Various leadership styles in the management world exist but which one would suit you best? I know you must be very curious to know the answer but before that, you would need to know what leadership is exactly.
Leadership is that trait of individuals through which they can guide or take their team in the right direction. Some are in-born leaders and others learn the art of leadership through various practical experiences. Leaders are critical to the growth of an organization. Good leaders take the company in the right direction whereas if the leaders are not capable enough, this can harm the company in a severe way.
Now, not all leaders bear the same personality or characteristics. They have their own way of getting things done. That’s where the leadership style comes into the picture. I encourage you to read this article fully to gain a perspective on the different leadership styles. Here, I tried to explain 5 different leadership styles, and based on that, you can figure out which leadership style would suit you in various scenarios.
1. Autocratic leadership style
In this leadership style, the leader takes decisions by own without consulting other team members and this type of leader expects the team to follow the decision. This leadership style is harmful to the employees of an organization as employees feel that they are not at all involved in the decision-making process and this hurts their morale. The leader is also least expected to listen to any suggestions made by the employee.
However, this leadership style may work when the employees in the team are new and don’t have prior experience with the work they are going to do. The autocratic leader must be knowledgeable enough to take the decision else the decision could turn out disastrous.
2. Coaching leadership style
In this leadership style, the leader acts as a coach and grooms the team members for better performance. This type of leader is a keen observer and can identify the strengths and weaknesses of an employee. The leader would take feedback from the employees to figure out how the project is moving and if there are any areas of improvement, he or she would motivate or encourage the team members to improve on those areas so that the project moves on smoothly.
The coaching leadership style is greatly beneficial to an organization. The leader will have frequent interactions with the team members and as a result, employees will feel connected to the organization. However, this is time-consuming and may delay the progress if the employees don’t take the right step after listening to their leader’s feedback.
3. Laissez-faire leadership style
Laissez-faire leadership style is exactly the opposite of the Autocratic leadership style where the leader delegates all the tasks to the team members. The team has the full authority to make a decision. The leader is less involved in managing the daily activities of the team and therefore, he or she can give focus to other projects. This leadership style will only work if the leader can fully trust the team to deliver the tasks. You will need to have experienced members who are well versed with the skill sets that are required to achieve the task.
However, in case the team is less experienced, this leadership style will be detrimental to the organization. Since the leader is not fully managing the activities, in terms of crisis, it would be very difficult for the leader to manage the entire situation.
4. Pacesetting leadership style
In a pacesetting leadership style, a leader believes in the results. The leader needs to make sure that the task is achieved at a fast pace and it should meet the deadline. This is more of a deadline and result-oriented leadership style. If an employee is incompetent, it would be difficult for him or her to thrive in this environment. The expectation to perform within the stipulated time is quite high and if it does not meet the expectation of the leader, the employee might get fired as well in extreme cases.
This leadership style may be helpful when there are billions of dollars at stake. For example, if there is a severe issue in the production environment of a customer, the leader would expect his team to resolve the issue as fast as possible else it would lead to huge losses for the customer. The disadvantage of this leadership style is that there will be less motivation for the employees to work.
5. Transformational leadership style
Transformational leaders are visionary. They make the employees aware of the long-term vision of the company and encourage them to work towards that goal. These leaders communicate with their team members and set clear expectation which is aligned with the long-term vision of the organization.
This leadership style will work best for the teams that can work without much supervision. Here, the goal is at a high level and each member of the team needs to come up with individual goals which would meet the overall goal of the company. For example, the CEO of an organization will follow the transformational leadership style. The CEO would be sharing his vision for the company with all the department heads and each department head needs to come up with department-wise goals which would align with the vision shared by the CEO.
Conclusion
As you have seen here, all the leadership styles have their fair shares of limitations. Hence, it is best for you to apply these leadership styles based on a specific situation. This is called Situational Leadership. You will get the most benefit when you can apply the style specific to that situation. Well, it would definitely come with experience. However, that should not stop you from experimenting. With years of experience, you will be able to master the art of various leadership styles. I hope this article helped you in gaining perspective of the different leadership styles.
Which leadership style do you or your boss follow generally? I would love to read the comments below.
