Leadership Styles That Will Help You Be A More Effective Leader

A thriving company can be seen as having one thing in common, successful leadership. Successful leadership stewards the company, and culture drives innovation and growth. What separates a good leader from a great one is the ability to adapt their leadership style to the ever-changing landscape of business. As leaders, it is essential to become aware of and understand the dynamics of a successful team, what drives that team, and how to best motivate them. Moreover, the most influential leaders can switch between different styles depending on the situation. There are many different leadership styles, and each can be effective in the right situation. However, not all leaders know which technique to use to achieve the desired results. This article will discuss four of the most popular leadership styles and how they can help you be a more effective leader.

The knowledge of how and why leadership styles vary in methods can assist leaders in becoming more effective. Understanding one’s style is essential for identifying where changes are needed. Moreover, staying consistent with an approach that has been successful in past experiences—understanding and relating the knowledge of others’ behaviors to know when something might need changing, or pivoting methods can help become a better-adapted manager.

These various leadership styles can be applied in different scenarios. Let us look at the five most popular ones: authoritarian, transformational, laissez-faire, democratic, and servant leadership.

Authoritarian Leadership

Authoritarian leadership is often considered the most traditional and involves a leader who dictates tasks and decisions, expecting subordinates to follow without question. This style can be successful in emergencies where time is of the essence, or there is zero room for error (Ahmad Bodla et al., 2019). It can also work well with highly skilled team members who need some direction to complete their objectives. This style is all about control and order, and it is often used in situations where there is a lot of confusion or chaos. Leaders who use this style are typically very decisive and have a clear vision of achieving specific goals. They also tend to be quite demanding, dictate policies and procedures, and decide what objectives to execute or control without any meaningful participation from the subordinates. This is shown when they have power over all activities, including directing how people should act in certain circumstances with no input about their personal preferences (Ahmad Bodla et al., 2019). This leadership style can frequently be seen as autocratic or even dictatorial.

There are a few key traits that make up an authoritarian leader. These include:

• Leaders making decisions with little or no participation from their followers
• Team members independently presiding over policies and processes within the group
• Often directly supervised by them; there’s very little room for autonomy in this type of environment

Transformational Leadership

The following style to review is transformational leadership. This type of leader inspires and motivates people to achieve something more significant than they initially thought was possible. Transformational leaders are often very charismatic and can see the potential in others and encourage this growth throughout their organizations (Mahmood et al., 2019). They focus on motivating and encouraging followers to reach new heights that benefit them personally and the company’s future. This type of leadership can be seen by those touched by it because they feel a sense of belonging somewhere bigger than themselves (Mahmood et al., 2019).

The transactional leadership style is a personality type that has the following traits:

• Prefers to stay in the background
• They believe following procedures can achieve stability and order
• Staying true to plans which have been well thought out before implementing them
• No changes are allowed without verification first

Laissez-faire Leadership

The third leadership style that can help in becoming more effective is laissez-faire. Laissez-faire leaders are the complete opposite of micromanagers; they give their team members total freedom to work on projects and tasks as they see fit. This leadership style prioritizes trust as a foundational factor in building a good team (Robert & Vandenberghe, 2021). The benefits happen because all members grow professionally through promotion-oriented policies, which encourage different levels of advancement and specific skillsets, so each individual has opportunities for growth both professional-wise and personally. In other words, by allowing your team the space to experiment and grow, you create an environment of trust and respect that will ultimately lead to greater productivity and creativity. And while laissez-faire leadership may not be appropriate for every organization or situation, it’s worth considering if innovation and creativity are encouraged within the team (Robert & Vandenberghe, 2021).

A Laissez-faire leader may lead the team by doing the following:

• Take the initiative and work without much guidance from higher up.
• Believe in freedom of choice for everyone on the team, so they can do what is best suited toward their job responsibilities while still being held accountable if needed
• Provide ample resources with tools necessary for success which includes taking control when it comes time to unless offering criticism constructively goes awry
• The average day usually consists mainly of promoting leadership qualities within others through encouragement rather than micromanaging

Democratic Leadership

The fourth leadership style that is commonly found in organizations is democratic leadership. One of the most essential traits for an effective democratic leader is being open and acknowledging employee feedback when it comes to leading a team. This type of leadership has been credited with fostering higher levels of engagement. This is because they drive discussion on what needs improvement or formation within organizations that creativity depends heavily upon–such as technology companies focused on innovation, such as Meta’s (Facebook) Mark Zuckerberg (Hilton et al., 2021). This means that if you want your workplace filled with happy workers, then ask them how things could be improved before making any decisions that would affect their work environment. This approach is seen as inclusive, and employees appreciate the leadership, offering transparency.

Democratic leaders value the following:

• Group discussions and providing all information to the team when making decisions
• They promote an environment where everyone shares their ideas, which is why they are suitable for mediation
• They can make decisions slowly because they want to ensure everyone is on board and actively participates in communicating goals

Servant Leadership

The last leadership style discussed and that has been linked with being effective is servant leadership. This leadership style is based on the principle that leaders should put the needs of their team before their own (Kuonath et al., 2021). As a servant leader, you demonstrate that your team matters and inspires the best in them. This involves putting the needs of employees or team members before your own and typically results in more engaged workers who feel like their voices are being heard. In fact, this type of leader is exceptionally skilled in building employee morale and helping people re-engage with their work. They’re often found leading nonprofit organizations, but this leadership style can be applied anywhere (Kuonath et al., 2021).

The following attributes as a servant leader are:

• Demonstrate that the team matters and inspires the best in them
• Motivate others through excellent communication skills and advocate personal care for their well-being
• Create an environment of collaboration among employees as they grow professionally together

If you find yourself in a leadership position, it is important to know your style and how it might affect you and your team. Understanding your strengths and weaknesses will help you be the best leader possible. The most important thing for a leader is to adapt to their work environment and listen to their team. Everyone is different and will need something different from their leader to succeed. Leadership styles are the foundation of moving a company and its employees toward success. As a leader, it is crucial to figure out what style works for you and those around you to create a cohesive work environment. Therefore, it is critical to become familiar with the different leadership styles and adapt to change with short notice. It is just as important as listening to the team and acclimating to what they need to get the job done most effectively and efficiently.

References

Ahmad Bodla, A., Tang, N., Van Dick, R., & Mir, U. R. (2019). Authoritarian leadership, organizational citizenship behavior, and organizational deviance: Curvilinear relationships. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 40(5), 583-599. https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-08-2018-0313

Hilton, S. K., Arkorful, H., & Martins, A. (2021). Democratic leadership and organizational performance: The moderating effect of contingent reward. Management Research News, 44(7), 1042-1058. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-04-2020-0237

Kuonath, A., Nossek, J., Nieberle, K. W., Kreitmeir, D., & Frey, D. (2021). Servant leadership: How daily and general behaviors interact. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 20(4), 187-197. https://doi.org/10.1027/1866-5888/a000282

Mahmood, M., Uddin, M. A., & Fan, L. (2019). The influence of transformational leadership on employees’ creative process engagement: A multi-level analysis. Management Decision, 57(3), 741-764. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-07-2017-0707

Robert, V., & Vandenberghe, C. (2021). Laissez-faire leadership and affective commitment: The roles of leader-member exchange and subordinate relational self-concept. Journal of Business and Psychology, 36(4), 533-551. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-020-09700-9