Annie Pilon Annie Pilon is a Senior Staff Writer for Small Business Trends, covering entrepreneur profiles, interviews, feature stories, community news and in-depth, expert-based guides. When she’s not writing she can be found exploring all that her home state of Michigan has to offer.

4 Reactions
  1. I think that I am more of a mix of problem solver and hands free. I let the talents of my subordinates come out and I give them enough of a freedom as well. But I solve problems as they come up.

  2. Hi Annie,

    Your post not only made me think about what leadership style fits my team best, but also what leadership behavior is most suitable in a particular business- or team-situation.
    A team may need me to be a “Director” in a crisis situation and a “Hands-free Owner” when starting a product development project that requires a lot of creativity.

    It seems to be about continuously adapting one’s leadership style within the range of two dimensions: Detail-Orientation and Control.

    The Visionary would be oriented towards the big picture to navigate a given situation (low Detail-Orientation), while the Problem Solver would work at a much higher level of detail to come up with a solution (high Detail-Orientation).

    The Director may control the team quite strictly to ensure that everybody sticks to the intended processes (tight Control), while the Hands-free Owner grants more freedom to the team to encourage creativity and allow a high degree of initiative (loose Control).
    So, to choose the “right” type of leadership, business owners need to ask themselves: “How much of a detail focus is required to tackle the task?” and “What level of control is needed to help my team perform at its best?”

    Thanks again for summarizing the four Leadership Personality types!
    Warm regards
    Hajo

    • So true – adapting to what your business/team needs can be such a great trait in a leader. Glad you liked the post!