Common Leadership Styles: Which One are You?

There are seven leadership styles applied by entrepreneurs. Most successful entrepreneurs can shift from one type to another, depending on the circumstances at hand.

The following are the seven popular leadership style applied by modern entrepreneurs:

1. Autocratic Style.

Autocratic leadership uses the command-and-control approach. Leaders feel they are always right, and the rest of the team should follow what they say. An authoritarian leader feels to be the smartest and most knowledgeable at the table; hence makes all the decisions with little or no input from the employees.

The style is most applicable when dealing with new and inexperienced employees. There is no time to wait for them to gain familiarity with their new roles.

2. Authoritative Style.

An authoritative style allows confident leaders to set expectations and engage employees to follow them all the way. The authoritarian style advocates for leaders to clearly explain their ideas to the whole team to understand their targets. Such leaders don’t just issue instructions but make the employees understand the need for such a step.

3. Pacesetting Style.

Pacesetters set the business’ goals very high and then push the employees to achieve the set objectives. The style may hurt the employing when pushed beyond their limits. Employees tend to get stressed working for pacesetters. Therefore, the type is only for short-term applications and not long term use as employees may get burnouts.

4. Democratic Style.

Leaders exhibiting the democratic leadership style engage their employees on all matters affecting the workplace. They always seek opinions from the whole team before making the final decision. The technique allows creativity to thrive; hence employees can grow and develop.

The democratic style has a wide range of benefits. It creates trust between the employees and the management in an organization. There is also an enhancement of co-operation and team spirit within the organization. The leader gets employees to accomplish his plan, but they decide on how to achieve it effectively.

5. Coaching Style.

Such leaders coach views and ideas from their employees and then implements those deems suitable for the organization. The leaders believe that the employees are full of talents and will always work hard to unlock their potentials to help the organization grow.

6. Affiliate Style.

Affiliate leadership works towards connecting the leaders with their employees. The leader personally pays attention and supports the employees’ emotional needs. The style encourages harmonious collaboration, hence eliminating stress and conflict in the workplace.

7. Laissez-Faire Style.

Laissez-Faire Style doesn’t create room for leaders to engage employees and direct them to achieve the set targets. The leader sets the target and gives no oversight, nor do they give direction. The leadership assumes that employees are highly skilled, experienced, and self-motivated, not to need monitoring or regular feedback.

The best thing to do as a leader is to mix the different leadership styles depending on the circumstances. Leaders should be able to stretch into other types when the situation warrants.