In each group – families, groups of friends, job groups – there are one or more people who play the role of leader.

Leadership: a definition

Leadership can be defined as the “interaction of people who in a structured organisation occupy the highest position – otherwise known as a leader – with the rest of the group.” However, since the social influence is always a mutual process, what characterizes leaders is that they can influence others in the group more than they can be affected by others.

Leadership according to Goleman

According to the leader’s personality and the environment in which he/she operates, there are different styles of leadership. There are countless Industrial and Organizational psychology studies on the subject, but here it seems interesting to dwell on the classification of Goleman – psychologist, writer and journalist whose main work is “Emotional Intelligence” (1995).

Six leadership styles

1.  The visionary leader is a leader who believes in his vision and is able to move the group towards a common dream: it is empathetic, inspires the group, explains how and why people’s efforts contribute to the dream. This style is useful especially in times in which the company is facing radical changes or when a clear direction is needed.
2. The coaching leader is a leader who listens, advises, encourages, delegates, the group helps individuals to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses and connect their desires to business objectives. This is a style of leadership is particularly useful to motivate others and improve the performance by building long-term capacity.
3. The affiliate leader is a leader who seeks to create harmony, to resolve conflicts and problems focusing on friendship and morality. This style is particularly useful to strengthen connections, in periods of high stress or in the case of cracks in the group.
4. The democratic leader is a leader who aims to achieve cooperation, which knows how to listen and promotes teamwork. It is a leadership style, this, trying to get participation and uses the input from the group.
5. The pacesetting leader is a leader impatient, particularly stimulated to success, oriented to achieve certain results and numbers at the expense of collaboration. It is effective for short periods, in the field of sales and with a motivated and competent team.
6. The commanding leader gives orders, and controls their activities. He’s threatening, he creates dissonances. This style can be useful in times of severe crisis, or radical changes in the periods in which it is necessary to urgently resolve the problems. Used especially in military environment.

These last two styles of leadership are the most authoritative, useful only for short periods and in very specific cases.

According to Goleman a leader is a really valuable one when it is elastic and able to change the style depending on the situation and circumstances, building a climate of trust within the organization.