What Type of Leadership Personality Do You Have?

Self-leadership depends upon your personality type

If your innate personality and belief system does not comply with the leadership style you choose, your results will be less than desired. You will come across as being phony, hard to communicate with and will be uncomfortable in your own skin. To succeed, choose a leadership style that fits your personality.

Open door leadership types enjoy talking with people

This type believes that everyone has viable ideas and a collaborative effort works well. If you are comfortable talking with all types of people, at all levels throughout your organization, you may do well implementing the open door leadership personality. Others find you easy to talk with and feel that what is discussed with you will be kept in strict confidence. You exude an aura of trust, loyalty and true sensitivity to others' needs. The drawback to this leadership type is the fact that others may view you as a pushover who has no boundaries.

Understanding closed-door leadership

If you believe that an organization works best by having one certain person at the helm, you may fit in with the closed-door leadership type. You like to schedule your day around set appointments and work with your door closed. People need to knock on your door if they want to approach you. You like authority and the feeling it gives you. You feel in control and instead of asking for input from others, you give orders. This personality type does not really care if there are any dissenters among the ranks, since sensitivity is not a strong trait. The drawback to this leadership style can be low productivity and high turnover rates due to employee dissatisfaction. Authority types easily lead to dissension among coworkers and associates.

Or, maybe you are a combination of the authority and open-door personality. You like working behind a closed door for a while, having set appointments, but still allow for instantaneous interaction with your associates and other coworkers. You like conversing with others and forming a collaborative team all working towards the same goal. And, you also like being in control and telling others what to do. You believe there are times when being an authoritative figure that makes demands on others is the best option. This middle-of-the-road leadership type can promote a team environment that results in increased productivity.

No matter which type of leadership personality type you have, you will only succeed when you possess a number of other characteristics. Leaders have strong levels of self-confidence, persistence, determination and foresight. Good leaders always believe there are a number of options available to reach a goal. When one avenue fails, another one is explored. Pliability and flexibility are crucial for a leader's success.

Find success through self-understanding

Self-understanding plays a crucial role in self-leadership. Before you can lead anyone else, in any capacity, you need to have a firm control over your own personality. Taking some alone time to realize what type of personality you have, and which type you interact best with, can be the key to your self-leadership success.

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