Different leadership philosophies exist, including democratic, bureaucratic, and autocratic ones. Determine the kind of leader you want to be. What would you say if someone asked you, "What is leadership?" Consider your response carefully since it will indicate the type of leader you are or want to be, as well as the leadership stances you want to take moving forward.
Different kinds of leadership styles exist. Which leadership style you choose to use will depend on your personality and how you want to manage your team. A leader will be more adept at identifying the leadership philosophies that best suit them as they gain experience managing teams and organizational procedures.
Understanding the types of leadership and various leadership styles can add a lot of value to the impact that leaders can create on their organizations. Let us first understand what leadership is, followed by the types of leadership, different leadership styles and career opportunities.
What is Leadership?
Leadership refers to the art of motivating people in an organization to work towards a common goal. It is based on ideas which can be a person’s own or inspired by other leaders.
Leadership is also an art of communicating these ideas effectively to others and encouraging them to take up responsibilities and grow personally besides leading the company towards growth. Effective leadership is not only inspirational for the self but also for others.
If you also want to become an inspirational and successful leader in the near future, it is important to understand that leaders must have certain critical thinking skills which can help them in directing an organization’s resources for better growth prospects. Now, let’s skim through the different leadership styles.
Different Types of Leadership
The next few sections will give you insights into the leadership styles you can choose from. It will also give you an understanding of leadership courses you may want to take to hone your skills.
1. Democratic Leadership
This is as clear as its name. In democratic leadership, the leaders make or break decisions democratically, based on their team’s opinion and feedback. Although it is the leader who makes the final call, every opinion counts. This is easily one of the most effective leadership styles since it allows employees to have a voice.
2. Autocratic Leadership
This is exactly the opposite of democratic leadership wherein the opinions of employees are not considered. Leaders with this style expect others to adhere to the decisions they take, which is not a sustainable approach in the long term.
3. Laissez-faire Leadership
Laissez-fire means “let them do”. This style is the least intrusive and leaders with this approach ensure that the authority lies with the employees. While this leadership style can empower, it may also limit development, therefore, must be kept in check.
4. Strategic Leadership
Strategic leadership acts as a bridge between the senior team and the employees. Leaders adopting this style ensure that both executive interests and working conditions for the team are stable when a decision is made.
5. Transformational Leadership
This kind of leadership always aims at transforming and improving functions and capabilities. There may be tasks and schedules assigned and leaders following this style may ask employees to push their boundaries constantly. Most growth-minded companies tend to adopt this kind of a leadership style.
6. Transactional Leadership
This is a very common leadership style today based on the action-and-reward concept. For instance, an employee or team may receive an incentive or bonus for achieving a target set by the company.
7. Coach-Style Leadership
This leadership style focuses on larger growth while encouraging individual team members to focus on their strengths and talent. Though this is similar to strategic and democratic leadership styles, the focus here is more on the individual.
8. Bureaucratic Leadership
This kind of leadership style goes by the books. Although leaders with this approach do listen to employees and their opinions, they may negate or reject it, in case they go against the company’s ethos or policy.
Extensive Training/Leadership Development Programs
Now that we understand the nitty-gritty of leadership, different leadership styles, and other aspects, it is important to understand why you must undertake a leadership development programme at some point in your career.
Undertaking a leadership development programme will ensure that leaders keep themselves updated and are capable of switching to other leadership styles according to the prevailing circumstances.
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