The Leadership Style Circumplex

Authoritative leaders demonstrate moderate-to-high agentic and low communal styles. They are assertive and confident in their decision-making, and may come across as more aloof or less approachable than leaders with a more communal focus. Some authoritative leaders are seen as commanding. They may work to establish and maintain workplace hierarchies and can be perceived as cold.
 
Directive leaders demonstrate high agentic and moderate-to-low communal styles. These are individuals who are decisive and take charge, but also, at times, take into account the perspectives and input of others. Capable of balancing the needs of others while driving business results, they also have a bias toward action and can risk coming across as ruthless. These may be naturally highly agentic individuals who push themselves to be warmer and more relatable. 
 
Inspirational leaders demonstrate high agentic and moderate-to-high communal styles. These are individuals who reflect a combination or balance of the two traits and can inspire and motivate others to achieve agentic goals while also showing empathy and concern for their wellbeing. They know that strong relationships are required for a group to take decisive action together but also recognize that achievements are necessary for the group’s relationships and wellbeing.
 
Coaching leaders demonstrate moderate-to-high agentic and high communal styles. They balance the two traits while emphasizing getting along and understanding each other’s perspectives. They may excel in guiding and supporting others in achieving their goals. They strike a balance between focusing on results and people, prioritizing relationships even in cases where it may be tempting to focus solely on getting ahead.
 
Methodical leaders demonstrate low communal and moderate-to-low agentic styles. They are more focused on actions and tasks than they are on people and relationships. They may care about the work itself more than worldly accomplishments and tend to find it satisfying to check items off the to-do list. By leveraging their preference for tasks, methodical leaders can be effective at driving results but could benefit from remembering that they may accomplish more with the buy-in from their team.
 
Laissez-faire leaders demonstrate moderate-to-low communal and low agentic styles. They are unobtrusive, laid-back leaders who take a hands-off approach to strengthening social relationships and avoid directly making bold changes. They are more likely to be happy with the status quo, maintaining their group's existing strengths and keeping their group on a steady, reliable course. They can be effective, low-stress leaders, especially when in charge of expert team members who need little direct oversight. However, they may risk coming across as distant or indecisive.
 
Democratic leaders demonstrate moderate-to-high communal and low agentic styles. They are highly-people focused leaders and who do well encouraging collaboration and building strong teams. They are focused on relationships and may compromise assertiveness in order to get along with team members. At times, their focus on collaboration over competition may make it difficult for them to deal with problematic team members or difficult competitors.
 
Participative leaders demonstrate high communal and moderate-to-low agentic styles. They are people-focused and guide teams to results in a participatory, collaborative way. They may shy away from the spotlight and may be seen as more supporting contributors than dominant leaders. Although this style will thrive in flat organizational structures, they may risk coming across as too indecisive or easygoing in situations where action or ruthlessness are expected.