Three Styles of Leadership Part IV

Today we are looking at the concluding ideas suggested by the three styles of leadership that were given by Brother Neal A. Maxwell as part of an essay entitled "Looking at Leadership" published in . . .A More Excellent Way":  Essays on Leadership for Latter-day Saints (1967), 15-29.

"Leadership rests to a significant degree on the kind of decision-making that makes effective use of feedback ( communication to another person or group which gives that person information about how he affected others and how he stands in relation to his goals and intentions).  Participative leadership frees those concerned to provide helpful feedback, whereas directive leadership often suffers from the fact that as the leader acquires more prestige and power, his followers may be less and less likely to level with him even though he wishes this were not so.. . .

Both experience and the scriptures suggest a need for a blend of leadership styles -directive and participative,  in which these styles are used in those circumstances most appropriate for them.  We have an unique blend in the church of directive leadership and participative leadership in which everyone grows and everyone moves forward in terms of eternal goals. . . .

There are times, however, when directive leadership is clearly the appropriate kind of leadership.  Brigham Young probably could have spent years working with some lukewarm members of the Church after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith, encouraging them to join him and go west.  But the saints finally had to cross the Mississippi River; they had to leave Nauvoo.  The time for action had come.  Under some conditions, leaders must 'cross the river.'

A leader is best apt to be able to blend directive and participative leadership if he is personally and seriously engaged in the divinely intended process of improving his attributes of knowledge, faith, justice, judgment, mercy, truth and love.  He will then be more effective and is more to be trusted with power and influence.  If he loves more perfectly, he will have greater sensitivity to the feelings of group members and know when it is appropriate to emphasize participative leadership.  If he is constantly increasing in his storehouse of knowledge and truth, he will have better insights upon which he can draw when he must act in a directive way.  Group members are much more apt to have confidence in a leader when they see him actively struggling to develop these kinds of attributes.  A leader who is careless about power, insensitive to feelings of members of the group, or who is too sure of his own views without adequate knowledge or information cannot inspire followers for long.  A leader who uses status and authority to cover his sins, to gratify his pride or ambition or to exercise control or dominion will fail organizationally as well as spiritually." ( Church Education System. Principles of Leadership Teacher Manual. Salt Lake City. 2001. pgs. 11-13).