Leadership Styles Cheat Sheet
Your field guide to not being the boss everyone hates
1The Four Major Leadership Styles
- Transformational: Inspire with vision, earn devotion, risk team members starting a fan club for you.
- Transactional: Clear goals, rewards for results, perfect for people motivated by literally anything.
- Servant: Support your team, remove obstacles, occasionally make coffee runs (not required but appreciated).
- Autocratic: Make all decisions yourself. Side effects include: quiet meetings and updating your resume.
2When to Use Each Style
- Crisis mode: Autocratic (decisive) or Transactional (clear rewards for quick action).
- Building new team: Transformational (inspire) + Servant (support) = team that won't all call in sick on the same day.
- Experienced team: Democratic or Laissez-faire. They know what they're doing; you know how to take credit.
- Tight deadline: Transactional with clear goals. Or panic and micromanage (not recommended).
3Spot Your Natural Style
- You message at 11pm: Autocratic. Your team has set up a separate chat without you.
- Your team shares memes with you: Democratic/Servant. Congratulations on being approachable!
- You say 'vision' a lot: Transformational. Bonus points if you stare dramatically into the distance.
- You have a reward system: Transactional. Adults are just kids with bills and coffee addictions.
4Style Emergency Fixes
- Too autocratic: Ask three questions before making a decision. Any three. Literally count to three.
- Too laissez-faire: Set up a project tracking system. Then actually check it occasionally.
- Too transactional: Have one conversation that isn't about metrics. Ask about weekend plans. Nod politely.
- Too transformational: Create a spreadsheet. Any spreadsheet. Prove you occasionally think in concrete terms.
Quick Tips & Tricks
- The best leaders adapt their style to the situation, not vice versa
- Reflect on your default style when stressed (that's your true leadership self)
- Ask your team which style they prefer (revolutionary concept)
- Remember: no leadership style works if you're a jerk (scientific fact)
The Last Word
Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because they want to do it. If that fails, there's always pizza and guilt.
Life's too short for boring management. Make it count.
Management Master™
Pro tip: Pin these cheat sheets to your office wall or slip them into your notebook for emergency management situations.