Leadership Styles

How Will This Session Help Me Get Ready For Work?

Every leader brings a different style to the workplace—some lead by example, others focus on coaching, and some are amazing at bringing people together to solve problems. Knowing your own natural style is key to becoming a brilliant leader or teammate. Leading doesn't mean being loud or controlling; it takes courage to reflect on your own strengths, handle disagreements calmly, listen to different viewpoints, and negotiate solutions that work for everyone. By learning how to build self-awareness and value others, you will build the professional courage needed to adapt your leadership style to any situation.

Questions to get started

  • Think about different people who have led you (at school, work, in your religion or in the community). What made their leadership style helpful or unhelpful?

  • When two people in a team have completely different ways of working, how can a leader help them without taking sides?

Focused Virtues

The Focused Virtue for this session is Courage.

Courage gives us the strength to look at our own leadership honestly, change how we do things when necessary, deal with workplace disagreements, and help find fair solutions.

Ask Yourself: "Can I grow in courage to understand my own leadership style, value my colleagues' strengths, and adapt my approach to support my team?"

Know yourself, adapt with bravery, lead with respect.

Skills Development:

Developing an effective leadership style requires real workplace courage. True leadership is not about sticking rigidly to one way or plan, but having the flexibility to respond to what your team needs.

First, develop self-awareness. True leadership starts with knowing yourself. Courage helps you examine your own strengths, weaknesses, and habits as a leader without making excuses. Understanding how your style affects others allows you to build on what you do well and work on areas where you need to change or improve.

Second, manage disagreements. Disagreements are a natural part of working in a team, but a courageous leader does not ignore them or let them turn into personal arguments. Stay calm, focus on the facts, and create a safe environment where people can express their concerns respectfully,and resolve things together.

Third, negotiate fairly. Leading a team means finding practical ways forward when people have different priorities. Courage means approaching discussions with an open mind, using clear reasoning and evidence to support your points while remaining willing to compromise so the whole team reaches a fair agreement.

Finally, value others. A great leadership style is built on showing real respect for what each team member brings to the table. Courage helps you step back, listen actively to your colleagues' ideas, acknowledge their contributions, and ensure everyone feels included and appreciated regardless of their background or personality.

By building self-awareness, managing disagreements calmly, negotiating fairly, and valuing your teammates, you show the courageous leadership that brings out the best in any team.

Interview Practise: Case Studies and Questions

  • "Describe your leadership style - how do you adapt it when working with different types of people?"

  • "Tell me about a time when you had to resolve a disagreement within a team. How did you ensure everyone felt supported while reaching a fair decision?"

Case Study:

Sonia is leading a short project team in a busy cosmetics shop. She naturally prefers a fast-paced, direct style of leading where she sets quick targets and expects everyone to keep up. However, she notices that two team members are struggling to do what she wants quickly enough and are getting stressed, while another teammate keeps arguing with her instructions during meetings. How can Sonia use courage, self-awareness, and negotiation to manage the situation constructively?

Useful Resources:

https://www.skillsbuilder.uk/universal-framework-steps/leadership-step-7-self-awareness 

https://www.skillsbuilder.uk/universal-framework-steps/leadership-step-11-managing-disagreements 

https://www.skillsbuilder.uk/universal-framework-steps/speaking-step-13-negotiating 

https://www.skillsbuilder.uk/universal-framework-steps/teamwork-step-8-valuing-others

Guidance and Resources for Facilitators

Many entry-level workers and EAL learners assume leadership requires a single, dominant, or loud personality type. They may feel anxious about managing disagreements or worry that adapting their approach makes them look weak or indecisive. Your role as a facilitator is to guide them using courage—helping them reflect on their personal strengths, navigate team differences, and adopt flexible, respectful leadership habits.

Core Concepts & Background Information

  1. Self-Awareness & Valuing Others

    • Leadership Self-Reflection: Self-awareness means recognizing one's own behavioral tendencies, communication style, and emotional triggers under pressure.

    • Inclusive Respect: Valuing others involves actively recognizing that different personality types, working styles, and cultural backgrounds bring complementary strengths to a group.

  2. Managing Disagreements & Negotiation

    • De-escalation: Managing disagreements requires separating personal feelings from the objective problem, encouraging facts-based discussion.

    • Win-Win Negotiation: Courageous negotiation focuses on finding shared goals and fair compromises rather than trying to "win" a debate.

Overcoming Common Barriers

  1. The "I'm Not a Born Leader" Barrier

    • Reframing: Entry-level learners often think leadership is an innate trait reserved for extroverts. Reframe leadership style as a practical skill set built through self-awareness and respect for others.

    • Simple Prompts:

      • "What is a quiet strength you have that can help a team work well together?"

      • "Why does listening carefully to others make you a stronger leader than just talking loudly?"

  2. Fear of Confrontation in Group Settings

    • Reframing: Learners may avoid addressing disagreements out of fear of causing arguments. Teach them that managing differences early with calm, fair negotiation prevents bigger problems later.

    • Simple Prompts:

      • "What simple phrase can you use to keep a discussion calm when two team members disagree?"

      • "How does finding a compromise help both sides feel respected?"

  3. Classroom Activity: The Style Adaptation & Negotiation Role-Play

    • Group learners into trios. Present a practical scenario (e.g., "Deciding how to allocate weekend shift duties when one teammate needs time off and another wants extra hours"). Assign one learner as the "Team Leader" and Get them to practice a 3-step leadership approach:

      1. Self-Awareness check: State their intent to lead fairly ("I want to make sure we find a plan that works for everyone").

      2. Value input & listen: Ask each teammate for their preference without interrupting.

      3. Negotiate a compromise: Present a balanced proposal that resolves the disagreement using facts and fair trade-offs.

Delivery Tips for the Session

  • Keep Language Direct: Translate abstract terms into plain language: "self-awareness" becomes "knowing your own strengths and habits."

  • Highlight Diverse Leadership Styles: Share examples of effective quiet, supportive, and practical leaders alongside more traditional direct styles.

  • Provide Actionable Prompts: Display helpful sentence starters on the board (e.g., "I hear what you're saying, let's look at a fair option...", "My natural style is to..., but to help the team I can...", "How can we compromise on this point?") to build conversational confidence.