Decisive Leadership

Research shows that team leader behavior has a direct affect on team member motivation and engagement. It also suggests that the best leaders are skilled at using a variety of leadership styles, and can flexibly switch among styles as circumstances warrant.

We expected that our research with cross-functional teams would emphasize the need for highly participative, democratic leadership. We did find this, but we also found that leaders of the highest performing teams also did not hesitate to step in and demonstrate a decisive and directive style when needed. High performing leaders were able to gauge when their team needed them to become directive and make a decision.

Members of high-performing teams described leaders who were not afraid to tell them what they wanted done and how priorities needed to be aligned. One area in which many high performing leaders became authoritative was in their expectations for processes and behaviors during team meetings. For example, a leader of a high performing team told us that he didn’t tolerate anyone raising their voice in a team meeting. Another told us that on her team, it was not acceptable to prematurely foreclose the planning part of a discussion. Another told us that he imposed a ground rule that prohibited the use of computers during conference calls. When the interviewer asked him what he did when a computer was used during a meeting, the leader stated that this simply did not occur. His team members concurred.

Average performing leaders were typically more democratic in their leadership style. Their emphasis on consensus building slowed down the team and was often frustrating for team members.