The ideal leadership blend for Stage 6 is Pacesetting, Affiliative, and Visionary.
A Stage 6 leader sets the bar for success, fosters connectedness in the team, and instills pride in the organization.
Primary Leadership Style: Pacesetting
Pacesetting leaders hold and exemplify high standards for performance. They set the bar for success for the Leadership Team and staff. This clear example serves to motivate the Leadership Team to have high expectations that create momentum throughout the company. The company is too large for the CEO to impact everyone individually.
Without the energy provided by a Pacesetter, the large number of employees in the organization can eventually become complacent, causing regression to earlier Stages.
Secondary Leadership Style: Affiliative
Affiliative leaders build tremendous loyalty and strengthen connectedness by recognizing employees as people. With the large number of employees in a Stage 6 company, it’s easy for employees to feel like “just a number.” That’s why it’s so important for the leader to find ways to connect emotionally with the staff. The Affiliative leadership style helps foster a strong bond of connection within the organization and helps secure staff buy-in for the company’s direction.
Creating a harmonious environment where employees feel valued is critical as the organization continues growing.
Tertiary Leadership Style: Visionary
The Visionary leader guides the team and the company with a strong vision. It’s important to instill pride in the work that is accomplished through a shared vision. Ensuring the Leadership and Management Teams understand the vision and are committed to its fulfillment is what will make the Stage 6 organization successful.
The most common misalignment in Stage 6 is a leader who does not adopt Pacesetting as their primary style. When Pacesetting is not part of the Stage 6 leader’s blend, the organization fails to keep forward momentum, which is becoming a larger challenge as the size of the organization grows. Flat revenue growth over a prolonged period is a sign that the organization has become stagnant and needs a Pacesetting leader to set the bar for success.
The second most common misalignment is an under-emphasis of the Affiliative style. The growing organization creates an increasing challenge in creating a strong bond with employees. Individuals can feel lost in this size of company. A leader who emotionally connects with the staff will generate employee buy-in with the company’s future.
This lack of Affiliative style can be created by an over-emphasis on the Commanding style, which is no longer effective once the organization reaches Stage 6.
Leadership Style Blend Misalignment
A company that makes promotional materials with branding specific to the client has grown to 127 employees. The CEO has always been a big champion of getting consensus from his employees. The emphasis he puts on valuing people’s opinions and ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard has served him well over the years. His team is loyal and enthusiastic, and the office has an energetic atmosphere.
The company is facing a decision as to whether it should expand to include a new product line. They have historically made apparel and personal-use items like pens and travel mugs but are considering branching out into outdoor banners and signs. The CEO insists that everyone vote on the initiative. Consensus is in favor of the new products, so they move ahead. After only a few months it’s clear that the decision was a mistake. The new line took a greater investment of time than expected and sales are dismal. Through a second poll, as well as conversations with many of his employees, the CEO realizes that many of the people who voted “yes” didn’t have the perspective and understanding they needed to make a well-informed decision. Instead, they just voted because they had to.
Because he’s unwilling to give up the Democratic leadership style, the CEO has made a poor decision that negatively affects the company’s health. His intention in wanting to hear from everyone is a good one but fails to account for the significant growth his company has experienced. As more staff are coming onboard into areas of specialization, most do not have a broad enough perspective on the business for their input to have valuable consideration for strategic decisions.
The concepts from this article were taken from The Strategic Stage: Organizational ReWilding Rules for Business Growth. Available through The ReWild Group and Amazon, the book explores this and other concepts in-depth while providing illustrations to help business leaders incorporate the ideas into their organizations. Get your copy today to learn the rules for growth for companies with 96-160 employees.