The concept of leadership itself is not always clear-cut. In general, most leaders modify their approaches depending on the circumstances. This is especially true the longer they have been in charge; as they gain experience and interact with their staff, they modify their leadership approach.
There are many different types of leaders, and each has a distinct style that can have a big impact on the success of an organisation. There are many different ways to lead a team, ranging from humble servant leaders to charismatic visionary leaders.
What are Leadership Styles?
The behavioural strategy used by leaders to sway, inspire, and guide their followers is referred to as their leadership style. A leader’s style dictates how they carry out plans and tactics to achieve certain goals while taking stakeholder expectations, team health, and soundness into consideration.
To determine the most suitable or successful leadership style that inspires and persuades people to achieve certain objectives, leadership styles have been examined in a variety of forums. Building trust with followers is a key component of an effective leadership style.
Empirical research suggests that followers who have faith in their leader are more inclined to go above and beyond what is required of them. In exchange, they will achieve predetermined objectives and have unrestricted freedom to express their opinions and recommendations regarding the course of the ongoing projects.
What Makes Leadership Styles Important?
Any leader’s chosen leadership style typically combines their personality, life experiences, emotional intelligence, family relationships, and thought process. Therefore, leaders should be able to identify how they may be more effective by understanding how their style relates to a combination of the aforementioned attributes.
Leadership style is more important for effective leadership. Therefore, it is essential for a leader to be able to take command and determine if a circumstance calls for an executive decision or one that is more consultative. In order for an organisation or circumstance to flourish, a leader must also be able to identify the most successful leadership style. A leader can assume ownership, control, and accountability for the magnitude and scope of the work ahead by being aware of their own leadership style.
Knowing one’s leadership style and being adaptable to changing conditions will probably lead to the extra advantages listed below:
- Collaboration and communication have improved.
- A rise in worker involvement
- Increasing the effectiveness of the team
- Effective leadership becomes noticeable inside the company, earning praise.
10 Different Leadership Styles
Leadership Style 1: Autocratic or Authoritarian
Leaders that practise autocratic leadership, sometimes referred to as authoritarian leadership, give the team explicit directives. Without much involvement from the other employees, they are the ones who decide how the tasks will be distributed and what targets need to be met. They provide rewards and sanctions in accordance with the guidelines and protocols they established.
Autocratic leaders rarely take advice from others and usually base their decisions on their own opinions, which can occasionally result in total dictatorial control over a population. The team is unable to voice their opinions, even if they are in the best interests of the business, or to critique the methods used by an authoritarian boss to accomplish tasks.
The majority of this approach’s drawbacks are typically associated with the conduct of this type of leader. They decide everything without much input from the team, which occasionally results in them failing to come up with the ideal plan when several strategies aren’t discussed.
However, this does not imply that there aren’t circumstances in which this approach is suitable. Leaders are usually the most informed about the situation, and sometimes, decisions must be made quickly. There isn’t enough time under those kinds of circumstances for the team to become acquainted with everything before contributing, particularly if they are working with less seasoned teammates.
Leadership Style 2: Participative or Democratic
Group members participate more cooperatively in the decision-making process under democratic leadership, also referred to as participative leadership. Democratic leadership is frequently regarded as the ideal leadership style since studies have shown that it is typically among the most successful and can boost morale, team member contributions, and productivity.
Developing fresh ideas and fostering commitment are the primary objectives of the democratic leadership style. Democratic leaders allow others to contribute to the formulation of decisions and goals rather than doing it alone because they respect employee input and believe that team members may decide on a suitable course on their own. Having strong emotional intelligence skills is a critical quality for a democratic leader.
Among other essential skills that enable them to promote cooperation and teamwork, their primary strength must be the capacity to listen. Because of this, this approach should only be employed when the team is sufficiently skilled; otherwise, production is likely to suffer. In addition to avoiding it when staff members lack the necessary skills, using it in an emergency situation when there isn’t enough time to call a meeting and go over the entire decision-making process is a bad idea.
Leadership Style 3: Delegative or Laissez-faire
A leader who practices laissez-faire leadership, sometimes referred to as delegative leadership, is detached and lets group members make choices. The authoritarian leader and the delegative leader are at different ends of the spectrum. It is uncommon to have adequate supervision, and although it may seem like trust to the team, a balance is necessary to keep the company moving in the right direction towards achieving its objectives. This is typically the leadership style that results in the lowest production, according to research.
The team is overburdened by this kind of leader since they lack defined objectives and do not assist the group in making decisions. As a result, organisations with personnel that understand their responsibilities well, have a high level of trust, and do not hold one another accountable for mistakes are more suited for laissez-faire leadership.
Leadership Style 4: Bureaucratic
Businesses that want consistency should choose leadership types like bureaucratic leadership. The workers are abiding by the norms and authority structures established by their bosses. However, the leaders are also operating in accordance with rules established by the organisation’s higher authority. This implies that a chain of command is established, with each leader having their own area of responsibility.
The administrative demands of the organisation are the main focus of the bureaucratic leadership style, which mostly depends on consistency and strict adherence to rules and regulations to achieve the desired outcomes. Because bureaucratic leadership is rigid and hard to adapt to change, it has a number of disadvantages.
Its system is insufficiently effective, and increasing productivity can be difficult. Strict rules intended to establish consistency in order to meet predetermined goals are actually having the opposite effect, and this leadership restricts the employees’ creativity and productivity. Maintaining the status quo might lead to missed possibilities for corporate expansion.
Leadership Style 5: Visionary
Giving long-term guidance and guiding others towards their vision are the main goals of this leadership style. Seeking out other people’s viewpoints is essential to being a true visionary leader; project managers should not only concentrate on their own ideas but instruct others to strive for them. This approach is most well-known for “selling the vision”; visionary leaders influence others by outlining long-term objectives and establishing the benchmark by which performance is evaluated.
The benefits of employing this leadership style are particularly noticeable when goal communication is required or when task or project direction has to be reaffirmed. However, this method may have far more drawbacks than benefits if it is employed when the team is not developed by the leader or when the leader lacks credibility.
Leadership Style 6: Affiliative
By fostering relationships between individuals, the affiliative leadership style aims to promote harmony. This is the closest and most intimate of all the leadership philosophies. When a leader employs this strategy, they are listening to their team and meeting their emotional needs.
The benefits of employing this strategy are very helpful for resolving disputes. This approach is very beneficial in resolving disputes amongst team members or providing comfort to individuals during stressful situations since it fosters constructive interactions and cooperative connections within the team.
Additionally, this style is helpful for enhancing motivation, communication, and relationship building. On the other hand, affiliative leaders place less focus on completing tasks and goals because they place a greater premium on people’s sentiments and meeting their specific needs.
Read also: How to Build a High-Performing Team
Leadership Style 7: Pacesetting
This leadership style’s primary objective is to complete assignments to the highest possible standard of quality. Setting an example is essential to the pacesetting leadership style. These managers have high expectations, and they will step in to help if an employee is still having problems despite their thorough instructions. Therefore, this style deprives team members of accountability, in contrast to participative.
Regarding critique, it differs from the participative style as well. Even though participatory does not use negative feedback, this approach swiftly identifies all poor performance. However, in the incorrect context, this strategy can have a detrimental impact on job satisfaction by making team members feel overburdened by rigorous expectations for their roles and responsibilities.
This kind of leader frequently completes tasks quickly and correctly and wants everyone to follow suit. Aside from that, pacesetters frequently fail to understand the rules clearly enough. It is best to refrain from employing this approach when team members are feeling lost since the instructions are unclear and they require guidance. When the team is really capable and driven, that is the ideal time to use it.
Leadership Style 8: Coaching
One of the most recent leadership philosophies is coaching. In contrast to authoritarian leadership, which maintains hierarchical control and places everyone under the leader, this type of leadership fosters teamwork and a commitment to employees’ ongoing professional development. By encouraging employees to set development goals and assisting them in identifying their own strengths and shortcomings, this approach aims to align their own objectives with those of the company. This approach emphasises long-term growth above short-term performance requirements and offers continuous feedback.
The benefits of employing this approach are most evident when team members are able to recognise and accept the criticism and are subsequently inspired to take the necessary steps to improve. People who take initiative and want to advance their careers are the ideal candidates for coaching. When a team member requires excessive development and takes up all of the leader’s time, or when the project manager lacks expertise, coaching should be avoided. In crisis mode, it should also be avoided.
Leadership Style 9: Transactional
Employees are paid for fulfilling predetermined objectives or performance standards under transactional leadership, which is more focused on “exchanges” between the leader and staff. Its emphasis on extrinsic incentives makes it more pragmatic than transformational. The leader might be severe with their standards, but they also employ prizes and positive reinforcement.
Transactional leaders frequently encourage staff members to stick to a course of action that has worked in the past. Employees are not always encouraged to think creatively because they are evaluated based on preset standards. The benefits of this leadership style, which places a strong emphasis on achieving particular goals, are most noticeable when teams are working under tight deadlines to complete a project or even when funding is scarce.
Leadership Style 10: Transformational
Similar to charismatic or visionary leadership, transformational leadership involves inspiring and motivating others in ways that go beyond simply exchanging hard work for benefits. Positively inspiring the workforce is the transformational leader’s main goal; they create an environment that encourages innovation and gives them the freedom to choose.
They place a strong emphasis on both professional and personal development and assist staff in seeing their work as a component of something greater. Because they are so dedicated, team members become energetic and creative, and transformational leadership eliminates the need for intense staff oversight.
Now, it is quite easy to misunderstand different leadership types because they frequently share techniques. For instance, transformational leadership and visionary leadership are extremely similar. The difference is that transformational leaders concentrate on assisting each team member in realising the vision, whereas visionary leadership aims to maximise results.
Both leadership philosophies, however, are centred on long-term goals. Authoritarian and visionary leadership could be compared in the same way. Because of this, all leadership philosophies can be viewed as branches of the three primary ones: delegative, democratic, and autocratic.
How to Determine Your Style of Leadership
You may increase your effectiveness as a leader and motivate your team to follow your example by finding a leadership style that speaks to your true self. Take into account these crucial actions as you set out on this path of self-discovery:
Establish Your Vision: To begin, make your leadership objectives and aspirations clear. You can more easily express your ideas and effectively convey them to your team when you have a clear vision. Your vision will act as a beacon of light, directing you and your team through obstacles and victories while providing a feeling of direction and purpose.
Accept Experimentation: Determining your leadership style is a dynamic process. Don’t be afraid to explore new things and embrace experimentation. Every leadership technique you experiment with will yield insightful information, much like a sculptor shapes a masterpiece with each stroke. See how each approach is received by your team, determine what works for them, and modify your strategy accordingly. Keep in mind that leadership is a dynamic canvas of opportunities rather than a set pattern.
Lead with Authenticity: Being a leader means accepting who you are, not aiming for perfection. Engage your passion and purpose and let them direct your choices and actions. Your team will appreciate your sincere dedication when you lead with authenticity, which builds loyalty and trust. Accept vulnerability and recognise that learning and development are ongoing endeavours. Your team will have an open and encouraging culture as a result of your readiness to learn from both achievements and failures.
Seek Feedback: Getting feedback is a crucial compass for figuring out your leadership style. Establish a setting where team members are at ease offering candid and transparent feedback. Accept constructive criticism since it might highlight your blind spots and areas for improvement. The viewpoint of your team can serve as a useful mirror, reflecting the influence of your leadership and enabling you to further hone your strategy.
Finding your leadership style is a life-changing journey that combines reflection, experimentation, genuineness, and criticism. Accept the path because it’s about realising your leadership potential, not just figuring out your style.
