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The Pharma Career Ladder · The first-line manager · Step 5: Motivating and building the team · Lesson 11

Six leadership styles

Choosing the style the moment needs

By Ahmed El Menshawy · 20 years in pharma, from medical rep to country manager in the UAE. Founder of RepPharma. LinkedIn
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Most managers I have worked with have one leadership style. They use it for everything.

The directive manager directs, even when the team needs to be heard. The friendly manager keeps the peace, even when the team needs a clear decision.

Daniel Goleman described six styles in "Leadership That Gets Results", and I find the list useful because it turns style into a choice.

  • Visionary. "Here is where we are going. You choose the route." For when the team has lost direction.
  • Coaching. "What do you want to get better at this cycle?" For a rep who wants to grow.
  • Affiliative. "That was a hard month. How are you holding up?" For a team that is hurt or divided.
  • Democratic. "Before I decide, I want to hear from each of you." For when you need ideas and real agreement.
  • Pacesetting. "Watch how I do it. Now match it." Rarely, with a skilled team and a short deadline.
  • Commanding. "Stop. This is how we handle it today." In a real crisis, and briefly.

Many sales managers live in the last two. In short bursts they help. As a permanent setting, they wear a team out.

The question I try to ask is not "what is my style?" It is "what does this moment need?"

“Your personality stays the same. Your style should change with the moment.”
Six leadership styles: Choosing the style the moment needs

Lesson 11 of 19 in Step 5: Motivating and building the team, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.

More lessons in step 5: Motivating and building the team

Lesson 1The 70% managerWhy the first-line manager decides whether a sales team is engagedLesson 2What actually motivates a repFixing frustrations is not the same as building driveLesson 3Money is not the whole answerWhat an incentive can do, and where it stopsLesson 4Autonomy, mastery, purposeThree drivers, applied to a field teamLesson 5The one-to-one that is worth the hourAgenda, ownership and follow-throughLesson 6Knowing what is going on at homeCare as a management skillLesson 7Trust is built in small promisesThe manager who does what they saidLesson 8Recognition on a zero budgetFive things that cost nothingLesson 9Recognising effort when results lagProtecting motivation in a bad quarterLesson 10Emotional intelligence for managersKnow yourself, manage yourself, read your teamLesson 12The team meeting nobody dreadsStructure, timing and everyone talkingLesson 13Psychological safety in a sales teamWhy reps hide bad newsLesson 14Stages of a new teamForming, storming, norming, performingLesson 15When two reps do not get alongMediating without taking sidesLesson 16The difficult conversationPreparing, opening and staying in itLesson 17Radical candour in a field teamCare personally, challenge directlyLesson 18Managing a rep older than youAuthority without seniorityLesson 19The rep who wants your jobDeveloping a successor, not a rival

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