Compassionate leadership comes in many forms. While everyone is focusing on compassion, leadership styles will differ from person to person, and that’s perfectly acceptable. At Technalink, we embrace the unique attributes that every different leader brings to a business. Discovering your own leadership style can help you become the best leader you can be, but how do you go about discovering what type of leader you are? Looking into your own mirror of authenticity can be challenging at first as you assess your true self and embrace who you truly are.
We all have a leader we want to be, and that’s normal. It’s much like choosing the superhero you wanted to be while playing make believe as a child. You look at certain parts of yourself that you like, ignore the other parts, and fit yourself into a box. When you’re playing a game, this is fine, but in leadership, you end up ignoring important attributes that contribute to your authentic self as a leader.
When trying to discover your own leadership style, look at certain parts of yourself and break them down simpler fragments. Learn to embrace all of what you find by looking at those specific categories and see where those characteristics place you as a leader. Look at your personality traits first and how they manifest themselves in different facets of your life. While working, going out with friends, or spending time with family, quietly observe your own personality and make a mental note of what you see.
Next, you’ll want to lay out your values. Do you value honesty? Do you value integrity? Do you value the power of hard work? Your values are an important part of your personality that is not always directly linked to your everyday personality traits. Your values lead you in a conscious and subconscious way, and they’ll spearhead your leadership as well.
Lastly, identify your weaknesses. This is one of the most difficult parts of determining your leadership style, but each weakness you discover is a new opportunity to grow. Closely looking at your weaknesses will show you how they will affect your leadership going forward, and you can craft your leadership style around them to strengthen any kinks in the armor. As you go forward in your leadership, you may discover that some weaknesses have grown stronger and that new weaknesses you never considered before have emerged. Periodically checking up and assessing your weaknesses will keep you on top and on track.
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