What leadership means: Let's work together

The participative style – perhaps better described by its original name, democratic – has the goal to create commitment, consensus and innovation. This is a style that leaders use to get support and buy-in, to come up with ideas, or to invite other people’s input. This is the fourth style reviewed recently in
The Times.

It is also a case that many brains are better than one.(Joe Paterno, legendary American football coach at Penn State, gives a visual example of the style in action.) It's a style that demands time and no search for instant results. Fresh ideas can come from a team who know what they are doing, because it encourages everyone to speak up and it can help to create buy-in because team members believe that they have a real say in what’s happening within the company or organization.

If you have to choose one style then perhaps this is THE one, as it's a very good all-round style, and research suggests that it has an overall positive effect on the business.

Users of this style probably hold many meetings and request ideas and opinions on what should happen next. The participative style is more about people than tasks, meaning that people who use this style heavily may be uncomfortable dealing with task or performance-related issues.

Another example cited is Brian Ashton, the England rugby coach. He held meetings with senior players during the World Cup and told them that they were experienced enough to figure out what should happen next. Initially, they played like novice – one danger of the style is that the players think that the coach does not know what he is doing – but in the end they galvanised and formed their own plan, which is more powerful. (Though not exactly the same, the picture of the Atlanta Hawks team out dancing with their coach is an example of what often happens with participative styles - the manager and team stick together.)

I have used this style when coaching young children. I picked my teams as much for intelligence as ability, and they stunned other teams with their ability to run offside traps even as nine year olds without prompting by the coach . If used too much then staff who are motivated by achievement – investment bankers or foreign exchange traders, say – can quickly become impatient and frustrated with having to attend meetings about what they think should happen next when what they just to be left alone to get things done.

Participative leaders get annoyed by those who appear overtly negative about the democratic process, by refusing to attend meetings, or attending with poor grace; failing to contribute and generally making things unpleasant for other participants.
Participative leaders are impressed if you share your ideas early, listen to other people’s ideas with an open mind and don’t take over meetings.

So, let's agree to meet and discuss how I can improve this blog.