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4Apr

6 Leadership Styles – Which Kind of Leader Are You?

By Admin | 4 April 2018 |

Having good leadership skills is critical to the success of your company or team. A good leader will be able to motivate a group of people to get the job done in the best possible way. Being a good leader in the workplace means that the skills you have need to be communicated to others. So, a good leader needs to have the ability to accomplish a task and inspire others to take action.

However, there are many leadership styles and ways of leading others that can inspire others to work towards a common goal. In this article, we will look at 6 popular styles of leadership and how they can benefit your company.

Charismatic leadership style

Charismatic leaders are able to energize a team and build excitement and enthusiasm in team members. This can be a great style of leadership when it is necessary to motivate a team and also help a company through a crisis.

Very often, the charismatic leader can get the best out of their team and produce results. However, one of the drawbacks of a charismatic leadership style is that much emphasis is placed on the leader. Charismatic leaders tend to believe in themselves and their goals and visions can become more important than the team.

Democratic team leaders

Leaders in the workplace who work to a democratic principle usually include team members in the decision-making process. This helps to foster an environment of creativity within team members and can help to boost workplace satisfaction.

In the end, democratic leaders usually make the final decision. While this is not always a negative trait, it can be difficult when a decision has to be made quickly without consulting with others.

Autocratic leaders

On the other hand, autocratic leaders have the ability to make snap decisions and then follow through on them. In some instances, this can be a useful style to have where team input is neither possible or needed to make decisions.

However, autocratic leaders are rarely good team leaders and can quickly stifle creativity and demoralise a team.

Bureaucratic leadership style

While it may sound that having a bureaucrat as a leader is a negative style of management, there are many situations where it’s important to have a person who has a bureaucratic style of getting things done. For example, where safety issues are important or large sums of money are involved, a bureaucratic leader can save a company from many legal issues and penalties.

However, in situations were creativity and innovation are needed, a bureaucratic leadership style is rarely useful.

Laissez-Faire leadership

This management style gives team members the freedom to work to their own deadlines, timeframe, and ideas. For the most part, team leaders are rarely involved in the thought process but will assist when necessary.

Although the Laissez-Faire style of leadership seems like an inefficient way of doing things, it can be an effective leadership style when you have a team of experienced and highly-skilled and motivated members. Unless a team leader can build a team with those types of people, the Laissez-Faire style can negatively affect teamwork.

Transactional leaders

This is one of the most common styles of leadership and it is based on supervision, organisation, and performance. Team members are rewarded for following through on assignments and achieving results. However, they are punished for failure to meet the goals.

When it works well, a transactional leadership style helps everyone to know their roles from the start and what is expected of them. However, this style of leadership can stifle innovation and lead to dissatisfaction in the workplace. Transactional leaders are usually effective for short-term projects.