Leadership styles

As a church leader it is imperative that you are able to pinpoint the leadership style that you naturally identify with. Pastor and author Bill Hybels, in his book, Courageous Leadership, states, “Different leaders often lead with dramatically different styles … It follows then that discovering and developing unique leadership styles is another major key to leadership effectiveness.” Hybels’ book is definitely a highly recommended resource to have on hand for any church leader, and so we're devoting this month’s Grasp tip to briefly sharing Hybels’ ideas regarding leadership and the discovery of your specific style.

The visionary leadership style: The visionary leader uses his idealistic, faith-filled, and strong belief in something to see a picture of what the future could hold. Visionaries hold to their dreams and are not easily deterred from fulfilling their goal. They do, however, need to find others who have the skills they are lacking in order to help bring things to fruition.

The directional leadership style: This leadership style may not be as noticeable as the visionary style, but its knack for choosing the correct and beneficial path for a church or ministry is vital! At critical decision making times, directional leaders can guide other leaders to the correct choice with their valuable and wise input.

The strategic leadership style: The strategic leader is the perfect partner for a visionary leader. Strategic leaders have the ability to take a vision and put it into a step-by-step process, bringing the dream to actualization. People love visions and the excitement that goes along with them, but unless people see some action actually happening, they will begin to lose faith that the vision is anything more than a nice dream. Strategic leaders create plans and encourage team members to stick with it.

The managing leadership style: A leader with the managing style is able to organize everything involved in carrying out a job or project. He or she enjoys monitoring people and their progress and bringing organization to the whole process.

The motivational leadership style: This leader is like the coach who gives an inspiring and passionate pep talk at the half when those on his or her team are experiencing a decrease in energy, a loss of focus and drive, and lowered morale. These leaders can sense when individuals need motivating and even the specific way in which to motivate someone.

The shepherding leadership style: The shepherding leader uses his or her natural gifts of nurturing and loving for the benefit of authentically caring for his or her team members. These leaders create true community among their team members, drawing people together and teaching the way to care for one another.

The team-building leadership style: This leadership style thrives on finding and developing the right people for the job in order to cultivate strong chemistry among the team members. Team builders are driven to place their team members in the exact position for them to bring about results; they have great insight into people, which makes building a dream team for God effortless.

The entrepreneurial leadership style: An entrepreneurial leader performs best when something is just getting up and running. The birth of an idea is where the entrepreneurial leader finds his or her greatest satisfaction. Often, this type of leader cannot resist the desire to continually begin a ministry or program! They provide new ventures and ideas, keeping things fresh and alive.

The reengineering leadership style: This type of leader is sought after for any church or ministry! He or she swoops in when things seem to be going up in flames and brings a faltering program or ministry, for instance, back to health. These leaders love a challenge and they savor revitalizing things that are in trouble.

The bridge-building leadership style: The bridge-building leader finds fulfillment in working with a wide variety of people, bringing them all to a place of contentment and understanding. These leaders are gifted with flexibility, the ability to truly listen to others, and the skills to bring about win-win situations. Bridge builders are able to focus diverse groups of people on one, common goal.

After reading these 10 different styles of leadership, where do you think you land as a leader?