The 5 Most Common Leadership Styles & How to Find Your Own

[September 26, 2019]  What are the traits of a good leader? Maybe you have an answer to that question, maybe you don’t. In any case, you might be surprised to hear that there is no right answer.

Every business is different and requires different approaches. This means that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all leadership style that would suit everyone.

• Democratic Leadership.

Democratic leadership is considered one of the most effective leadership style. You probably already know how it works: the leader bases their decisions on the input of each member of the team. And despite the leader still has the final word, each employee can participate and has an equal say regarding a project’s direction.

One of the main reasons why this style is effective is because it helps even the lower-level employees to practice making important decisions right from the start of their career. This means that in the future such employees will have more experience and wisdom in the decision-making area.

•  Autocratic Leadership.

This leadership style is strong and one-dimensional. In it, all the authority belongs to the leader and they make their decisions without consulting anyone. The leader also dictates the time and pace at which employees should adhere to the decision.

These days, organizations often lose employees in such a hegemonic culture. Furthermore, when one person is responsible for all important decisions, they could make mistakes simply because they see the situation from only one point of view.

• Strategic Leadership.

Strategic leadership is all about influencing others to voluntarily make decisions that benefit the companies long-term. Putting it simply, the leader expresses their strategic vision for the organization and persuades the employees to pursue that vision. The leader also does their best to develop the right strategies and tools for that.

Such a style is one of the most effective for creating new leaders, which is definitely great. However, it could be difficult to implement, especially when a company is big. A strategic leader might struggle under such circumstances, trying to take everyone’s interests into account.

• Laissez-faire Leadership.

Laissez-faire is a French word that can be translated as ‘let them do’ or let it be’. In such a style, the leader delegates all the responsibility to team members and relies on them to work effectively on their own according to their tasks.

As you can see, such a style gives a lot of opportunities for innovation. However, it is effective only when the employees are self-motivated and can work effectively without constant guidance.

• Charismatic Leadership.

Such style is heavily based on the leader’s character and charisma, which could be a perk and a flaw at the same time. On one hand, self-motivated, confident, and passionate leaders are great in encouraging the employees to perform effectively. On the other hand, this style relies too much on one person and their impact and doesn’t include other people.

Now that you’ve learned about them, you probably can remember the examples of such leaders — a charismatic student that could easily ask someone ‘write my paper for me’ and get the result, a passionate manager who always pushes their team to do their best and beat their records, an autocratic boss and so on.

Which of the styles seems the most appealing to you? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.