What is the charismatic leadership style?

Source:A Dictionary of Organizational Behaviour

Emma Jeanes

A type of leadership that is defined by the positive personal qualities of the leader. Charismatic leaders are seen to have inspiring visions, being able to enthuse their followers and get them to identify with the vision through their powers of persuasion and ability to influence the emotions of followers. As it refers to the qualities of the leader, it has been associated with a trait approach to leadership, and it is also associated with a romanticized view of leadership. However, charisma has to be perceived by the follower, which suggests that follower characteristics are also important in determining who is seen as a charismatic leader. Because of the association with traits, some argue that people have the capacity for charisma, but it cannot be trained. Others suggest that since it is about the relationship and communication, it is a skill that can be honed. ... ...

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As a leader, you should want to improve your employees' engagement at every turn and you must not be satisfied with anything other than high engagement and high-performance.

Adopting a charismatic leadership style can help leaders inspire the average employee to stretch their abilities. Charismatic leaders are not afraid to take risks. They use their personality and communication to gain admiration from their followers.

Does this sound like the type of leadership style you’d like to adopt?

Read on to discover our list of six prominent characteristics found within a charismatic leadership style and find out how they can motivate employees.

• Confidence
• Compassion
• Communicative
• Emotive
• Determined
• Communicative

Characteristics of Charismatic Leadership

Confidence

Charismatic leaders ooze confidence; there is no doubt about that. A charismatic leader will rarely express self-doubt while their powerful personalities draw people in, according to Entrepreneur.

Confidence in a leader helps establish trust. It will also add weight to what they say, attracting others to follow them and their actions. Feeling comfortable in their own skin, leaders create a workplace that feels more welcoming for employees and encourages open communication - one of the most important workplace motivators for employees is communication.

Read our blog: ‘5 Key Motivators in the Workplace That improve Employee Experience’.

A confident charismatic leader has the ability to step outside themselves and critique how they behave and interact with employees, leading to more positive situations and employees viewing them as authentic. However, if leaders aren't confident in their actions and decisions, would their followers be?

Compassion

Compassion is a characteristic that embodies all leadership styles but can be strongly found within a charismatic leadership style. Charismatic leaders are compassionate, able to have an awareness of others, a mindset of wishing the best for others and the courage to take action.

According to Leadership Coach Lolly Daskal, a compassionate leader understands that “I” isn't especially useful as a conversation starter, and that when leaders stop focusing on their own egos they’re able to develop other leaders.

Leading with a compassionate approach can bring about a positive emotional state in employees. This allows them to focus on setting goals, striving to attain them and unleashing the power of their organisation.

Communicative

The most elite charismatic leaders have extraordinary communication skills. According to Yscouts, communication helps charismatic leaders motivate employees through tough times and help them stay grounded when things are good.

Charismatic leaders are powerful communicators who can articulate a vision that is meaningful to their employees. They communicate their goals and directives through colourful, imaginative and expressive manners.

Communication inspires action and an emotional commitment to make a difference. In my blog - 10 Leadership Disciplines For Today's Digital Age - I talk about how inspiring action among employees is down to our ability to be able to communicate vision and strategy with meaning.

As a charismatic leader, you are purpose maximisers, we create a sense of real value, we help people believe they can make a difference.

Emotive

Charismatic leaders can arouse and elicit intense feelings among employees and their wider followers who have an emotional response. As documented by Future of Working, a charismatic leadership style creates an emotional appeal.

These types of leaders motivate employees by creating strong loyalties through emotional connections and feeling inspired by the chance to reach their own dreams.

A charismatic leader motives people by going beyond goal setting and performance issues to get to the heart of their employees.

Determined

According to Success, charismatic leaders and enthusiastic and excited about what they do. They set clear goals and become determined and purposeful to achieve the results that they were hired to accomplish.

Just like themselves, a charismatic leader will motivate their employees to get things done and achieve the same results they strive for. They’re determined to conjure up eagerness in others to achieve a goal or vision; with extraordinary results.

“At Successfactory, we’re determined to awaken the possibility in leaders and teams to deliver extraordinary results whilst operating with boldness, simplicity and speed. Find out how we can help you realise your true commercial success. Get in touch here.”

Vision

In my blog - Top 10 Tips For Extraordinary Leadership in today’s World - I speak about unleashing innovation, focus and awaken possibility. These traits of an extraordinary leader can be applied to a charismatic leadership style who often try to make the status quo better, transforming organisations into their vision.

You will find that the personal vision of a charismatic leader has a great deal of influence over their audience. Charismatic leaders value their vision and are focused on the future and how they can improve it. Everything they do revolves around making their vision a reality, according to Entrepreneur.

Charismatic leadership can be summed up as a leadership style that is focused on creating a vision and captivating people emotionally with the message.

How Can Successfactory help?

At the Successfactory HQ, we’re all about ensuring that today’s world organisations have the best leaders and teams. We encourage leaders to explore their styles through powerful learning tools.

We bring people together, create an environment for them to think differently and a process which stimulates great questions, enabling them to find their own answers.

Want to learn more about our approach? To discover what we think about leading in today's world you can explore Graham Wilson's (our founder and inspiration) award-winning book Leadership Laid Bare!, and discover timeless leadership principles for the 21st Century.

Every success,

Graham

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