The Blake/Mouton leadership styles is a model that has stood the test of time, a quick look and it's easy to review your leaders, your team or indeed your own leadership style.
Let's take a quick look at each segment of the Blake/Mouton leadership styles.
Impoverished Leadership
The focus on the results and people are low, clearly this would have a negative result in both of these areas, so productivity would be low and morale and engagement also at a low. This style of leadership is dangerous and leads to an unfulfilled workforce and business with no stable purposeful future.
Produce-or-Perish Leadership
This style of leadership heavily focuses on the results the organisation and team need to produce, the communication and motivation/reward/punishment is orientated towards the results. Traditionally many people thought this was the way to motivate people, e.g. money/threats of job losses if targets weren't met, indeed some organisations still deploy fear based leadership and some get results. What they miss out on is the engagement, discretionary effort and creative powers of their colleagues.
Country Club Leadership
This can be a 'lovely' place to work, where the environment is cosy, the leaders completely engage with people, they are so aligned with how people are and prioritise the people over everything else. Although, initially this might seem like a perfect place to be, as it could be motivational and engaging, imagine how that plays out over a period of time. People also want to contribute to a compelling purpose and achieve results that matter. This style of leadership is therefore a risky style as a permanent choice, as it will likely end with demotivated team members, lacking inspiration and drive to perform.
Middle of the road Leadership
This is where the concern for people and results are about average from the leaders perspective, this comes across in a care and concern for people to be engaged, motivated and supported combined with the setting of clear direction and objectives. It's a style that serves as more effective than others, but has room for optimisation.
Team Leadership
This is thought to be the optimal position for a leader in the Blake/Mouton model. The zone in which high focus for people and results are combined. This might look like a crystal clear purpose and vision, in which people are clear about the role they play, are supported to contribute, grow, develop and challenge in order to pursue the best outcomes for the organisation.
Take a moment to reflect, how much do you prioritise the needs, interests, individual, their unique contribution and development needs, with the priorities of the organisation, compelling stretch objectives and a key focus on the expected results?
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