Part three, An exped to remember.

 Welcome to my 3rd post on leadership styles,

This post will explore the Autocratic style of leadership, is it always a good thing? Ok this is the situation, we had just started our second day of expedition, with only one injury (a slightly bruised shin caused by falling in the river). We got to top of the ridge, and didn’t really know where we were (because we took a shortcut after missing the path). But we knew what to look for to get to our next point. A lake with a prominent path following down the valley.

The first style of leadership demonstrated in this situation was the democratic style, where everyone was making the decisions as we went along as a group. This did not work as there were too many voices to say where to go next. There might have been a drop in motivation at this point as everyone was suggesting possible routes and no one was taking account of the other peoples view point.

When the prominent path was spotted, the decision was made to take the route (autocratically) but is this the best way?,  there were no prominent dangers to the group. possibly a democratic style or a guided style could have worked just as well. How do leaders know when to choose the right method of leading? experience is key. One way to develop experience is to shadow an already competent leader in their line of work, or get out and get some practice leading small groups to build confidence and leadership skills.
The comfort zone is a big part of which style you use to lead your group. Do you learn well within your comfort zone or out of it? that's the question. I learn best when there is a challenge presented. But I need to take into account the rest of the group, and if their happy inside or out of their comfort zone. I teach best when inside of my comfort zone or under a little pressure.

 it is down the individual and the individuals background and their personality to where they learn in their comfort zone and can sometimes be worked out by certain personality’s if they are an introvert or extrovert, this determines their style of learning and where they learn best in the comfort zone, even then it is tailored to the individual and the situation.

Extroverted types prefer heighted arousal which fits in with (Yerks and Dodsen 1908) theory of the inverted u.  Whereas introverts are more stimulated by activity as they react to less in normal day life.  So introverts are more drawn towards extreme sports as this is a vent of stimulation. Contradicting this an extrovert may be more withdrawn from extreme sports as they in normal life are more outgoing. So they don’t need a vent for stimulation.  

So to adopt the required leading style you need to account for whether the group are mainly extrovert or introvert as this can have a big effect on group dynamics as the roles from normal life to extreme sports completely contradict each other.