When we consider various types of leaders and Leadership Styles, it’s easy to categorize them into one of two categories: good or poor. Perhaps you had a previous boss who made you feel supported and motivated. Perhaps there was even that boss who was so harsh that you began to doubt your ability to handle the afternoon coffee runs.
There are a variety of different leadership styles that aren’t necessarily good or bad; they’re just different. They all have advantages and disadvantages, as well as situations in which they can be used.
Great leaders have emerged throughout history with distinct types of leadership styles for providing guidance, executing strategies, and inspiring people. These can be roughly divided into five categories:
- Transactional Leadership
- Transformational Leadership
- Authoritarian Leadership
- Participative Leadership
- Delegative Leadership
Despite these meanings, there are still unanswered questions.
- What does each of the above leadership styles mean?
- What are the differences between the various leadership styles?
- What are the benefits and drawbacks of using each leadership style?
You will learn more about the five types of leadership styles, as well as their meanings, benefits, and drawbacks, by reading this post. Each of the leadership styles will be distinguished as well.
The significance of honing one’s leadership styles
According to a survey conducted by Indeed, 55 percent of employers believe that asking about leadership skills during an interview is the most accurate way to assess a candidate’s potential to succeed in a position. As you gain experience as a leader, you’ll undoubtedly use a variety of processes and strategies to fulfill your employer’s goals and the needs of the people who report to you.
You can use a variety of different leadership styles to be successful as a manager at any given time. By familiarising yourself with each of these styles of leadership, you can be able to identify places where you can develop or enhance your leadership style. You will also learn how to work with managers who have a different leadership styles than yours and find other ways to lead that may better suit your current goals.
Top 5 Leadership Styles You Can Use
Delegative Leadership Styles
A delegating leadership style, also known as “laissez-faire leadership,” focuses on delegating initiative to team members. If team members are capable, take responsibility, and tend to work alone, this can be a good strategy. Disagreements among members, on the other hand, may break and divide a group, resulting in low motivation and morale.
Advantages:
- Experienced workers can use their knowledge and expertise to their advantage;
- Innovation and imagination are highly regarded.
- Delegative leadership fosters a supportive workplace culture.
Disadvantages:
- Command authority isn’t well established.
- Delegative leadership makes the transition difficult to adapt.
Authoritarian Leadership Styles
Authoritarian leadership styles allow a leader to set goals and set objectives. In circumstances where a leader is the most experienced member of the team, a one-person show may be effective. While this is a time-saving tactic in a pinch, innovation will suffer as a result of the team’s limited feedback. When team members need specific instructions, the authoritarian leadership model is used.
Advantages:
- Time spent making critical decisions can be cut in half.
- It is possible to stress the chain of command.
- Mistakes in strategy execution should be minimized.
- Using an authoritarian leadership style produces predictable outcomes.
Disadvantages:
- A rigid leadership style may lead to employee revolt in some cases.
- It suffocates employee innovation and creativity.
- It decreases community collaboration and synergy.
- Group feedback is drastically decreased.
- Authoritarian leadership leads to a higher rate of employee turnover.
Transactional Leadership Styles
To get the job done, transactional leadership styles use “transactions” between a leader and his or her supporters, such as incentives, penalties, and other trades. The leader establishes specific objectives, and team members understand how they will be compensated for their cooperation. This “give and take” leadership style is more concerned with efficiently executing existing routines and procedures than with making significant organizational adjustments.
Advantages:
- Leaders set clear, measurable, and time-bound targets for workers to achieve.
- Employee productivity and motivation are boosted.
- Transactional leadership removes or reduces chain of command uncertainty.
- It provides an easy-to-implement framework for leaders and an easy-to-follow system for workers.
- Employees have the option of selecting their incentive plans.
Disadvantages:
- Ingenuity and innovation are stifled.
- Empathy remains unappreciated.
- Transactional leadership generates more followers among workers than leadership.
Transformational Leadership Styles
In transformational leadership, the leader instills a vision in his or her followers and then encourages and empowers them to realize it. The vision’s creator also acts as a role model.
Advantages:
- It results in a lower rate of employee turnover.
- The corporate vision is extremely important to transformational leadership.
- High employee morale is a common occurrence.
- It enlists the help of workers through encouragement and inspiration.
- It is not a manipulative leadership style.
- It puts a high emphasis on interpersonal relationships.
Disadvantages:
- Leaders can mislead workers.
- Consistent encouragement and feedback are likely to be needed.
- Tasks cannot be completed without the consent of employees.
- Often, transformational leadership necessitates deviating from protocols and regulations.
Participative Leadership Style
Democratic philosophy underpins participatory leadership style. The aim is to have team members participate in decision-making. As a result, team members feel included, committed, and inspired to participate. In most decision-making systems, the leader will have the final say. When there are differences within a community, however, reaching a consensus may be a lengthy process.
Advantages:
- It boosts employee motivation and works satisfaction;
- It allows employees to use their imagination.
- If participative leadership style contributes to the development of a strong team.
- It is possible to reach a high degree of efficiency.
Disadvantages:
- The decision-making process takes a long time.
- There’s a good chance that leaders will apologize to their workers.
- Communication breakdowns do occur from time to time.
- Transparency in information sharing can lead to security concerns.
- If the workers are inexperienced, they will make poor decisions.
Creating Your Leadership Style
Different leadership styles, as well as the circumstances in which they perform best, must be recognized and understood. However, merely imitating these traits will not make you a good business leader. Leadership isn’t about reacting in a certain way in a specific situation. It’s about using your innate leadership qualities to inspire and empower others in a genuine way.
A good business school will help you recognize and strengthen your leadership style through leadership training. Good leadership courses will educate you about the complexities of human actions, increase your self-awareness, and allow you to practice leadership in a variety of situations.
These courses can also include business and/or strategic leadership training, depending on the level. Another way to recognize your leadership strengths and weaknesses is by leadership coaching. Personal leadership coaching is included in the best leadership courses to have greater impact on creating positive and successful leadership styles.
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