Leadership Styles
| Right and Wrong styles of Leadership |
If you watch different youth or children's leaders (or schoolteachers) in action you will see a variety of ways in which they ‘manage' young people. Some of these ‘styles of leadership', as we call them, seem to work well, but others may not be so successful.
It's important for a youth/children's leader not to fall into one of two traps regarding styles of leadership:
The first trap is to think that in order to manage young people successfully a leader has to be ultra-strict and authoritarian all the time. This may work for a short while because the group may be slightly fearful of the leader, but because it is an inflexible approach the young people will soon rebel against it, causing confrontation and conflict. In the end an ‘authoritarian' leader may actually lose complete control of the group and blame the young people for being undisciplined. In fact, the problem lies with them.
The second trap to avoid is the complete opposite of the first! Afraid that being too strict will turn the young people against him/her, the ‘easygoing' leader tries to win the group over by being really ‘cool'. Again, this may work well for a short while because the young people enjoy the relaxed, friendly approach. However, sooner or later the group will try to see what boundaries the leader will create for them, and finding that there aren't any, they will begin to take control of the leader bit by bit! Even if the leader resorts to a more authoritative approach, it will probably be very difficult to win back respect.
Some leaders actually fall into both traps! They alternate between the two styles above – when one doesn't work they try the other, flipping back and forth between the two. This causes confusion in the group and frustration for the leader because nothing seems to work.
There is a better approach – the caring style.
This style is not a compromise between the other two, but a completely different approach. Its basis is having a good attitude towards the young people, seeing them as valued individuals worthy of respect, yet needing a firm, guiding hand. Achieving the right degree of firmness takes practice and is always accompanied by fairness and compassion for the individual. Young people often have great respect for a leader using this style because the leader is consistent in their approach, they make the young people feel valued, and the group feels secure because they know where they stand.
| Degrees of Authority |
The caring style outlined above requires the leader to be authoritative, but not authoritarian. In other words, they are to be firm but not over-bearing, choosing the right degree of firmness, or authority, to match every situation. Research into this has come up with a useful ‘model' in which there are four different levels of authority that a leader can take on. Here is a diagram illustrating these four levels – study the main graphic first and then look at the four boxes:
