During a period of uncertain economic times, mergers, acquisitions, re-structuring, increased influence of technology, increased foreign competition or any number of other market and consumer shifts, attitudes, trends and expectations, it is vital that management be aware of the impact of their management style on the performance and productivity of their employees.

This doesn’t meant that you should:

- tighten the strings on employees- increase the number of meetings- cut budgets arbitrarily- abandon ship in the middle of a project, program or activity- hire more people- let people go-…there’s more, but I want to get to the point.

What is the perception of the majority of your employees of your dominant management style? Do they see you as:

- out of touch with reality?- letting arrogance rule the day?- overly interested in processes vs. results?- isolating yourself from the day to day operations?- delivering a lot of top-down mandates without bottom-up feedback?- just asking people to do more and more and more?

Or, do they see you as:

- really interested in people’s opinions and feedback?- empowering performance to the lowest levels in the organization? - encouraging creativity, imagination and new ways to operate?

There are a number of management styles. Here are a few. See if you recognize yourself.

1. Autocratic2. Dictatorial3. Empowering4. Judgmental5. Overly concerned with processes/systems6. Systematic7. Spontaneous8. Critical9. Closed to new ideas/methods/routines 10. Receptive

There are many more, but these should get you thinking. Why not ask your staff to describe your management style? Scary thought? I hope not!