Leadership Styles Study

Reference article: “The Wake Up Call: A Study of Nonprofit Leadership in the US and Its Impending Crisis” by Adrian Sargeant, PhD and Harriet Day, 2018, Hartsook Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy, University of Plymouth, UK

This paper provides the author's insights about leadership and an overview of the conclusions of a 2018 study of nonprofit leadership in the US, conducted by the Hartsook Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy at the University of Plymouth, UK.  (Read the entire article here.) The researchers measured the extent to which four modern perspectives on leadership have been adopted. The four most popular leadership styles that they studied were servant leadership, transformational leadership, charismatic leadership, and transactional leadership.  

According to the results of their survey, the dominant style appears to be servant leadership with 53.7% of respondents exhibiting the behaviors associated with this perspective to a great or very great extent. Transformational and charismatic leadership behaviors were also popular with 34.8% and 29.4% adopting them to a great or very great extent, respectively. Only 5.1% of the sample were routinely engaged in behaviors associated with transactional leadership. 

Leadership vs. Management

Before we get into the four leadership styles addressed by the study, let’s understand the important difference between leadership and management. Leadership and management are not the same and are not synonymous terms. The concept of management has to do with the “nuts and bolts” of running an organization – regulatory compliance, organizational operating procedures, recruiting, training, planning, monitoring performance, administration, logistics, financial management, and a technical knowledge of the business being conducted by the organization. The concept of leadership has to do with the heart of an organization, the relationships between the one in charge and his or her subordinates–a sense of mutual respect, trust, openness in communicating, shared vision, caring, compassion, sincerity, honesty, and integrity (this can include the relationship climate of the whole organization). Both good leadership and good management are needed for an organization to be successful.  

Leadership Style and Leadership Environment

Another important concept to understand is that the leadership environment often dictates the leadership style best suited to the situation that the organization faces. The environment for leadership includes elements such as competency and skill level of employees, their maturity, the urgency of tasks that need to be performed, risk and level of impact to individuals or the organization, level of possible failure or mistakes. It is important to understand that this study is assessing non-profit organizations.  So, the style studied and conclusions reached would not necessarily apply to organizations in a leadership environment such as law enforcement, a medical emergency room, or the military.  

Can leadership be taught?

Experts agree that some people seem to be natural leaders. However, they also agree that leadership skills can be taught. We all can learn something more about leadership that will help us become better at it over time. In that context, let’s look at the leadership styles addressed by the study.

Servant Leadership

Servant Leaders desire to be seen as strong and influential but in a way that helps and cares for others, whether they are team members or other stakeholders. Here are nine most commonly present qualities:

• Emotional healing—the act of showing sensitivity to others’ personal concerns and an ability to mend hurt feelings if they occur. 

• Creating value for the community—a conscious, genuine concern for helping the community. 

• Conceptual skills—possessing sufficient knowledge of the organization and its tasks to be in a position to effectively support and assist others, especially immediate followers. 

• Empowering others—encouraging and facilitating others in identifying and solving problems. 

• Helping subordinates grow and succeed—demonstrating genuine concern for others’ career growth and development by providing support and mentoring. 

• Putting subordinates first—using actions and words to make it clear to others that satisfying their needs is a priority. 

• Behaving ethically—interacting openly, fairly, and honestly with others. 

• Building relationships—making genuine efforts to know, understand, and support others in the organization, with an emphasis on building long-term relationships. 

• Servanthood—a desire to be characterized by others as someone who serves others first, even when self-sacrifice might be required. 

Transformational Leadership

There are four primary components of transformational leadership, namely: idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration. These four styles are commonly referred to as the ‘Four I’s’ of transformational leadership. 

• Idealized influence encompasses behaviors that instill pride in followers for being associated with the leader—often driven by charisma. It indicates that a leader will go beyond their individual self-interest for the greater good of the group and make personal sacrifices for others’ benefit. A transformational leader with a high level of idealized attributes displays a sense of power and confidence, and is able to reassure others that they can overcome obstacles. They tend to talk about their most important values/beliefs and the importance of trusting one another. 

• Inspirational motivation refers to the ability to talk optimistically about the future and articulate a compelling vision for that future. Transformational leaders talk about what needs to be accomplished, but they express it in a way that exudes enthusiasm and confidence that the goals can be achieved. The articulation is genuinely inspirational for the team. 

• Intellectual stimulation refers to the ability of transformational leaders to seek different perspectives when solving problems and to encourage members of their team to do likewise. They actively encourage non-traditional thinking and reward innovative new approaches as they emerge. To drive this innovation, they often re-examine critical assumptions to question if they are still valid and appropriate. 

• Individualized consideration describes the ability of a transformational leader to demonstrate a high degree of concern for the well-being of their team. They spend time getting to know the needs and aspirations of each individual reporting to them, and focus attention on what might be done to help them achieve their longer-term goals. Thus, transformational leaders retain their team in part by deliberately preparing them for their next position. The notion of “individualized consideration” therefore has much in common with the perspective of servant leadership alluded to above. 

Transactional Leadership

Transactional leaders motivate subordinates to realize expected performance levels by providing them with goals, helping them to develop their own self-confidence, and by emphasizing the task-related exchange between themselves and their followers (hence the term “transactional”). This form of leadership has been viewed as consisting of two key factors: 

• Leadership that focuses on clarifying roles and task requirements and that provides followers with material or psychological rewards in exchange for the fulfillment of contractual obligations (contingent reward).   

• Leadership that is vigilant, practices active management, and whose goal is to monitor whether standards are met, prompting corrective action should problems arise. 

Charismatic Leadership

Charismatic leadership is the process of encouraging certain behaviors in others through force of personality, persuasion, and eloquent communication. There can be difficulties with this approach. As charismatic leadership is so heavily focused on projecting a collective vision for followers that is tied to their own personality or value characteristics, some charismatic leaders can become authoritarian and narcissistic. 

Which Style is Best for Our Organizations?

The most likely answer to this question will be a hybrid of two or more styles.  The “best” style will depend on the needs of the organization, the talents and leadership skills of the present leadership (board of directors/trustees, Executive Director, Directors of CS Nursing), and the leadership environment. 

Leaders are both recruited and developed.  Trustees have a significant impact on both pathways.