Visionary leaders are, in many ways, the leaders with which we are most familiar. They’re the ones running the show in all sorts of novels, plays and films; they take centre stage as the music builds around them. This week, in the third part of our series on leadership, we take a detailed look at this approach, originally known as the authoritative style, and how to make the most of it.

Defining characteristics. The visionary style is all about the big picture, says Lubna Haq, a consultant at Hay Group. “The objective is providing long-term direction and vision,” she says. “It’s about being clear about what you want to do and getting people to buy into it.” Directive leaders, discussed last week, tell people what to do; visionary leaders win people over so that they want to do it.

Here’s one we prepared earlier. There are plenty of Hollywood examples of visionary leadership because it’s one of moviemakers’ favourite styles. Haq cites a scene in Remember The Titans ( right) when Herman Boone, a high school football coach, explains why, in the American South in the early 1970s, uniting black and white players on one team is about much more than simply sport. Listen to the speech at www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechrememberthetitans.html.

It’s useful when... You need to show people the way. “Use it when you need to galvanise people and get them to see the picture, and then, when you need to, remind them of it,” Haq says. The idea is that this helps to motivate people to do their jobs; it’s particularly useful when day-to-day tasks are difficult or unpopular. It’s not a once-a-year style that can be brought out for the AGM then mothballed; “really impactful leaders are those who do it [discuss their vision] every day but in a subtle way”. He or she might spend 30 seconds explaining how a particular task or project will contribute to larger goals, for example.

Does more harm than good when... “You would not use it in a crisis and it would not be effective if the person articulating the vision did not have credibility,” Haq says. This means that it may not be the best technique to use if you’ve just been promoted to lead a team of which you used to be a member. It’s also a problem if used excessively. Haq tells the story of one secretary whose boss got a bit carried away with being a visionary leader to the extent where he would emphasise where every letter he wanted typed fitted into the big picture.

Effect when overused. Confusion. “I once worked with a chief executive at a very large local authority who, when he came in, said that he didn’t want to tell people what to do, he just wanted to give them the direction of travel,” Haq says. “He spent a year talking in vague, big-picture terms... about what he didn’t want, but not about what he did want. Generally speaking, people need support and guidance because they need to know if they are doing things right.”

What to avoid when working for a visionary leader. “Don’t irritate them by trying to give them a vision. It doesn’t work upwards,” Haq says. Visionary leaders see scoping and conveying the big picture as their job; they don’t want, or expect, their juniors to be doing the same thing.

How to impress a visionary leader. “Reflect their vision back to them, talk about how you understand it and how you will articulate that vision to your own team in ways that they will understand.”

Next: the affiliative style.

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