Management style 

“Management style” is one of those terms that exercise a quiet tyranny over us, by subtly implying it's somehow a facet of our personality.  Most of us feel deep down, although we may not often admit it, that our personalities are flawed.  We’re nervous about taking part in exercises to discover what’s wrong with our management style.  Secretly we have our fingers crossed behind our backs because we know that we’re stuck with our personalities, flaws and all. 

As behavioural trainers we take a different approach.  We say that putting a label on your management style is unhelpful and irrelevant because there’s no such thing as management style.  What some people call your management style is no more nor less than the effect of what you say and do  - your behaviour – on other people.  If you can change your behaviour you can change the effect.  People will then perceive you differently and respond to you differently. 

If you want to increase your effectiveness as a manager what you need to know is, “What effect am I having on people?”  To find that out you need to get interested in their emotions.  The question really is, “How do the specific things I say and do make people feel?” 

The subject of emotional intelligence is now widely accepted as having immense relevance for management development.  It’s the foundation of our Skills with People course.  On this website you will find guidelines on how to get the specific data you need in order to decide whether there is room to change your behaviour and improve your effectiveness as a manager (see Emotional intelligence test).