So, What IS Your Management Style?!

In my coaching practice I often help clients prepare for job interviews. My client pool is full of middle managers and executives, who are often looking for new opportunities. One of the common interview questions that stumps them is when their hiring manager or others interviewing them ask this dreaded question: So, what is your management style?

Initially, during the our practice interview session most of my clients respond with the pabulum: I always have an open door policy; I communicate openly and keep all my direct reports in the loop; I do not micromanage; I ask for teams input; and so on. Although there is nothing wrong with this response it does not paint you as an inspiring leader for whom their team members will go above and beyond to deliver the exceptional, not merely what is expected.

So, what would be a good response to this question: What is your management style?

To answer this question one must reflect on what brings out the best in anyone doing their job. Studies have shown that in a creative environment team members do their best when they are given the freedom to pursue:

Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose

Lets look at each one and see how we can respond to the original question with a compelling answer:

Autonomy has to do with how much freedom you are providing your team members to operate within the framework that allows them to carry out their mission. So, for a leader (or manager) to be effective their first order of business is to understand the context in which the team members are expected to deliver what is required. Autonomy excludes micromanaging. But, as a leader/manager you have the responsibility to ensure that things stay on track when you provide this autonomy to your team members. So, creating clear accountabilities up-front is an essential part of providing autonomy.

Another factor that enters this discussion is being hands-on. Most people confuse being hands-on with being a micro manager (on both sides of this conversation). So, when the question of being hands-on comes up in this discussion, a good way to clarify your style would be to say, Once I set the context for my project I provide my team members the autonomy they need to create the best outcome. I set up clear accountabilities and then provide oversight to ensure that things stay on track, without micromanaging. Then repeat, I am very hands-on that way, but I do not micromanage.

Mastery has to do with ones desire to constantly get better at what they do. This can happen in a variety to ways: Letting your team members take calculated risk for them to learn new ways of doing things; mentoring them as they are navigating through their project to find ways to improve things; challenging them to create new outcomes, which they may not on their own; etc. By creating a leadership environment where team members are encouraged to create new breakthroughs by risk-taking and by constantly challenging them is a good way to help them seek mastery.

Purpose has to do with why we are doing what we do. So, setting the context (see Autonomy above) and tying that to the overall purpose of your work can be presented in a compelling way. In a purpose-driven workplace team members are driven by something larger than themselves. A good leader constantly reminds their team members of this purpose and keeps them inspired to do their very best. Often, once the purpose is clear the leader does not even have to remind the team members of what the purpose is. Purpose-driven teams breathe fire!

One other factor that can be added to this discussion is recognition and reward. If team members show initiative, autonomy, take risks, and deliver the exceptional, they must be recognized for their work. Sometimes, this happens through both reward and acknowledgement of their contribution to success. As their leader you have the responsibility to ensure that team members are properly acknowledged and rewarded for their contributions.

So, there you have it. Once you understand the spirit of this idea of how a strong leader/manager gets things done, you can package the message in a language that works for you and then deliver your response to this all-important leadership question.

Good luck!

About Author

Dilip has distinguished himself as LinkedIn’s #1 career coach from among a global pool of over 1,000 peers ever since LinkedIn started ranking them professionally (LinkedIn selected 23 categories of professionals for this ranking and published this ranking from 2006 until 2012). Having worked with over 6,000 clients from all walks of professions and having worked with nearly the entire spectrum of age groups—from high-school graduates about to enter college to those in their 70s, not knowing what to do with their retirement—Dilip has developed a unique approach to bringing meaning to their professional and personal lives. Dilip’s professional success lies in his ability to codify what he has learned in his own varied life (he has changed careers four times and is currently in his fifth) and from those of his clients, and to apply the essence of that learning to each coaching situation. After getting his B.Tech. (Honors) from IIT-Bombay and Master’s in electrical engineering(MSEE) from Stanford University, Dilip worked at various organizations, starting as an individual contributor and then progressing to head an engineering organization of a division of a high-tech company, with $2B in sales, in California’s Silicon Valley. His current interest in coaching resulted from his career experiences spanning nearly four decades, at four very diverse organizations–and industries, including a major conglomerate in India, and from what it takes to re-invent oneself time and again, especially after a lay-off and with constraints that are beyond your control. During the 45-plus years since his graduation, Dilip has reinvented himself time and again to explore new career horizons. When he left the corporate world, as head of engineering of a technology company, he started his own technology consulting business, helping high-tech and biotech companies streamline their product development processes. Dilip’s third career was working as a marketing consultant helping Fortune-500 companies dramatically improve their sales, based on a novel concept. It is during this work that Dilip realized that the greatest challenge most corporations face is available leadership resources and effectiveness; too many followers looking up to rudderless leadership. Dilip then decided to work with corporations helping them understand the leadership process and how to increase leadership effectiveness at every level. Soon afterwards, when the job-market tanked in Silicon Valley in 2001, Dilip changed his career track yet again and decided to work initially with many high-tech refugees, who wanted expert guidance in their reinvention and reemployment. Quickly, Dilip expanded his practice to help professionals from all walks of life. Now in his fifth career, Dilip works with professionals in the Silicon Valley and around the world helping with reinvention to get their dream jobs or vocations. As a career counselor and life coach, Dilip’s focus has been career transitions for professionals at all levels and engaging them in a purposeful pursuit. Working with them, he has developed many groundbreaking approaches to career transition that are now published in five books, his weekly blogs, and hundreds of articles. He has worked with those looking for a change in their careers–re-invention–and jobs at levels ranging from CEOs to hospital orderlies. He has developed numerous seminars and workshops to complement his individual coaching for helping others with making career and life transitions. Dilip’s central theme in his practice is to help clients discover their latent genius and then build a value proposition around it to articulate a strong verbal brand. Throughout this journey, Dilip has come up with many groundbreaking practices such as an Inductive Résumé and the Genius Extraction Tool. Dilip owns two patents, has two publications in the Harvard Business Review and has led a CEO roundtable for Chief Executive on Customer Loyalty. Both Amazon and B&N list numerous reviews on his five books. Dilip is also listed in Who’s Who, has appeared several times on CNN Headline News/Comcast Local Edition, as well as in the San Francisco Chronicle in its career columns. Dilip is a contributing writer to several publications. Dilip is a sought-after speaker at public and private forums on jobs, careers, leadership challenges, and how to be an effective leader.

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