Continuing on last week’s theme of leadership styles, here are the remaining five styles for you to examine. Once you’ve read through them, you’ll have a pretty good idea of what kind most suits you and your personality. It’s also fun to examine the leaders around you and determine which style you think they are.
People/Relations Orientated Leadership
This type of leadership is pretty self-explanatory – it focuses entirely on the team members. These kinds of leaders organise the office to make sure the team members are happy. They do this by organizing, supporting and developing the team as much as possible. People orientated leaders are approachable, friendly and fair – treating everyone on the team the same. They pay great attention to the needs of their team members and are focussed on making themselves available when issues arise. This style of leadership is very popular because it creates happy teams who feel supported leading to greater productivity. However, they do have to take care not to put the welfare of the team above their work objectives.
Democratic/Participative Leadership
This is a highly interactive style of leadership, with leaders inviting opinions and suggestions from team members. However, they retain the right to make the final decision. This is a very successful way to manage as it helps team members feel like their input is welcomed and valued, leading to a high level of job satisfaction. This in turn creates an increase in productivity. And the feeling of being in control of their own development and career advancement gives staff great levels of motivation – they want to learn more and take on greater responsibility. This is a super strategy to use when there is an emphasis on quality over quantity, usually when deadlines are not so rigid.
Laissez-Faire Leadership
This is, as the name suggests, a hands-off management style that takes it names from the French for ‘leave it be’. Managers using this style leave their staff to get on with it themselves. While this can be a valid method of leadership, it can also come about simply because the manager is unable to control the working environment. Laissez-faire leadership allows teams to take control of their work, including setting their own deadlines. The leader is available to offer help and advice when needed, but otherwise remain hands-off. This kind of leadership can be very useful when the team members are experienced and very self-motivated. It benefits the team to give frequent feedback, so they know they’re on the right track. When it works well, this kind of leadership produces high levels of job satisfaction and increased productivity, however, it only works when the team are able manage their time well and are motivated enough to work without close supervision.
Task Orientated Leadership
This leadership style focuses wholly on getting tasks done. The leader defines each team member’s role in detail and ensures there are structures, plans and monitoring procedures in place to keep control of the office environment. This is a great leadership style if you have team members who find it difficult to meet deadlines or be self-motivated. But, because it’s focussed on results, rather than keeping the people in the team happy, it can lead to problems with motivating and retaining staff.
Servant Leadership
These kinds of leader do so without recognition for it. They have often fallen into the role of leadership without it being formally requested of them. They have high levels of integrity and often don’t take any credit for the success of the team. People who fall into this category are often admired by the other members of their team for their values, ideas and ethics. This style of leadership is best suited to positions that are elected, such as those in politics, serving committees and local communities.
So, there you have it, the most popular leadership styles in a nutshell. Which do you think suits you and your position the best? And, there’s nothing stopping you from trying more than one – if you choose one and it doesn’t work out for you, move on to another.
