Leadership Styles

Leadership Styles

The smooth functioning of companies is maintained when both management, and leadership are highly dedicated towards the goals, the vision, and most importantly, the people involved with the organisations. To ensure that the goals of the company are met, the involvement of leaders is necessary, and that is where Leadership Styles come in.

The four common Leadership Styles:

1.?Autocratic- Authoritarian leadership, where the leader makes the decisions and others are expected to follow - helpful in industries that have no room for mistakes, like in the medical sector. This style is strictly performance, and results based.

2.?Democratic- The leadership style where everyone participates in the decision making, opinions and feedback from all involved are taken into consideration, like in the technology industry. This style is focused more on ensuring employee engagement and satisfaction.

3.?Delegative (laissez-faire)- This leadership style is one where the leaders assign, or delegate tasks to the people under them. and then let the people accomplish them, with no strict supervision to little details. This style works well when the members of the team are well experienced, and know what is expected of them.

4.?Transformational (coaching)- This style is one where leaders act as coaches, encouraging personal growth of the members in their teams, while also ensuring that there are no communication gaps with reference to the goals, and that the employees are always positively motivated.

Additionally, Leadership Skills play an important part, as learning what a Leader is like, and being a Leader, is different. Skills that Leaders should ideally possess based on these styles are:

i.??Decision Making: For Autocratic Leadership to succeed, a strong decision-making skill is imperative. A leader that cannot make quick, appropriate decisions in times of emergency is no good to a team that depends on them for further guidance to perform well.

ii.?Team Spirit: For Democratic Leadership to function appropriately, the leader must possess a Team Spirit, catering and respecting the opinions and feedback of all involved, rather than focusing only on one person or group’s needs.

iii.?Keen Observation: With reference to Delegative Leadership, it is important that the leader has an acute sense of observation, as a result of which they are able to delegate tasks according to the strengths and weaknesses of the members involved in the team. Failure to do so may produce negative results.

iv.?Clear Communication: In Transformational Leadership, where the leader acts as Coach for the employees, and helps them grow, it is imperative for the leader to communicate well, and be empathetic towards the emotions and requirements of the employees.

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