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This blog was updated June 4, 2025
As a business coach, you translate visions into action and values into results. It’s a deeply rewarding role because no two leaders will lead the same way. But how do you tailor your approach to fit such a wide spectrum of personalities? That’s where this guide comes in.
Below, you’ll find the five most common leadership styles you’ll encounter as a coach, paired with clear, actionable ways to support each one. These styles are distilled from years of coaching diverse leaders, from startup founders to Fortune 500 execs. Let’s dive in.
INDEX
The coach
Core traits: Mentorship-driven, growth-focused, development-focused, communicative
Example: Ted Lasso (fictional), or Satya Nadella (Microsoft CEO)
Their superpower: They develop others through encouragement and feedback.
Their blind spot: Overextending themselves or neglecting their own development.
Coaches are invested in their people. They set clear expectations, develop talent, and genuinely care about helping their team grow. These are the leaders who ask good questions, listen well, and celebrate progress.
But here’s the catch—they’re so focused on helping others that they often forget to invest in themselves.
How to coach them:
- Encourage scheduled self-reflection (30–60 minutes a week).
- Help them develop KPIs for themselves, not just their teams.
- Offer frameworks like GROW coaching to sharpen their mentoring.
- Suggest tools like Reflectly or journaling prompts that help them re-center.
🧠 Bloom tip: Coaches respond well to structure. Build out a personal development plan together and review progress monthly.
The Forward-thinker
Core traits: Big-picture thinker, innovative, future-focused
Example: Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX)
Their superpower: Inspiring others with new ideas and a long-term vision.
Their blind spot: Struggles to execute consistently or stay present.
Forward-thinkers are dreamers, architects of the future. They see where the business could be, and their passion can be magnetic.
Unfortunately, that same future-focus can cause them to overlook current execution gaps or ignore what’s needed today.
How to coach them:
- Use grounding exercises to anchor ideas to present priorities.
- Introduce quarterly planning frameworks (e.g., Bloom Growth OS™ or OKRs).
- Invite them to storyboard or map out their vision with teams in mind.
- Ask questions like: “What is one action we can take this week to move this vision forward?”
🧠 Bloom tip: Forward-thinkers love whiteboards and ideation. Use visual planning tools like Miro or Lucidspark in your sessions.
The Empath
Core traits: Compassionate, loyal, relationally focused, team-first
Example: Oprah Winfrey (media mogul, philanthropist)
Their superpower: Building a culture of trust and belonging.
Their blind spot: May neglect performance standards or avoid hard conversations.
Empaths are natural helpers and lead from the heart. They’re all-in on emotional intelligence and employee happiness. Teams love working for them because they feel seen and supported.
But, empaths can become overly responsible for everyone else, neglecting business outcomes—or their own boundaries.
How to coach them:
- Encourage boundary setting as a leadership strength, not a withdrawal.
- Role-play difficult conversations to build assertiveness.
- Set personal goals that align with business outcomes.
- Emphasize that accountability is care, not conflict.
🧠 Bloom tip: Empaths thrive when they see the “why.” Use employee feedback data or Gallup’s State of the Workplace reports to demonstrate the ROI of leadership balance.
The Driver
Core traits: Results-oriented, decisive, high standards
Example: Steve Jobs (Apple)
Their superpower: Relentless execution and goal achievement.
Their blind spot: Can unintentionally create a toxic or high-turnover culture.
Drivers, or autocratic leaders, are results-driven and disciplined. They run a tight ship, often with little room for deviation. These leaders know what they want and expect others to meet their bar.
However, their perfectionism can stifle creativity, demoralize talent, or lead to high turnover.
How to coach them:
- Frame people strategies as efficiency and ROI tools.
- Use data-driven stories to highlight how psychological safety fuels productivity.
- Set up employee NPS tracking or pulse surveys.
- Introduce emotional intelligence (EQ) assessments like EQ-i 2.0 to build awareness.
🧠 Bloom tip: Drivers respect logic and outcomes. Use measurable metrics and research (e.g., HBR or SHRM case studies) to guide behavior change.
The Hands-off
Core traits: Trusting, autonomous, non-intrusive
Example: Richard Branson (Virgin Group)
Their superpower: Encouraging independence and self-management.
Their blind spot: Lack of oversight can lead to misalignment or inertia.
These hands-off leaders give teams the freedom to operate independently. They believe in hiring smart people and letting them do their thing.
The downside: Without accountability structures, teams can drift, stall, or duplicate efforts.
How to coach them:
- Implement light structure, like weekly 15-minute check-ins.
- Encourage goal visibility across teams using dashboards or project tools.
- Teach servant leadership principles to help them lead without micromanaging.
- Set expectations around accountability without undermining trust.
🧠 Bloom tip: Tools like Asana or ClickUp give hands-off leaders structure without forcing over-involvement.
Coaching hybrid leadership styles
Real life isn’t binary. Most leaders are a blend of styles—and that’s a good thing. Hybrids are often your most complex and high-impact clients. They need help navigating the tension between strengths that occasionally pull in different directions.
It’s common to coach a founder who’s visionary (forward-thinker), deeply loyal (empath), and still expects excellence (driver). As a coach, your power is in helping them recognize which style is active, and which one the situation calls for.
1. The Visionary Coach (Forward-thinker + Coach)
They’re inspiring, future-driven, and care deeply about growing others. But they may generate more ideas than their team can realistically act on.
How to coach them: Help them create a prioritization filter—what serves the team’s development and the vision? Anchor ideation in developmental outcomes.
2. The Empathic Driver (Empath + Driver)
They push for results but still want everyone to feel safe and supported. Their tension lies in avoiding hard conversations while expecting high performance.
How to coach them: Normalize discomfort. Help them frame accountability as an act of respect, not aggression. Practice scripts that blend directness with empathy.
3. The Hands-off Visionary (Hands-off + Forward-thinker)
They empower teams with freedom and big ideas—but their lack of structure can lead to confusion or missed execution.
How to coach them: Co-create lightweight frameworks that support autonomy—such as clear quarterly goals, visual timelines, or a single source of truth for project updates.
4. The Supportive Coach (Coach + Empath)
They’re deeply invested in people’s growth and wellbeing—but may burn out trying to carry too much emotional and developmental weight for the team.
How to coach them:
Reframe self-care as leadership modeling. Encourage regular peer support or personal coaching for themselves. Teach them how to let team members hold more responsibility.
Use feedback tools to help clients identify their blend. Then, coach them not to “fix” who they are, but to choose the most effective aspect of their style based on the context.
🧠 Bloom tip: Name the pattern. Giving a hybrid style a simple label (like “Empathic Driver”) helps leaders recognize when they’re operating from one side more than the other so they can adjust accordingly.
Final word: Trust your gut
Finally, remember: there’s no one-size-fits-all in coaching. Each leader is a dynamic, evolving human being. Your job isn’t to fix them—it’s to help them uncover the leader they’re capable of becoming.
Lean on your experience. Stay curious. And when in doubt, trust your instincts. You’re not just coaching leaders; you’re multiplying impact.
Ready to coach at the next level?
Bloom Growth Coaches™ don’t just guide businesses—they change lives. With a proven system and a powerful community behind you, you’ll grow your coaching practice and unlock real results for your clients.