Hands-on leader v/s Hands-off leader

Hands Off leader:

This is the type of leader which mainly creates the vision of the team and communicates effectively. The leader doesn’t have or need to possess the necessary skills and knowledge of their team however need to match in the attitude and behaviour. This is the type of leader needed to rally multi skilled, multi discipline, multi domain members. Consider a start-up. At the start most members are technical members creating a solution - as the team grows, you need accounting, finance, marketing etc. These domains are specific and the founder cannot in any capacity be able to be an expert in so many domains and skills. These teams tend to be more suitable when there is a need for innovation and hence a leader who is at the pinnacle of such a team needs to be predominantly a hands-off leader. Speaking of personal example, I am privileged to be working with experts who have decades of experience in their fields and know a lot more in their respective domains than I could. However together we are able to do some fantastic work. A hands off leader’s most highest quality is trust. He or she needs to build an atmosphere of trust where each ‘expert’ is given the necessary autonomy to do their work and are trusted with the decisions that they have to take while executing their project. This is, hence, highly dependant on the team that they have around them.

The best analogy that I can think of is that of an orchestra. The conductor does not have the necessary skill or knowledge of the individual instruments. However the conductor trusts the entire orchestra to play their instruments at the perfect note to have a symphony that can elevate the audience. If a violin player is struggling, the conductor won’t be able to show how to play the violin or give any tips regarding the instrument.

Hands On leader:

This is a leader that leads from the front. From the animal kingdom, the best example is that of a wolf pack. Among wolves, the leader of the pack, the alpha male will lead from the front and will be the first one when crossing the icy tundra, or the first one to lead an attack on its prey. He always protects the weaker members of the pack by putting himself in danger. In several types if team, you need this approach. Consider a sales team - where the ‘team leader’ needs to possess the necessary skills to sell the product or service and can do so by themselves. And when it comes to it - can coach and teach the other members of how it is done. When a difficult customer is encountered, the leader often will deal with them and ‘show how its done.’ These types of leaders are flamboyant, charismatic and take pride in their skill. They let the team deal with difficult situations but always come to the rescue when required and act as a protective shield around their team. These leaders possess the same skills and knowledge of the wider team, but may not necessarily have the same attitude or behaviour as the rest of the team.

This type of leadership is most appropriate in teams that are single domain. For example

• A sales team as written above

• A marketing team marketing in a single domain

• A legal team practicing the same type of law

• An engineering team specialising in a domain (like IT, or injection moulding etc)

Where this type of leadership doesn’t work is when you have to lead multi-domain experts to achieve a singular goal. For this, you need a hands-off leader. Lets look at a hands-off leader.