A critical factor driving success in the corporate world is strong leadership. A great leader, even in the most challenging environments, can coach, guide, inspire, and maintain team spirit. Strong leadership is especially crucial in fast-paced or dynamic organizational environments. To this end, I have defined the top 9 leadership styles that for great results.
Considering this, regardless of whether you lead a group, mission, department, or an entire company or government, you would do well if you identify and embrace a specific leadership style. To succeed, you will need to develop a solid understanding of leadership styles that are common in many organizations today.
Knowledge of the different leadership styles will help you in determining your current leadership aptitude. Once you have this awareness, you may adapt your style to fit the requirements of your current and future leadership roles. The following is an introduction to the top 9 leadership styles that you can choose from.
1. Autocratic Leadership
An autocratic leader makes decisions by themselves without taking any feedback. They generally don’t take advice from subordinates and expect them to conform to the decision they have made. An autocratic leader gives orders and assumes control, i.e., they instruct those under them what to do and precisely how to do it.
This leadership can help to increase the efficiency of employees and eliminate uncertainty by assigning specific duties. However, it is easy for employees working under an autocratic leader to get demoralized.
2. Charismatic Leadership
Charismatic leaders are leaders who have mastered the art of communication and can persuade anyone using their charm. People with this leadership style can be invaluable to a company that is looking to grow or faces a crisis. This is because they can quickly turn things in their favor by developing a deep understanding of the people around them.
3. Laissez Faire Leadership
Laissez-faire leadership grants full freedom to subordinates or followers to function how they want and with what they want; a laissez-faire leader leaves followers with as many roles and choices as possible. Laissez-faire management, like the financial system, is characterized by a will to let people operate without interference.
4. Participative Leadership
Participative leadership is a management style that encourages suggestions from employees on all or most business decisions. The workers are given specific details about business challenges, and a majority vote decides the plan of action that the organization will take. Participative leadership can often be a sluggish form of decision-making, but it has many benefits that can make it the best type of leadership in certain organizations or environments.
5. Servant Leadership
Servant leaders share authority and decision-making power with those under them. Additionally, they lead the company based on the team’s interests. For humanitarian organizations, charities, and companies that promote or encourage tolerance, diversity, and ethics, this leadership style can be extremely effective.
6. Directive Leadership
This style is characterized by leaders making decisions on behalf of followers and expecting them to obey orders. The Directive Leader is capable of providing guidance, creating goals, and establishing timelines and criteria for success. However, if the situation warrants, a directive leader can adapt and display supportive conduct as well.
7. Facilitative Leadership
As the name suggests, a facilitative leader facilitates the execution of tasks to make things easier for subordinates. A variety of indirect communication strategies are used in the facilitative leadership style to help the team come to a consensus and encourage commitment to the decision made. Supervisors and executives need to have some element of facilitative leadership in their leadership approach to ensure success.
8. Transformational Leadership
Like charismatic leaders, transformational leaders leverage their motivational capabilities and charisma to build an inspiring work environment. However, this style is often more powerful than charismatic leadership, as it often encourages trust and transparency amongst team members. In organizations with a creative workforce that excels in interactive environments, this leadership style can be very effective.
9. Task-Oriented Leadership
Task-oriented leaders have many attributes that help ensure that things are carried out in a way that is both professional and timely. Typically, these leaders develop simple easy-to-follow work plans with specific timelines and requirements to ensure this.
Final Word
No matter which of these top 9 leadership styles you adopt, there are some general leadership habits that you can demonstrate to enhance employee morale and performance. Being a good role model for your followers is one of them. Your followers will be more willing to accept your authority and let you take the lead when you set a good example for them and display an interest in their growth.
