Digital

Article

Leadership Styles

Finding the Right Balance

— and Flexibility — in Your
Leadership Style
Today’s leaders need to cultivate a range of approaches, rather than a
fixed style. by Jennifer Jordan, Michael Wade, and Tomoko Yokoi

This document is authorized for use only by Giuseppe Chiorazzo (giuseppe.chiorazzo@gmail.com). Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Please contact
customerservice@harvardbusiness.org or 800-988-0886 for additional copies.
 HBR / Digital Article / Finding the Right Balance — and Flexibility — in Your Leadership
… Style

Finding the Right Balance

— and Flexibility — in Your
Leadership Style
Today’s leaders need to cultivate a range of approaches, rather than a
fixed style. by Jennifer Jordan, Michael Wade, and Tomoko Yokoi
Published on HBR.org / January 11, 2022 / Reprint H06R9M

Nick Veasey/Science Photo Library/Getty Images

There have been many calls for leadership approaches to shift to

meet the demands of a fast-changing, unpredictable world. Traditional
“command-and-control” styles are considered outdated, while newer,
more agile, and collaborative approaches have become de rigueur.

However, the reality for today’s leaders is more complex than “out with
the old, in with the new.” For example, we found that some aspects

Copyright © 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. 1

This document is authorized for use only by Giuseppe Chiorazzo (giuseppe.chiorazzo@gmail.com). Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Please contact
customerservice@harvardbusiness.org or 800-988-0886 for additional copies.
 HBR / Digital Article / Finding the Right Balance — and Flexibility — in Your Leadership
… Style

of leadership that seemed to be outdated, such as top-down decision-

making and a focus on tactical execution, were extremely valuable to
get through the uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, rather
than settling on a more static model of emerging behaviors, we found
that “seven leadership tensions” between the traditional and emerging
worlds were a much more accurate way to describe the current state of
effective leadership.

Our research, conducted with more than 1,000 managers across the
globe, suggests that what’s out-of-date is the idea that a leader should
adopt a fixed leadership style that’s agnostic to the specific context in
which he or she is operating. A single approach to leadership, whether
traditional or emerging, is not going to meet the myriad of challenges
that today’s leaders face.

Thus, rather than perfecting a “leadership sweet spot,” a leader needs to

develop and broaden his or her “leadership sweet range.” The wider this
range becomes, the more effective or versatile the leader will be.

Copyright © 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. 2

This document is authorized for use only by Giuseppe Chiorazzo (giuseppe.chiorazzo@gmail.com). Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Please contact
customerservice@harvardbusiness.org or 800-988-0886 for additional copies.
 HBR / Digital Article / Finding the Right Balance — and Flexibility — in Your Leadership
… Style

See more HBR charts in Data & Visuals on HBR.org.

Copyright © 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. 3

This document is authorized for use only by Giuseppe Chiorazzo (giuseppe.chiorazzo@gmail.com). Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Please contact
customerservice@harvardbusiness.org or 800-988-0886 for additional copies.
 HBR / Digital Article / Finding the Right Balance — and Flexibility — in Your Leadership
… Style

Broadening the range of leadership capabilities requires progressing

through three distinct stages.

Stage 1: Understand yourself

Cognitive self-awareness. The first step to building your leadership

sweet range is to be aware of your own natural strengths and
weaknesses — that is, to build your cognitive self-awareness. This
will provide you a baseline or default range where you feel most
comfortable. Becoming more self-aware requires being open to external
feedback (both formal and informal), as well as paying attention to areas
in which you struggle or seek to avoid, or noticing when your colleagues
aren’t relying on you to complete a task or assignment.

One leader we worked with noticed that his colleagues tended to give
him projects that required him to “go deep” and exploit an existing
idea (Miner) rather than venturing out with the team to explore
new opportunities (Prospector). After receiving direct feedback that
confirmed his assumption, he realized that he needed to develop a
broader, more curious outlook to provide the leadership his team
needed during a time of disruption.

Stage 2: Understand your environment

Situational awareness. Leaders facing disruption must be able to

interpret their environment, understanding what features are present
and what implications they have for the task at hand. It’s both sensing
and making sense of the world. First, you need to experience a given
situation in a present and non-judgmental way. Next, you must identify
the relevant stimuli from the environment and separate those from the
noise.

For example, a leader of a multinational fast-moving consumer goods

company found that she was struggling with several complex problems

Copyright © 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. 4

This document is authorized for use only by Giuseppe Chiorazzo (giuseppe.chiorazzo@gmail.com). Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Please contact
customerservice@harvardbusiness.org or 800-988-0886 for additional copies.
 HBR / Digital Article / Finding the Right Balance — and Flexibility — in Your Leadership
… Style

that could benefit from wider viewpoints. After getting feedback in her
annual 360 that she tended to speak more than listen, she realized that
moving along the spectrum from a Teller to more of a Listener would
improve her leadership effectiveness.

Inter- and intra-personal emotional awareness. Leaders need to

develop cognitive empathy, which is an awareness of the emotions of
the people around them. This is both a trait and a skill: While some
people naturally have stronger tendencies to sense others’ emotions,
this skill can also be improved through focused effort and practice.

For example, the director for multichannel marketing at a consumer

goods firm proposed an ambitious plan for an upcoming campaign but
sensed doubt from her team, which lacked enthusiasm and seemed to
procrastinate more than usual. She realized that she was placing too
much emphasis on her gut feeling (Intuitionist), so she started to amass
data to support her point of view (Analyst). Some of this data went
against the plan she was proposing, which ultimately led to some key
adjustments in the campaign.

In addition to interpersonal awareness, a leader needs to develop

intrapersonal awareness, or the ability to accurately sense one’s own
emotional state. We found that leaders who sensed a strong emotion
about a situation — and listened to this emotion — were using their
Intuitionist ability. Ideally, these leaders then also cross-checked these
internal signals with what the relevant data was suggesting.

Stage 3: Broaden your range

If you are fortunate, the most appropriate behavior in a given situation

falls within your leadership sweet range. In this case, the action is
relatively straightforward.

Copyright © 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. 5

This document is authorized for use only by Giuseppe Chiorazzo (giuseppe.chiorazzo@gmail.com). Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Please contact
customerservice@harvardbusiness.org or 800-988-0886 for additional copies.
 HBR / Digital Article / Finding the Right Balance — and Flexibility — in Your Leadership
… Style

However, if the situation calls for a behavior beyond your range, then
the gap will need to be bridged. There are three approaches you can take
to do this.

Practice micro-behaviors. Rather than undertaking a grand move to

shift your behavior, you can target micro-behaviors that move you
closer to your end goal. A micro-behavior is something small, maybe
even seemingly insignificant, but consistent with the direction you want
to move.

The multichannel marketing director mentioned above was trying to

become less driven by her desire for perfection (Perfectionist), and more
comfortable with speed (Accelerator). So, she pushed herself to make
decisions by a particular point in time, say by end-of-day, regardless of
whether or not she had all the available data.

Seek out role models. You can often find motivation from peers who
possess different capabilities and can act as role models for the kinds of
behaviors you seek to develop and apply.

For example, a finance executive leading a new risk-management team

for a shipping company received feedback that he was giving too many
detailed, short-term directions rather than painting a long-term picture
of the future (Tactician-Visionary). In response, he actively sought out
individuals (both above and below him) whom he identified as visionary
and sought to learn from their behavior.

Look inside and outside your team for help. Sometimes, working to

bridge the gap between your default style and the most appropriate
response would be inefficient in terms of time and effort. In such cases,
the wisest plan of action is to look either inside or outside your existing
team to fill the gap.

Copyright © 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. 6

This document is authorized for use only by Giuseppe Chiorazzo (giuseppe.chiorazzo@gmail.com). Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Please contact
customerservice@harvardbusiness.org or 800-988-0886 for additional copies.
 HBR / Digital Article / Finding the Right Balance — and Flexibility — in Your Leadership
… Style

For example, a young risk manager at a fintech company realized

that he was strong at adapting his behavior to meet the context of
their fast-changing environment (Adapter). However, his team was
often confused, as they were unsure about which “constants” that
they could rely on. Noticing that several team members were strong
communicators about fundamental values, he relied on them to edit all
of his internal presentations to always have a “red thread” that linked
with previous messaging (Constant).

The time has passed when a precisely sharpened set of leadership skills
was enough to steer an organization into the future. The Covid-19
pandemic has taught us that leaders who are able to pivot their
approaches perform better than those who can do a few things very
well. Thus, organizations need leaders who can shift along with
the environments in which they operate, which requires a continual
progression of self-awareness, situational and emotional intelligence,
and behavioral experimentation in order to broaden their behavioral
range. Leaders need to experiment with different behaviors and
approaches, learning over time which ones are right for a given context,
as well as amassing new behavioral experiences. This is a learning loop
wherein they enact a behavior and then reflect back on the situation to
understand what went well, what didn’t, and how to improve for the
future.

This article was originally published online on January 11, 2022.

Jennifer Jordan is a social psychologist and a professor of

leadership and organizational behavior at IMD. Her research and
teaching focuses on the leadership challenges of the digital age.

Copyright © 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. 7

This document is authorized for use only by Giuseppe Chiorazzo (giuseppe.chiorazzo@gmail.com). Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Please contact
customerservice@harvardbusiness.org or 800-988-0886 for additional copies.
 HBR / Digital Article / Finding the Right Balance — and Flexibility — in Your Leadership
… Style

Michael Wade is a professor and director of IMD Business School’s

Global Center for Digital Business Transformation. He is a coauthor
of ALIEN Thinking: The Unconventional Path to Breakthrough Ideas
(2021).

Tomoko Yokoi is a researcher and advisor in digital transformations

at IMD Business School and ETH Zurich. She is the co-author of
Hacking Digital: Best Practices to Implement and Accelerate Your
Business Transformations.

Copyright © 2022 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. 8

This document is authorized for use only by Giuseppe Chiorazzo (giuseppe.chiorazzo@gmail.com). Copying or posting is an infringement of copyright. Please contact
customerservice@harvardbusiness.org or 800-988-0886 for additional copies.