Choosing to identify your leadership style can directly impact the success of your organization. Understanding your preference for leadership can also play a crucial part in your career development. All styles of leadership in business have their strengths and weaknesses as they vary from one another. Read on to see how effective they are in the business world.
Democratic Leadership
Democratic leadership is displayed through the original meaning of democracy and gives all team members the ability to contribute to the decision making process. Lower-level employees have the opportunity to gain a better understanding by contributing input. This often allows everyone to improve their knowledge of the company or organization. A democratic leader takes feedback well and considers their employees’ opinions. Although this can improve knowledge across the board, it’s not always the best style of leadership to make decisions quickly.
Bureaucratic Leadership
Bureaucratic leadership is similar to democratic leadership, in regards to listening to other employees in the decision-making process. However, bureaucratic leaders often ignore other people’s input and decide to go with what they are used to. This can mean making a decision based on current policies or strategies that don’t require innovation. This type of leadership isn’t successful when a company is looking to demonstrate ongoing growth, change, and leadership.
Autocratic Leadership
For those practicing autocratic leadership, they are ultimately making all of the decisions on their own. This style of leadership can produce quicker results because other employees do not have input on the subject matter. This isn’t always the best practice for an organization that wants its employees to have a good sense of teamwork and the ability to be heard.
Transactional Leadership
A transactional leader usually views an employee’s job as a contract. Meaning, someone who has accepted their job title will have specific daily tasks to complete and should follow what is asked of them. This type of leadership results in precise work and incentives to accomplish tasks. Although this is a common type of leadership due to the clarity received by employees, it may cause boredom, redundancy, or a low-drive to perform better in the workplace.
Laissez-Faire Leadership
Laissez-faire translates to “let them do” in French. This type of leadership is more relaxed, by allowing employees to maintain responsibility and complete their work in the order they find best. Laissez-faire leaders do not choose to micromanage and instead create a sense of freedom in the workplace. This method can work well, depending on the motivation of the employees to perform without always receiving direction.
Transformational Leadership
Transformational leadership is when a leader in the organization is often transforming the work that employees were initially set out to do. Strategies and tasks may fluctuate throughout the year to achieve certain goals. Employees are often pushed to learn new techniques or make changes to procedures. This type of environment can be beneficial for growth in employee knowledge, but can sometimes confuse how goals will be accomplished.
Coach-Style Leadership
Also similar to democratic leadership, coach-style leaders focus on a team effort to make decisions. This style of leadership believes that building a team-oriented workplace is the most important aspect for achieving their goals. Employees in this type of workspace often feel appreciated and equal to their coworkers and are allowed to learn from one another.
It’s important to consider each of these styles when deciding where you want to work or how to become an effective leader. Democratic, Strategic, and Coach-Style are known to be the three most effective styles of leadership in a business. Laissez-Faire, Transformational, and Transactional leadership can also be effective depending on the nature of the business, leaving Bureaucratic and Autocratic the least effective styles to consider in the workplace.
You can learn about each of these styles of leadership and more as a student in an MBA program like West Liberty University’s. For more information, schedule your visit today.