to holistic leadership’s person-first perspective, transactional leadership sees team members in terms of their performance only.

Transactional leadership helps teams reach their goals, and the rewards it offers for exceptional performance can encourage growth. However, it’s also impersonal and has a very narrow focus.

Each of these leadership styles has strengths and weaknesses, and all are appropriate in some situations. However, each one also has major shortcomings. A transformative leadership style, by contrast, retains the best leadership qualities of these styles while minimizing their weaknesses.

What Is Transformative Leadership?

Transformative leadership—also called transformational leadership—is defined as a form of leadership in which “leaders and followers help each other to advance to a higher level of morale and motivation.” It’s an approach to leadership centered on energizing all parties to do their best work in pursuit of a shared vision.

Under a transformative leadership paradigm, a charismatic leader helps an organization rally around a vision, inspiring employees to feel intrinsically motivated to pursue personal and professional growth and development.

Transformative leadership is built on four main components:

• Individualized consideration – a leader’s willingness to get to know each team member, listen to their concerns, and support them in developing their unique strengths.
• Inspirational motivation – the leader’s ability to inspire their organization with a compelling vision, strong sense of purpose, and optimism about the organization’s future.
• Idealized influence – a leader’s ability to influence team members by acting as a role model who displays strong ethics and principles.
• Intellectual stimulation – the leader’s dedication to curiosity, creativity, and innovation from all team members.

You can probably see why transformative leadership is so highly valued. In fact, decades of research have found that transformative leadership is extremely effective, contributing to improved business performance, innovation, employee satisfaction, well-being, and so much more.

It’s also a difficult approach to leadership that few people can master on their own. With some coaching, though, almost anyone can become a transformative leader.

How to Use Coaching to Become a Transformative Leader

Transformative leadership is challenging because it involves more than just following a playbook or behaving in a certain way—it requires the leader to hold a strong set of beliefs and character traits, be invested and confident in their own growth, and share their passion for positive change with others. The most successful transformative leaders are self-aware, open-minded, adaptable, and willing to lead with humility.

Every leader has the potential to embody these qualities, but most of us are held back from embracing our best leadership qualities by negative thought patterns and detrimental habits. These thought patterns and habits are generally so ingrained, they’re difficult to recognize on our own. That’s where coaching comes in.

A qualified leadership coach can help you uncover the unhelpful beliefs holding you back and keeping you stuck in subpar leadership styles. Once you’ve learned how to identify these beliefs, you can break the habits they contribute to—and build transformative habits in their place.

This is the specialty of The Pacific Institute. While other coaching companies focus on behaviors and outcomes, The Pacific Institute focuses on improving core beliefs to optimize your personal and professional growth and development. With one of our consultants, you can:

• Develop the self-awareness needed to leverage your strengths and capitalize on opportunities for growth
• Change negative behaviors and promote more productive ones
• Practice more thoughtful and effective decision-making
• Cultivate more emotional intelligence

Once you’ve mastered these mindsets, you’ll naturally start exhibiting the traits of a powerfully transformative leader.

Embrace Your Transformative Potential

Every leadership style has its strengths. But few have as many strengths as transformative leadership.

Anyone can become a transformative leader with the help of qualified coaches using proven methods. Contact us to learn how you can begin the process of transforming your leadership style for the better.