Dissonant Basics

Dissonant leaders tend to operate more on the authoritative side of leadership.

They maintain a greater social and emotional distance from employees. This can
aid in times when orders must be delivered and executed urgently. However,
dissonant leaders can cause emotional frustration, stress, burnout and
disengagement among employees. While a dissonant leader often intends to
remain objective and logical in decision-making, his approach is commonly viewed
by employees as cold and distant.

Styles
The two styles Goleman linked to dissonant leadership were pacesetting and
commanding. A pacesetter focuses heavily on getting employees to constantly
ramp up efficiency and performance in meeting deadlines. While this approach may
work in crunch time, it can wear on employees as a constant leadership style. A
commander simply operates with a highly authoritative style. He expects
employees to complete tasks quickly and without questioning. This conflicts with
contemporary leadership approaches emphasizing empowerment and employee
involvement.

The Commanding Leader

The commanding leader of the six emotional leadership styles can also be
referred to as the carrot and stick approach. It means that when a leader
tells an employee to execute a specific task, it is expected that the
employee completes the assignment without asking questions and
without complaining.

Many times, when this type of leadership style is utilized, it is only effective
for a short period of time. Sometimes leaders must perform their job as
the commanding leader because it could be that the previous assignments
failed.

Another reason for performing this leadership style of Daniel Goleman

Leadership Styles could be because of an urgent organizational
transformation for which there is no time for discussion, or when specific
procedures must be executed under local rules and regulations.
The Pacesetting Leader

This leadership style of the Goleman Leadership Styles is concerned with

results and high-quality work. Many times, the leader serves as an
example.

The members of a team are next expected to deliver the desired quality of
work. Leaders expect the team to work independently and usually only
require weekly or monthly updates about the status of a project. Team
members are because of their independence expected to deliver excellent
results.

Leaders with this leadership style usually work in a highly competent team
with team members who are highly engaged. The pacesetting leader of
Daniel Goleman Leadership Styles / the six emotional leadership styles
utilizes this style to stimulate the group to become more competent in
what the team does.

However, it can sometimes cause stress at the work floor because

employees might find assignments very complex and time demanding,
which could be a challenge with regards to time management.
As a result, there is a chance that employees can get burnouts. For this
reason, the pacesetting leadership style is only useful for short periods,
and it might only work best with a highly motivated and engaged team.

“Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric is an example of a successful

pacesetter. As a leader, Welch despised micro-managing and needed thought leaders
to focus more on setting examples and deadlines.”
“Under the command of a pacesetting leader, there is a decline in employee
commitment because members lack a sense of how their personal efforts fit into the
big picture.”