What Is Executive Leadership Style, And Why Is It Important?

Irrespective of the style of leadership, there are various capabilities that a leader needs to possess to be successful in an organization. Some common leadership skills, like communication and problem-solving, can be executed if they are paired properly.

Leading by execution means that the leaders are accountable for making plans and decisions and sticking to them. Within the team framework, they should be able to execute decisions.

What Is Executive Leadership?

Executive leadership is about managing or directing employees in a business to guide those individuals.

There are various forms of executive leadership styles, and individuals are known to have a mix of hard and soft skills in leveraging their attributes to improve the business process.

They have a major role to play in exemplifying an organization’s corporate culture. The executive leaders need to know that the technologies are properly integrated into the business process and maximize business values while minimizing security risks.

How To Boost Your Executive Leadership Skill

  • Create a plan.
  • Set goals
  • Encourage teamwork
  • Accountability
  • Hold yourself responsible.
  • Provide resources
  • Give feedback.

What Is The Difference Between An Executive Leader And A Traditional Leader?

Leadership is guiding a group of people toward viable business outcomes. When you view leadership in this way, it can turn out to be reactive.

Executive leadership is a way of thinking and acting in a methodological manner. They are the type of leaders who think about the future as they aim to reframe situations and formulate long-term solutions.

An executive leader is aware of how to ask the right set of questions. When they are presented with a challenging situation, they take the time to understand the problem. Ultimately, this approach leads to a creative solution.

The reasons why execution is a crucial leadership capability

The ability to execute is one of the main qualities a leader must possess. The reason is simple: without execution, leaders will never see efforts or success in their businesses.

Even when you have excellent vision-setting skills, leaders will not execute results until they use them to their advantage.

They are able to stimulate positive action in their team members and hold them accountable for their actions.

Executive leadership: an overlooked phase in leadership development

Most leaders will acknowledge that leadership is critical and strive to perform well. The problem is a lot of managers feel that they have a lot of things on their plate.

In the short term, it may yield results, though burnout may arise in the long term.

Be methodological in direction and organizing goals

Many people who are energetic about execution jump straight into the goals before they are aware of what they are doing in terms of strategy for the organization.

There has to be discipline in providing people with a clear sense of direction on how they contribute to the organization’s overall strategy.

The moment we are aware of who is doing what, a degree of collective responsibility arises, as you need to involve people in the formulation of personal goals. Setting goals enables a team to achieve its objectives easily.

Empower an individual by harping on the What and how to achieve it

An increase in motivation is linked to self-autonomy and a degree of self-control. As a leader, you need to be precise with the goals and how the employees can achieve them.

It needs to be within the specific policies and boundaries that have been agreed upon.

Encouraging execution or learning by providing positive feedback

It is all about improving execution via intrinsic execution and not sticking to goals or deadlines. A great leader is adept at giving feedback, and a critical leader takes time to listen to the feedback of their employees.

At this juncture, you are likely to witness positive feedback. Leaders who are great at getting feedback are bound to provide positive recognition.

Showcase genuine interest in the people by following up with them systematically.

A leader who does not actively follow up misses the point. You have to be delicate while at the same time abiding by your personal leadership responsibilities.

There is no need to use follow-up for controlling, but showing a genuine interest in the execution of your team’s efforts is sufficient.

The right set of questions needs to be asked rather than the answers. Rather than a backward orientation, you need to adopt a forward-looking approach.

How to achieve execution excellence?

You may have the greatest leaders in a business, but without execution, you are going nowhere. Execution excellence can be achieved in the following areas:

A clear-cut vision for the team is to be formulated.

Setting up a clear vision is the essence of a business. How can the employees get there if the company is not aware of where they need to go? In the absence of a clear vision from leadership, the team will do what they see as best or develop their own agendas.

For the future, you need to spend time agreeing on a vision and then communicate regularly so that everyone is in line with the vision of the company.

It does not mean telling your team once in a while, but regular formal and informal communication is necessary.

Regular and quality meetings

Regular and quality are different words out here. A poorly run meeting means people will find numerous reasons for not attending the meeting.

You need to hold meetings at periodic intervals and ensure that the meeting starts and finishes on time.

The focus has to be on resolving issues, and by meeting every week, you make an attempt to resolve the issues before they escalate into something big. Be sure to communicate outward after a leadership meeting.

Measure what matters.

Metrics like asset under management are not what you do weekly, so it is better to review them once a week. You should not rely on them as a weekly source of information.

During the meetings, you need to measure success metrics that are going to indicate your success over a 3-month or 6-month timeline. Developing these metrics would work from a leader’s point of view.

The right time to be assembled

If you have the right team in place, it is bound to improve execution; otherwise, things may keep bouncing back to you. The worst part is that you are reluctant to delegate since you would like to do it yourself.

But these outcomes turn out to be disasters when it comes to productivity or growth, not to mention customer experience and compliance. Make sure you have the right team to get things done.

Develop accountability

If the right team is not in place, developing a degree of accountability will be a waste of time. Implementing accountability will also not ensure that the wrong team will work effectively, so you have to be precise with the earlier step.

The moment a team is in place, accountability is everything. When you define the key responsibilities for each role within the business, the differences become clear and precise.

The Types Of Executive Leadership

The senior management team may execute this style of leadership that relies on a process to make strategic decisions.

It also prioritizes the various parties involved in how an organization interacts with the world. Though there are various forms of leadership styles, here are a few of them.

Authentic leadership

The leadership module uses the senior leader’s sense of value and purpose to shape the organizational culture.

Those who resort to this leadership style resort to business acumen and moral compass. Following this method, you understand what you stand for and use it as a guiding light to deal with challenges.

Participative leadership

As part of the leadership style, the managers invite the entire team into decision-making. The team members receive information about the company, and input can be provided before the management makes the final decision.

Though this leadership style can be more time-consuming than other styles, it leads to higher job satisfaction.

Servant leadership

This leadership focuses on the stakeholders and customers to whom the business caters. Those in leadership positions would rely on the team members to communicate with customers and reach out to themselves.

The Characteristics Of An Effective Executive Leader

What is good leadership? This is a subjective question, but it is hard to pinpoint the traits that lead to an effective leader. Some of the characteristics of executive leadership are as follows:

  • A collaborative attitude: An effective leader is aware that they do not have all the answers, even if they turn out to be the final decision-maker. The focus is on teamwork and relies on data across the organization to guide their actions.

  • Accountability: An executive leader develops a degree of confidence in an organization when they own up to their actions. They are fully aware of their strengths and weaknesses and, therefore, will be able to adjust their approach accordingly.

  • Experience: If the employees believe in the previous experience of a leader, they are motivated to contribute to an effective plan.

  • Effective time management: An executive leader knows which tasks they need to do and which ones should be delegated. Productive meetings are held with clear agendas.

  • Flexibility: Without an adaptive mindset, the leaders are likely to become redundant in an organization. These leaders put aside their own egos and work toward the betterment of the organization.

  • Investing in corporate culture: An executive leader is responsible for establishing clear-cut goals and a vision, and at the same time, they need to foster a healthy environment at work. They should be aware of how to deal with problems that arise during the course of their work.

Conclusion

When an individual is an executive leader, they are introduced into the organization by which things are done. It can cover a wide range of levels, and this leadership style may adopt a command-and-control approach or be a system of quality assurance processes.

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