Leadership Styles - How permanent they are?

I went through a very special experience last weekend and thought of penning it down for my readers because indeed it became significant and an eye-opener for me. 

What happened last Saturday is – I woke up hurriedly late in the morning for my Toastmasters meeting scheduled at 9:45 AM. This meeting was for a regular meet at the Help University Toastmasters Club (HUTMC). I am a member of the Midvalley Toastmasters Club (MVTMC) however I do visit other clubs to gain experience and learn from everyone I can. That Saturday morning I was also doing my speech project for Level 2 in my Innovative Planning pathway. I was fully prepared to deliver until I found out that my project was on “identifying my leadership style” while I prepared on “connecting with the audience”. I was delivering the same speech (I delivered in my last project) in a different style to note my progress in connecting with the audience (that was my intention to join this meeting, I would agree). 

It was 9:30 AM and when I knew that the speech I prepared wasn’t matching the project in my level/pathway, I literally imagined eggs on my face. I consulted one of my fellow Toastmaster and he suggested if I could tweak the speech a little to the theme/ project, I may still stick to the project.

Yes, I said to him, and to myself I said – goodness! I have 15 minutes until the meeting starts!

I was the third prepared speaker of the day and between then and my turn, I tweaked the start and end of my story to “knowing my leadership style”. I always thought that apart from being visionary and a coach which is also my job, my style more resonates around the Affiliative style of leadership. So the task was to prove through my speech that what I had identified, is correct. 

To give a context to an Affiliative leadership style – this is a leader who encourages a behavior by understanding people’s requirements or simply connects people towards a personal yet collective goal. 

My turn arrived and I started. The objective (personal) of my speech was to provoke some collective actions to encourage fellow toastmasters to be climate-conscious and I had some real-life statistics with me and how together global climate change is affecting our future, our jobs. That was the goal – to leverage my affiliative style of leadership and connect people towards a common mission. I was myself in the next 7 mins 10 secs.

What happened next, is something provoked me to share this experience and learning with you all. I was lucky that day to have two evaluators as part of an open evaluation. 

My first evaluator applauded my speech in terms of tonality, voice modulation, hand gesture usage, and overall thought-provoking presentation. However, he came up with very constructive criticism, that I was not completely prepared with this project. To him, I came up as more Authoritative Leader than affiliative and I shall go back to the whiteboard to research the various leadership styles and stick to the project next time.

My next evaluator had a completely different view from the first evaluator. And this is where the “importance of synergy comes in”. She found me to be an Affiliative leader because the fear of losing jobs is personal to everyone and she was really impressed as to how I connected that personal feeling to the global climate change. She cited one of the examples I gave during the speech – “If we do not stop the earth to get warmer year by year, by 2030 our planet will be 1.5 degrees c. warmer than today. What does that mean for us? A global shortage of drinking water, food, untimely rains causing floods, draught…. More work from home or similar distractions or no work at all for many! So climate change is personal, indeed! 

I think both my evaluators were amazing and I take both feedbacks positively. Certainly, I have to be much prepared and know my task thoroughly. 

However, I experienced 3 important aspects of leadership that day –

1. The first element of any leadership is adapting to change, and quickly. I had 15 minutes to tweak the content of my speech. I won’t repeat that in my projects again, but certainly these 15 minutes situations will come in my life and yours every time.
2. Synergy – a very important aspect that determines organizational harmony or even relationships. Two individuals think differently. “We think alike” does not always mean our thoughts match, but it is a bond that develops because of synergy. Agreeing to disagree (in a respectful way) is not a bad idea at all. My evaluators did that the other day, and we may keep that mindset. The outcome will certainly be productive.
3. Communication – or rather I must say miscommunication. The word miscommunication often is misunderstood to be from the person speaking. That isn’t correct. Most of the times, the miscommunications happen on the listening side. That again is attached to perception, pre-judgments, filtering, or relating. I am not saying my first evaluator was wrong. That was his personal opinion (that he related my speech only to the project) and we at Toastmasters respect that above all.  

Today, I think mine is an Affiliative style of leadership, however, I will keep exploring. Leadership style changes according to the situation and if it does not the Leader is a good Manager. What does not change is above 3 nuggets of leadership. Certainly there are many more.

Toastmasters is a place where leaders are made. I have observed significant changes in my work, my life, and my overall thought process in the last 6 months. So, if you want to know more about my journey and experience, please do not hesitate to message me😊