What is leadership?

According to Simon Sinek: Leading is not the same as being a leader. Being a leader means you hold the highest rank, either by earning it, good fortune or navigating internal politics. Leading, however, means that others willingly follow you not because they have to, not because they are paid to, but because they want to.

In this article, I’m trying to talk about the different types of leadership and when we should use them in simple terms.

First of all, let’s see what’s the difference between management and leadership. Management is all about controlling and directing the resources and people you are responsible for. Leadership is about inspiring, motivating and influencing people to achieve your objectives. Maybe you asked yourself which one is better? You need a strong combination of both to achieve your goals.

Choosing the leadership style varies widely depending on the company, level of management, industry, country and culture, as well as the person themself. We can’t prescribe one type of management for all situations. Every person has their own management or leadership style but it should be flexible and smart to change their style in different situations. I will get back to this subject at the end of this article with some samples. Now, let’s talk about a different leadership style in simple terms with when to use it.

There are three broad categories of leadership styles: Autocratic, Democratic and Laissez-faire

Autocratic Style

This is the most controlling style. It is a top-down approach, with one-way communication from bosses to employees. The subtypes of autocratic style are as follows:

• Authoritative: Managers dictate exactly what they require and punish those who do not comply. Employees must follow the orders and not ask questions. It’s 100% micromanaging.

When to use it: In simple terms, when decisions need to be made and executed quickly, for example, this leadership style can be used in a time of organizational crisis. Otherwise, it should be avoided.

• Persuasive: Managers use their persuasive skills to convince employees by explaining the decision-making process and principles behind policies. It leads to a lower level of resentment or tension between management and employees.

When to use it: It can be used when you have more experience on the subject than the team. Also, it can be helpful when managing upwards.

• Paternalistic: This type of style will be used when the organization will refer to staff as ‘family’ and ask them for loyalty and trust. Decisions are explained to employees, but there is no room for collaboration or questioning.

When to use it: This style is heavily culture-dependent. It’s hard to use in western countries and also you need to prevent using it in large organizations.

Democratic: This style allows diverse opinions, skills and ideas to make a decision. Communication goes top-down and bottom-up, and team engagement is increased. The employee engages in the decision-making process but the manager is responsible for the final decision.

• Consultative: The managers consult the viewpoints of every member of the team but it will make the final decisions by itself with considering all of the information given by team members. The staff must be experts in the consulting field.

When to use it: This style should be used when the team has specialized skills or when the manager does not have as much experience with the subject as the team does.

• Participative: The managers and employees are all involved in the decision process. You will give access to more information about the vision and goal of the company. Management seeks the ideas and opinions of the employee to work together and make the decisions.

When to use it: It will be helpful in tech companies and organization that wants to drive innovation. Also, where employees are resistant to new concepts or strategies, encouraging participation from staff will result in a more positive outcome and less resistance.

• Collaborative: Management makes its decision based on the majority rule. The employee takes ownership of outcomes, which can lead to increased engagement, innovation and creativity.

When to use it: If a business wants to foster innovation and engage employees, this style should be used. Large changes within the organization or industry should consider this style. It will lead to increase engagement and trust.

• Transformational: This style is agile and growth-focused. The leaders try to push their employees past their comfort zones; the leaders consistently motivate their teams to raise their bar for achievements.

When to use it: This style is useful in fast-paced industries or anticipating a period of changes within the industry, organization, or department. The style will help teams to become more flexible, agile and innovative while responding to the outside or inside forces.

• Coaching: The leader’s job is to develop and guide their team, putting their team’s development as the first priority. Long-term development is prior to short-term failures. The leader wants to promote learning, upskilling and growth in the workplace.

When to use it: This style is useful when organizations want to promote and develop talent from within. It’s useful for industries with competitive job markets; they can save time and money to recruit the right candidates.

Laissez-faire: This is a hands-off approach to leadership. The employee is trusted and they do their work without supervision. They are left to control their problem-solving and decision-making. The leader is present for the delegation and delivery stages of work. The leader will be involved if the employee requests their assistance.

• Delegative: The leader will delegate and assign tasks to the employee and leave them to complete them. After the task is complete, the leader will review the work and give advice about how to improve future projects.

When to use it: It will best be used in organizations with decentralized leadership and where the team is much more expert and skilled that the leader in the tasks.

• Visionary: Leaders explain the vision, goals and the reasons behind the organization, convincing the team to work toward executing the vision. The leader will motivate the team members and give them the freedom to achieve their tasks with minimal interference. Leaders will check them from time to time, but they trust them. One of the key points is offering a lot of constructive feedback during and after the process.

When to use it: An organization that wants to drive innovation can turn to this style to arouse their employee into action. Tech companies who are looking to disrupt industries or companies who have a very strong sense of purpose.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, everyone has their style. According to my experience, we must adapt and change the leadership style in different situations.

For example, my management style is a combination of visionary and transformational. I’m a vision-led manager because I always focus on the organization’s future and long-term objectives. I’m a transformational manager because I am always looking to embrace change positively, and I want my team to do the same. I have experienced different leadership styles during these 22 years, which I will cover in another article.