The old leadership style has seen an age-long dominance, by traditional alpha leaders.
Nowadays, the new generation of leaders appears to be more democratic, while embracing diversity, in the quest for creating a stream of potential leaders.
These leaders do not deny their vulnerability and they can be pretty emotional. They are referred to as beta leaders.
Let us consider some of the characteristics of these beta leaders:
They Are Democratic
Beta leaders have the ability, to leverage every member of their team, in getting them keyed, into the mission and vision of their business.
They prefer to bring out the best, out of their team members, as they realise that, every member of their team, is valuable and their contribution matters.
They Know The Importance Of EQ
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You cannot take away the importance of data, in making important decisions, nevertheless, feelings and emotions cannot be put aside, when it comes to decision making, as they play a huge role in it.
The concept of beta leadership has the ideology that, data cannot prove the validity, of your decision alone. The input of your emotion is, also, important.
Vulnerability Is Not An Issue
There is always, transparency and openness in their game.
They are not afraid, to let out the weak side of their humanity, with their team members.
Showing this side of yourself, to your members, creates an atmosphere, of no tension, thereby, giving room for generating effective ideas.
A beta leader knows the state of their imperfection; they are also prone to mistakes, yet, they are resilient.
They Coach, Rather Than Direct
The alpha style of directing puts you, in the position of an expert, dictating all that you want your team to do.
Beta leaders, on the other hand, prefer coaching, as a fundamental tool to develop team members.
They Embrace Diversity
Every company has its own workplace culture. Beta leaders understand that, they are not an island of knowledge.
They, also, cannot know all the cultural background of their team members.
There are so many cultures, filling the workplace. Betas practice “cultural humility”; they understand that, they lack the knowledge to coach people that come from different historical backgrounds.
If they understand where their team came from, they can create a more effective group. Beta leaders do set time aside, to really get to personally know the people that work for them.
