By Wayne Outlaw

Developing your ability as an executive is a continuous process and you never know when something you learned earlier will be useful. While doing research for a program a number of years ago, I remember reading the statement, “A typical company, from its start-up to the Fortune 500 status, has five different CEOs.” The author’s qualifying comment was even more dramatic, “Sometimes the five, distinctively different CEOs, are less than five people.”

As an executive, you must not only grow and learn the job, but you must also be able to adapt your “executive style” to a situation and its requirements. Even in the same position, requirements shift dramatically. Imagine the person running a department or organization, where success has been steady and consistent, suddenly confronted with a great shift such as the loss of a major piece of business, a rapidly eroding economy, or a tragedy such as Sept. 11. Its impact on business is dramatic.

But what changes in style or approach must be made to increase your effectiveness?

There are two basic elements of executive style: leadership and management. Much has been published on defining one’s leadership style and management style; however, little is published on knowing how to combine each into your executive style, which gets the greatest results.

The adaptation of your leadership and management skills to fit the needs of the situation is dramatic evidence of individual development and growth. Some individuals have a natural approach and tend to apply it universally. Others learn the needs of the situation and match their style to the needs.

We can see examples of a person who succeeds, but when the situation shifts or the individual is moved to another position, even if the job is the same, she uses the same approach and fails miserably. If a person’s style and approach was successful in one situation, why does it not produce the same results when applied in a different situation? It is obvious the situation required a different mix of management and leadership.

Let’s examine leadership and management to recognize your primary style.

Those with strong leadership styles are characterized by great vision, the ability to build loyalty, the capability to inspire great performance, the insight to understand ramifications of seemingly unconnected events, and the mental toughness to be able to make and stick to difficult decisions. Those with leadership as their primary style thrive in challenging environments and can be relied upon to turn companies around. They provide dynamic leadership in periods of crisis; however, they tend to become bored and aren’t motivated without strong challenges.

Others with strong management style are characterized by their abilities to develop systems, ensure systems operate properly, develop procedures and guidelines, ensure rules are followed, and ensure performance is tracked and measured. They provide a stable, consistent environment for people to perform in and are able to sustain positive momentum. The individual with strong management skills thrives in an environment of order and consistency. They maintain and improve existing conditions, but may fail to see and respond to dramatic changes.

Each developing executive has a natural style or approach, using elements of leadership and management. You can recognize those with strong leadership skills because they tend to look to the future, want to innovate, focus on the big picture, and love challenges. Those with strong management skills tend to measure performance, track trends, ensure procedures and guidelines are followed, and like to protect and improve existing conditions.

If an inappropriate style is used, it can result in significant problems. It is easy to see how, if a situation is in crisis and calls for decisive leadership and the focus of the executive is on maintaining the situation, it will only worsen. If a company is stable, doing well and progressing, decisive and abrupt changes, which are natural for a strong leader, may be disruptive and destroy the momentum built and therefore create chaos.

Situations change and style must be adapted. If the company is growing, and everything is working well, using a management-oriented executive style would increase success. However, if the company encounters an unexpected crisis, a shift to a leadership-oriented style would be required to respond. In short, no style is wrong; however, the executive’s style must match the situation for best results.

It is important to understand your natural executive style and understand the style that best matches your current situation.

Wayne Outlaw is a nationally known speaker and consultant who conducts a forum for CEOs who want to increase their performance and enhance their lives. E-mail him at wayne@outlawgroup.com.

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