As a leader, a lot rests on your shoulder, from solving problems to putting out fires! A leader becomes the ‘go to guy’ for everyone, and naturally so because his experience in everything makes him better. A leader’s biggest job is to provide motivation and direction to people!
In today’s world, as there are many different industries and companies, there exist many different types of work environments! And since there are different types of work environments, there exist different types of leaders! Leadership styles vary with individuals as well as they vary with work environments and there exists certain advantages and disadvantages among different styles of leadership. So what type of a leader are you?
- Authoritarian: These kinds of leaders are strict and work without the input of their team members! Authoritarian or autocratic leaders impose absolute authority on their team members and get the work done. It’s sort of like a dictatorship, like working under Napolean! Employees or team members who require close supervision can certainly benefit from this style of leadership.
- Laissez-faire: Under this style of leadership the complete power to make decisions regarding work rests with the employees. A laissez faire leader exercises no control over decisions! This kind of a leadership is great for highly motivated employees who require little or no supervision. But since not all employees are highly motivated, this kind of leadership can hinder work.
- Transformational: Transformational leadership, as the name suggests, involves a lot of communication between the management and the employees to attain business goals. Under this leadership the management continually motivates its employees to keep them highly productive.
- Transactional: This style of leadership revolves around a system of rewards or punishments to keep employees motivated. The management and the employees set their targets together and they follow the reward and punishment way in a bid to achieve those goals.
- Democratic: Under this leadership the management and the employees share the decision making abilities. It involves making discussions and debates between the employees and the management. Research has found out that that this style of leadership is the most effective for increasing the productivity and the motivation among employees.
So what kind of a leader are you? Are you a democratic leader at work? Motivating employees, having regular discussions and debates with them or an authoritative leader who gets the work done at any cost!
