Full Range Leadership Theory (FRL)

With the many levels I have seen many styles of leadership. I have seen every aspect of the Full Range leadership Theory (FRL) throughout the last 18 years in the United States Air Force (USAF). FRL encompasses seven levels of performance impact, beginning with the lasseiz-faire style at the bottom with the least impact on employee performance and spanning upward to the Inspirational motivation at the top with the most impact on subordinates. My first supervisor in the Air Force was a very laissez-faire leader. He would be around for the first 5 minutes of my shift and I wouldn’t see him again until the end of the shift right before shift change. He didn’t really care about my development or training, and frequently blamed my coworkers

When leaders treat each subordinate as an individual with different abilities and needs, it will help the individual feel a stronger sense of self worth. Each person has a different skillset that they bring to an organization. Leaders who tap into these skillsets and help develop others can usually get the best product out of each employee. Thus empowering employees to develop and grow within the company. The USAF does this very well at all levels of leadership. Members are always pushed to develop themselves and continue to grow to enhance their professional and personal

These leaders are able to articulate theirs and their company’s vision in a way that promotes growth and a team atmosphere. These leaders are good public speakers and can get buy in for the most challenging ideals. Examples of inspirational motivation leaders are Martin Luther King Jr in his I have dream speech that kindled the civil rights movement. It inspired people to stand up against impossible odds, to put themselves in harms way for a cause that they believed in. This type of leader is a little bit harder to find in my organization. There are leaders that display a few of the inspirational Motivation traits, but mostly at the Strategic level of USAF