A young coachee was sharing his ideas about his next role. He was preparing himself to take a leadership role. In a way, it’s an easy shift as he knows the team and is appreciated. He is in a position in which he can concentrate on learning how to lead.

He had started his planning with an evident idea. In another department, they had successfully applied a method and he wanted to use that very same method.

There is nothing wrong with the idea in itself.

Where it’s a problem is, if it would be all the plan.

Leading a team doesn’t happen through a project. In leadership, a project can only be a tactic.

Asking him about his views on leadership we discussed the different leadership styles he could take up. Looking into autocratic, democratic, laisser-faire and benevolent styles he could share his preferences and look into advantages and disadvantages.

From there he figured out, that the starting point to develop his leadership has to be his strategy.

Putting tactics first is a short term solution, one that may be there to make the team happy. Embedding a tactic in one’s strategy, on the other hand, is there to help a team reach its goals and leads to satisfaction.