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Leadership Style

Leadership style refers to the way in which a leader would provide instructions, carry out his plans or motivate. It is often observed that different leaders choose different approach to lead their people or subordinates. It usually depends upon the leader’s capabilities and the nature of the works that are to be carried out. It may be necessary at times to use different types of leadership styles to achieve different goals or to achieve the same goals under different circumstances or time frame. It is profoundly important that a leader chooses the appropriate leadership style to carry out his strategies and implement his ideas. The success of a team work and its end result completely depends upon how the leader coordinates the operations and how his plans are implemented by his team. Even if a leader has acquired or innate leadership qualities, choosing a wrong leadership style can completely overturn the end result of the whole process.

Content:

1.      Aim of leadership and leadership styles

2.      Different Leadership styles

2.1  Autocratic leadership

2.2  Authoritative leadership

2.3  Pacesetting leadership

2.4  Democratic leadership

2.5  Coaching leadership

2.6  Affiliative leadership

2.7  Laissez faire leadership

3.      Choosing appropriate Leadership styles

Aim of leadership and leadership styles 

The true aim of leadership is to motivate and help other people to achieve their best performance and thus to achieve common goals. This process involves setting up of realistic and achievable goals and benchmarks for the subordinates finding ways to enhance the operation and procedures and aiming for the overall increased quality. Different leadership styles are identified and implemented in order to address the diversity in the nature of different types of works and the diverse workforce that is involved in this works. The same conventional  or uniform leadership techniques and styles would not be applicable everywhere and may result in lesser quality of outcome. If the nature of a work or a goal and those involved is taken into consideration this issues can be easily tackled. The nature and skill level of the leader is also an important factor in deciding the leadership style. Not every leader may be adapted to one style of leadership. A leader can sometimes bring about more productive outcomes just by alternating the leadership styles.

Different leadership styles

Autocratic leadership

As the name suggests this is a complete autocratic style in which the leader would set out a set of rules and orders and the subordinates are supposed to blindly follow the rules. This style of leadership takes minimal or no inputs from the subordinates for decision making. The leader believes that his authority over others is the best policy for the proper running of the program. There will not be much explanations or clarity about the reasons or values behind the rules or orders provided to the subordinates. A blind faith and subordination is expected.

This style of leadership was well suited in the past, but with the modern day talent and workforce this style is not much effective. But it can be opted in certain situations where critical decisions are to be made for the common well-being of the organization, especially in time bound situations. But it is important to make sure that the leader has the proper knowledge and skill level to make such an autocratic decision. It is generally preferred when the team is inexperienced or the input expectation from them is low; when there is a time frame associated with the decision during which the situation of the team is unlikely to change or improve.

Authoritative leadership

This style of leadership involves the setting a clear path for the subordinates to follow. The leader creates a set of rules and guidelines for the followers. Unlike the autocratic style the guidelines are not blindly given or not expected to be blindly followed. The leader gives proper explanations about each decisions and the rules or guidelines. The leader helps the subordinates to see what is going on in the organization and what may happen. People are given a choice in how they want to carry out their works to achieve the common goals. This type of leadership is more suited for the modern day talents as compared to autocratic style of leadership.

Pacesetting leadership

This is a more dynamic way of leading. The leader sets the pace of the work as in the case of a sport event. The leader does the works in a pace and or quality that could be followed by the subordinates. The leader sets benchmarks which the subordinates are expected to reach. This is a suitable style of leadership for an energetic leader. The subordinates are pushed hard and motivated by the leader to achieve the benchmarks that he has set. But there are certain negative impacts for this style of leadership. This style may create unwanted pressure for the subordinates and can create work place stress for the employees. This style may be adopted for a shorter time span for achieving a specific short term goal. The results may be positive and may not have any adverse effects in such cases. But in the long run, these strategies can backfire and can cause exhaustion, stress and burnout situation in the employees.

Democratic leadership

Democratic leadership is a style in which employees are given a voice to express their ideas and opinions about different decisions. Instead of providing with pre-planned set of rules, the employees are collaborated in the decision making process. This is style is very beneficial for the overall performance and outcomes of the group. This helps in development and growth of the employees and promotes creativity in them. It creates a sense of trust and team spirit among the subordinates. A democratic leader would successfully achieve what he wanted from the group but in a way that they approve. This style may not be possibly opted in every situation. At times when critical decisions are to be made, the democratic nature may delay the decision or even make the procedure complicated.

Coaching leadership

This style of leadership involves considering the workforce a potential pool of talent, which can be enhanced and implemented in the work with proper guidance and coaching. The leader in this style believes that each employee has a potential level of skill and talent which needs to be carefully nurtured and brought out. This style leadership means that the leader would provide less directions and guidelines to the subordinates to enable them to tap into their skills and talents and allows them to do the maximum of their ability and capacity. Thus the productivity level of this style of leadership can be at times high.

Affiliative leadership

This style of leadership is more employee centered. The leader try and connects personally with the team mates and establishes a mental connection with them. The emotional needs of the team mates are taken into consideration. This style of leadership ensures harmony and collaboration among the team members. This kind of leadership is often found very effective and beneficial during times of stress.

Laissez-faire leadership

This style of leadership requires the least amount of planning. This is the exact opposite style of autocratic style. The leader lets the team members to go with the flow and provides them oppurtunities to take their own decisions. Although this style of leadership may look like fun and productive, a total loose minded nature of the leader could be catastrophic at times. When the team members are left alone without proper guidance or guidelines, they might at times follow the wrong directions voluntarily or involuntarily. This type of leadership is well suited when you are dealing with well experienced and skilled workforce. Proper guidance and timely monitoring of performance is also of profound importance.

Choosing appropriate Leadership styles

Choosing the appropriate leadership styles for a leader or a team is the first and foremost step in creating a leadership plan. The first thing to consider is ability of the leader, his or her skill levels, his or her communication and commanding skills etc. The next step is to understand about the different leadership styles and analyze these styles and the nature of the work and workforce. Different leadership styles can then be implemented by the leader on a trial and error basis to understand and analyze the effects of different styles and their respective outcomes. The best suited style should be then discovered and implemented in the leadership plans. If required the styles should be alternated in between.

Conclusion

Leadership style is the way in which a leader would lead his team; the way in which he would interact with them, provide instructions and implement his plans. There are different types of leadership styles that a leader can choose including, autocratic, authoritative, democratic, pacesetting, coaching, affiliative, Laissez faire etc. A leader should understand his capabilities, skills, the nature of the task to be carried out, the skill and experience level of his team members and all other related aspects of the task and decide which style of leadership would be most beneficial for his team and for the total outcome of the work to be carried out.