How To (Effectively) Lead Different Types of People

It’s a good thing when not everyone on your team is like you.

Most leaders would agree with that statement. After all, we know that great teams include different kinds of people: People with different giftings, who are from different backgrounds, and who have different skills. 

Intuitively, most leaders know how to interact with various kinds of people. However, we don’t always give a lot of thought to the fact that different people need to be led differently. One of the mistakes leaders tend to make is to have a one-size-fits-all approach to leading their teams. When we fail to recognize that each person we lead might need something different from us, we’ll get some negative results, especially in a ministry setting. Here’s why:

People come from different backgrounds.

We often forget that how we lead is at least partly a product of our family, cultural, and religious backgrounds. And the way people respond to leadership is also a product of their family, cultural, and religious backgrounds.

People have different spiritual needs.

It’s easy to forget that in a ministry setting, leaders aren’t just bosses; they are seen as spiritual leaders as well, no matter what their title is. And so when we lead people, we need to take into account that we’re leading them spiritually as well.

People have had different experiences with bosses. 

Whether it’s fair or not, people bring to your team their own history working with people in charge, and at least some of those experiences will have been negative.

People have different character strengths and weaknesses. 

No one you lead is perfect. Everyone will come with their own character issues, just like you do.

And then there are personality styles to consider: Maybe you’re a super confident leader. You probably have an easier time leading other super confident leaders. But how are you at leading a talented team member who isn’t as sure of themselves?

Or perhaps your leadership style is systematic. You value innovation, but you march to a pretty consistent rhythm: projects, timelines, and clear objectives. You’ve got others on your team who love your style, but how does your style affect the more creative members of your team?

Here’s the bottom line: If you can only lead one kind of person, then only one kind of team member will be able to thrive under your leadership. Why? Because eventually you’ll frustrate those who don’t “fit” your one-size-fits-all approach. And those people will either stay but not contribute to your team as much as they could, or they’ll leave. And in most cases, you’ll assume it was all their fault.

But we as leaders do have a responsibility to lead different types of people, and if we can’t, it’s actually our fault. Here are some ways we can do a better job at this:

Choose an assessment that will help you get to know your team better. 

There are many assessments to help your team understand themselves and one another better, and they all have their own bent: the Enneagram, StrenthFinder, Myers Briggs, Color Test, the list goes on and on. You may already have your favorite. But here’s the catch: You can’t just take the assessment, talk about it in one or two meetings, and then move on. For an assessment to be helpful to you as a leader as well as your team, it needs to become a regular part of your interactions as a team.

Ask team members how they like to be led.

Many of your team members have probably already thought about this question. It’s a great starting point for building a relationship with those you lead, and it will give you valuable insight you may not have been able to get otherwise.

Get feedback as a leader.

I mean, real feedback. This can be informal, such as asking your team in a staff meeting one area they see room for improvement in your leadership. But the only way to get true feedback is asking someone outside your organization to gather feedback from your team for you, such as a 360 review.

Assume the best about people.

When someone we lead makes a mistake, we always see the mistake before we see the reasons why the mistake happened. And we usually fill in that gap with negative assumptions. When an employee messes up on a project, we might assume they just didn’t care about the project as much as we do. Or when a kids volunteer is late on a Sunday morning, we assume they don’t value their role or the families they serve very much. But that might not be the case. Of course, sometimes mistakes happen because someone dropped the ball and there’s no good reason. But until you know for sure. be willing to assume the best about people.

Of course, all of these strategies require me as a leader to be self-aware and healthy enough to be willing to change how I lead so I can be a better leader. But isn’t that the kind of leader people are willing to follow?

What are some ways you’ve led different types of people?