7 leadership styles you should know

What makes each leader special is that they are guided in distinct ways by their own individual goals, visions, and leadership styles. One way to improve your ability to inspire and motivate those around you to succeed is to gain insight into your leadership style.

1. Laissez-Faire Leadership
Leaders who take the laissez-faire approach place a high level of confidence in their staff. They refrain from being overbearing in terms of management style and oversight. Instead, leaders who adopt a laissez-faire approach encourage their teams to solve problems utilizing their ideas, resources, and expertise. Managers exercising this leadership style have a great deal of faith in their staff members and rarely intervene. They lead by example and take responsibility, when necessary, but their followers and coworkers are the ones who drive the show.

2. Autocratic Leadership
Authoritarian or autocratic leaders are typically portrayed as having unchecked control over their subjects. These bosses are too focused on their thoughts to consider the opinions of those around them before making decisions. Autocratic leaders gain power through force, whether in punishment, threat, demand, order, or regulation. Not that it should be a surprise, but this method of leadership is falling out of favor.
Non-democratic decision-making procedures save time and effort compared to democratic ones. Effective autocratic leadership establishes unambiguous norms that ensure uniformity of outcomes. Meanwhile, negative aspects of an autocratic leadership style are that there won’t be much follow-through on projects, goals, or initiatives if staff members don’t trust or believe in their leader. Possible misuse includes changing employees’ shifts or hours without their knowledge or consent. Lastly, it compromises originality by restricting participation from the group.

3. Democratic Leadership
Democratic leadership, also called participative or shared leadership, is a leadership style in which all group members have a voice in making decisions. Any institution, from businesses to universities to governments, can benefit from this leadership style. A democratic leadership style promotes open dialogue by allowing all members to have their voices heard. The democratic leader is still present to provide guidance and control, despite the process’s emphasis on group equality and the free flow of ideas.
Leaders in democratic systems are also responsible for selecting members and determining who gets a vote. In addition to boosting productivity, group morale, and the quality of individual contributions, studies have found that a democratic leadership style can also boost group consensus and trust.

4. Pacesetting Leadership
Leaders push their teams to perform at a higher level with a pacesetting leadership style. As its name suggests, a leader establishes standards by advocating an approach to “Do as I do, now.” Leaders who operate in this manner achieve phenomenal output, velocity, and quality results. Everyone else is expected to follow suit as the team’s leader sets the pace. Leadership that sets the pace requires initiative, diligence, and ambition. This type of leadership is focused on getting results, so followers can assume that their boss will push them to meet any goals they set. However, the leader doesn’t hand out work that’s too much for the team members to handle.
There are times and places where a leader who sets the pace is warranted. For instance, this method shines when the group is under intense pressure to complete a substantial project by a certain date. The pacesetting leadership style can have disastrous effects on a company if it is not used with caution.

5. Transformational Leadership
The term “transformational leadership” refers to a leadership theory in which a leader helps teams or followers look beyond their self-interests to identify needed change, then creates a vision to guide that change through influence, inspiration, and the joint effort of dedicated members of the group. Leaders exhibit transformational leadership when they motivate their followers to go beyond their comfort zones and achieve extraordinary results. After receiving proper training, employees are given more freedom and responsibility in the workplace. This causes an improvement in the morale of the group as a whole and among its followers.

6. Transactional Leadership
Transactional leadership or transactional management is a subset of leadership focused on supervising, organizing, and evaluating performance. During the Industrial Revolution, this management method emerged as a tool for gaining an edge in the marketplace. Strategy, efficiency targets, economies of scale, and quality differentiation are all common practices in this management style. Transactional managers’ primary focus is tasks and objectives that directly affect performance. Leaders who practice transactional leadership try to get their followers to do what they want by offering incentives and threats. Transactional leaders can maintain short-term motivation through a system of rewards and punishments. Transactional leaders, in contrast to transformational leaders, are not necessarily motivated by a desire to alter the trajectory of events.

7. Facilitative Leadership
Facilitative leaders give others the tools to collaborate for a common objective. They care about their workers personally and professionally, and they help them when they have problems. This approach prioritizes team harmony and productive cooperation. Although employees are given considerable autonomy in decision-making, the leader is still involved. Confidence in individuals and the group as a whole can be boosted through the use of positive reinforcement and practical assistance from leaders.

When morale is low or there are conflicts among team members, facilitative leadership is the most effective management style. High-stress situations, such as those caused by unusually high workloads or a lack of available personnel, are another time when facilitative leadership can prove useful. Leaders who facilitate must be good communicators and mature enough to handle conflicts rationally. Every manager or worker does not appreciate this method of leading. Various leaders may employ various management techniques that they believe will be most beneficial to their group.

To determine which common leadership style is most effective, it is necessary to study them. Recognizing your leadership style can make you a more efficient leader. You can be a more effective leader of your team if you identify and capitalize on your natural leadership style, and being able to adapt one’s leadership style to meet the demands of a given situation is also crucial. Achieving success as a group requires identifying and adopting a leadership style that meshes well with the group’s dynamics.