Fluid Leadership

Many people think that a leader’s style is set in stone. They lead in a certain way and don’t change how they operate because it has worked for them in the past. I’d like to disagree with that.

Effective leaders have a fluid leadership style. It changes based on the needs of the people being led. Since people are vastly different and constantly changing, doesn’t it make sense for the leader to do so as well?

Many people are talking about the difficulty of leading Millennials. I’d advocate that we had these same problems when managers weren’t used to leading Baby Boomers and Gen Xers. You don’t have to be a Millennial to lead them, but you do have to understand how they want to be led. Only a truly fluid leader will have the flexibility to change their style to need the needs of their team.

The same principal applies for the differences between a sales team, a production team, engineers, office staff, etc. You could move the same leader among these different positions, but only a fluid leader is going to be effective across the board.

I’ll encourage you to look for opportunities where your style could change to meet the needs of those you are leading. Ask them what they are looking for in their leaders. The more they feel their needs are met, the more committed they will be to you.