In order for a business to function, leadership is key. Having a leader in place provides guidance, motivation, and inspiration for employees.
However, every leader is not the same and many will take different approaches in their leadership styles. It is beneficial to know the different variations of leadership styles and the impact they have on a business and employees.
What is the difference between a leader and a manager?
It is important to know that a leader and a manager have two different objectives, and both require different skill sets. The key difference of the two is their approaches towards management. A leader will focus on inspiring, motivating and driving those around them to achieve their goals. Whereas a manager’s focus is organising, coordinating, and planning to provide direction in managing tasks and delivering results.
Having an equal balance of both is important for a business to function correctly. An ineffective manager can lead to lack of productivity and an inefficient workflow. Whereas, if a leader is not effective, team morale and performance can be impacted as employees won’t feel supported.
Positive and Negative Leaders
When it comes to leadership, there are different approaches a leader can take to motivate employees. These can be split into a positive or negative leader; a positive leader will encourage staff using rewards and incentives for individuals to work towards. Whereas a negative leader will focus on penalties and punishments to propel their staff into completing their workload.
Types of Leadership
In 1939, psychologist Kurt Lewin identified three main styles of leadership: Autocratic, Democratic, and Laissez-Faire. Over time, more leadership styles have been recognised- one of the main types being a Transformational Leader. There are a variety of leaderships styles in business. However, the four key leadership styles you will be exposed to are:
- Autocratic
- Democratic
- Laissez-faire
- Transformational
Autocratic Leadership
Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership, is a leadership style which focuses on individual control over tasks and decision making with little to no input of other team members. This leadership style focuses on strategy, policies, procedures, and how to achieve goals according to the leader themselves. These individuals often prefer to be in charge and hold all of the power in decision making, with little to no collaboration from others.
An autocratic leadership style would be viewed as a negative way of management. There are, however, a few benefits to having an autocratic leadership style.
Direction
This leadership style can be positive when working in smaller groups where leadership is lacking. Similarly, this style can be effective when in urgent situations that require someone to make fast and effective decisions.
Relieves Pressure
This leadership style also has benefits when in high pressure situations. Having one individual focusing on making complex decisions and taking leadership can allow the other members of the team to become highly skilled in specific duties without having to stress about the overall management of the group.
Structure
Having a clear assigned task, a deadline, and a guide to follow can help give a clear structure to how a business should be running. This is when an autocratic leadership style can be a positive addition to have.
Although there are a few benefits to this leadership style, overall, an autocratic leadership style is more problematic than helpful. Individuals adopting this style of leadership are usually viewed as controlling and bossy which often leads to resentment of the other group members.
The main issues of having an authoritarian leadership style include:
- Negative impact on team morale
- Discourages a team input
- Ignores creative inputs and expertise
An Autocratic leadership style works best in jobs where a high level of control is needed. For example, a military leader. Any role that requires having a strong voice for decisions is where an autocratic leader could fit in.
Democratic Leadership
A democratic leadership style, also commonly known as participative leadership is essentially the opposite of an autocratic leadership style. A democratic leadership approach involves gathering ideas and input from other team members. Although democratic leaders are still the main decision maker, their leadership approach ensures others have a say in the final outcome.
Democratic leadership is commonly practised and used in most workplaces today. Although this leadership style is a mostly positive leadership style, there are still a few disadvantages it is important to be aware of:
- The marginal opinion is overruled
- Too many individuals being involved can cause more communication gaps and confusion
- Coming to a decision can be prolonged
However, the benefits of this leadership style outweigh the negatives. Some of the main benefits include:
- Promoting collaboration in the workspace
- Many alternative opinions and views opening up new ways of thinking
- Stronger group engagement and work output
- Majority agreement on most tasks
A Democratic leadership style is arguably the most common leadership style today, with companies such as Google, Apple, and Coca-Cola successfully adopting this leadership style.
Laissez-Faire leadership
‘Laissez-faire’ is a French term that translates to ‘let you do’, which is a leadership style that follows that very well. Laissez-faire leaders have a more hands-off approach to leadership, by encouraging their employees and trusting them to complete tasks and make decisions without being micromanaged. Although this leadership style allows their employees to use their creativity, resources, and personal experience, they still support and provide feedback if necessary.
Benefits of a Laissez-faire leadership style include:
- Strong delegation
- Show employees their capability
- Builds trust
- Faster decision making
- More accomplished staff
Although a Laissez-faire leader is a mostly positive way of leadership, there are negatives that follow.
Being hands-off can be problematic. This style can lead to confusion about who is in charge and dominant personalities will try and take charge. A Laissez-faire leadership can also seem to lack structure leaving staff to feel unsupported in tasks.
Some businesses are better suited for a Laissez-faire leadership style. For example: retail buying, entertainment industry, IT departments, research, and the development industry.
Transformational Leadership
A Transformational leadership focuses on the grand vision. This leadership style encourages the team to transform not only professionally but personally – in order to work towards the overall goal.
Clear advantages of having a transformational leadership style are:
- A clear vision/ goal to work towards
- Loyal and productive employees
- Workplace harmony
- Strong lines of communication between employees and leadership
- Strong sense of employee culture
- Independent workplace
Although mostly positive, a transformational leader has been known to cause burnout due to employees over working to achieve the bigger goal. This approach also requires constant communication between individuals and if that were to be jeopardised things can become messy.
In need of training?
Having clear leadership roles within your business is vital to have things run in order. Here at Elliott Training, we believe that strong leadership roles benefit your business. Get in contact today to speak about all our leadership and management training.
