What is meant by management style, and how can we know what ours is and how to use it? The following exercises identify management styles and the typical behaviors that accompany each. Completing the exercises will help us characterize our personal management styles.
 

Using a five-point assessment scale, describe to what extent the 40 attributes below characterize your ministry style. Choose two or three people who know you well to help you think through your answers as objectively as possible. Use a scale of 1-5, where 1 means "very uncharacteristic of me" and 5 means "very characteristic of me."

 

____ 1. Decisive	____ 21. Perfectionist
____ 2. People-pleasing	____ 22. Accommodating
____ 3. Organized	____ 23. Planner
____ 4. Change-oriented	____ 24. Questioning
____ 5. Exhorter	____ 25. Confrontational
____ 6. Spontaneous	____ 26. Procrastinating
____ 7. Efficient	____ 27. Formal
____ 8. Innovative	____ 28. Long-run focused
____ 9. Controlling	____ 29. Results-focused
____ 10. Informal	____ 30. Emotional
____ 11. Politically sensitive	____ 31. Detached
____ 12. Persuasive	____ 32. Experimental
____ 13. Competitive	____ 33. Power-conscious
____ 14. Sharing and participative	____ 34. Conflict-avoiding
____ 15. Closure-oriented	____ 35. Information-focused
____ 16. Visionary	____ 36. Activist
____ 17. Demanding	____ 37. Dominating
____ 18. Sensitive	____ 38. Contemplative
____ 19. Concern for routine	____ 39. Detail-intensive
____ 20. Nontraditional	____ 40. Controversial

 

The 40 style attributes are regrouped into four columns below. Please transfer your numerical responses to the questions and total the four columns.
 

I	II	III	IV
1. ____	2. ____	3. ____	4. ____
5. ____	6. ____	7. ____	8. ____
9. ____	10. ____	11. ____	12. ____
13. ____	14. ____	15. ____	16. ____
17. ____	18. ____	19. ____	20. ____
21. ____	22. ____	23. ____	24. ____
25. ____	26. ____	27. ____	28. ____
29. ____	30. ____	31. ____	32. ____
33. ____	34. ____	35. ____	36. ____
37. ____	38. ____	39. ____	40. ____
Total: ____	Total: ____	Total: ____	Total: ____

 

Enter your total score for columns I-IV in the corresponding boxes on the matrix. The ministry style with the highest point total signals your dominant, or preferred, ministry-management style. The higher the score for your preferred style relative to the other three styles, the more that style probably dominates your ministry behavior. More than one high score among the four shows you have a broad managerial-style repertoire--the capacity to utilize more than one ministry style.
 

	Ministry Style Matrix
Relational	I Commander	II Shepherd
Independent	III Bureaucrat	IV Entrepreneur
	Directive	Facilitative

 

Consider the following descriptions of management styles:

• Commanders (decisive, exhorter, controlling, competitive, demanding, perfectionist, confrontational, results-focused, power-conscious, dominating) combine the directive interpersonal style with a strong relationships orientation. Commanders like being in the driver's seat and thrive on using legitimate power to achieve ministry results.
• Shepherds (people-pleasing, spontaneous, informal, sharing and participative, sensitive, accommodating, procrastinating, emotional, conflict-avoiding, contemplative) are relational like commanders, but they prefer to facilitate (guide, encourage, equip) ministry members rather than to overtly direct them.
• Bureaucrats (organized, efficient, politically-sensitive, closure-oriented, concern for routine, planner, formal, detached, information-focused, detail-intensive) use formal, official policies and procedures to efficiently direct ministry activities in a way that permits independent action and decision-making, minimizing the need for group deliberation and participative management. Bureaucrats favor orderly, routine operations run "by the book."
• Entrepreneurs (change-oriented, innovative, persuasive, visionary, nontraditional, questioning, long-run focus, experimental, activist, controversial) like to operate independent of organizational bureaucracy with an eye toward facilitating change and innovation. Entrepreneurs yearn to start projects hooked to tantalizing vision of ministry progress.

Which of the four ministry styles is most effective? That all depends on circumstances. Each style has unique strengths and weaknesses, depending on the needs of the particular ministry.

The table below provides insight into the situational effectiveness of each style for the ten most common managerial challenges.
 

Management Style Situational Effectiveness
	Commander	Shepherd	Bureaucrat	Entrepreneur
Stimulating productivity	A	D	B	C
Defusing conflict	A	B	C	D
Fostering change	D	B	C	A
Bolstering morale	A	B	C	D
Implementing routine work	B	C	A	D
Implementing new projects	C	D	B	A
Building relationships	D	A	C	B
Managing a crisis	A	D	B	C
Goal setting	B	D	A	C
Keeping in touch with people's feelings	D	A	C	B

A = Style of greatest potential

B = Style of second greatest potential

C = Style of third preference

D = Style with least potential

Management-style flexibility is a cardinal virtue. We need to strive to utilize our preferred style (the one God has especially suited us for) in as many situations as possible that benefit from its strengths. We should also use any strong subordinate styles in a similar fashion.

It's important to know where our style strengths are relatively ineffective and seek out partnership opportunities with other leaders who hold complementary style strengths. Ultimately all Christian ministry is a partnership between interdependent team members empowered by God to do his kingdom work.