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What Are The Five Basic Leadership Styles And When To Use Them?
When it comes to leadership styles, there are a lot of things that you have to know. The most important thing in leadership is how you behave with your team members and what leadership styles can positively affect your team’s performance.
There are multiple leadership styles; however, you should always be aware that not every style will work for your team members.
Every leader has their way of providing support to their team, and some other factors will affect a leader’s decision in different ways.
Therefore, when you are in a managerial or supervisory position, you must avoid using the wrong leadership styles.
Here are five basic leadership styles that are considered the most effective ways of management.
Autocratic Leadership
Democratic Leadership
Coaching Leadership Style
Transformational Leadership Style
Loner Leadership Style
Table of Contents
5 Common Types of Leadership Styles:
1) Autocratic Leadership Style
Autocratic leadership is one of the oldest forms of management.
In this type of leadership style, the leader makes all major decisions related to the team members, and they are not required to listen to any other individual for making a decision.
However, it would be best to remember that autocratic leadership works best when your team needs guidance or direction.
Therefore, you don’t have to provide too many options or choices to your team members because they will only come up with less productive results, negatively affecting your projects.
2) Democratic Leadership Style
The democratic style allows every team member to participate in making each decision, even if it’s a small step within the project.
In addition, your team members can voice their opinions, and you can use them as feedback for future references.
However, the democratic style works best when your team members are mature enough to handle their responsibilities.
You should avoid using this type of style if you have young or recruits because they might not understand the full concept of your project.
A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better. — Jim Rohn
3) Coaching Leadership Style
Suppose your team members are relatively new to your organization.
In that case, you should avoid using autocratic or democratic leadership styles because it will only add more stress on them, making them quit their jobs instead of working under such circumstances.
Therefore, the coaching style works best when a seasoned leader provides higher guidance and feedback to their team members.
However, it would be best to keep in mind that your team members should be open to learning and receiving feedback from their seniors to make future improvements.
This leadership style works best when you have a superior who knows how to manage subordinates successfully.
4) Transformational Leadership Style
A transformational leader focuses on changing the behaviors of their team members by motivating them to achieve bigger goals in your organization.
It would be best if you never forgot that you are not supposed to direct or dictate how your team members should do their work, but you have to motivate them constantly to get the most out of them.
However, you must remember that this style works best when you have quality control teams who can monitor results and make necessary changes in future projects.
If your project requires any improvements due to bad planning, they will make an immediate turnaround with their suggestions.
The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. — Max DePree
5) Loner Leadership Style
Loner leadership is one of the riskiest one because it makes your team lose their sense of direction.
When you work in a loner environment, there won’t be anyone who will guide or support your team members throughout the project.
It means they will start losing interest in what they are doing since no one will motivate them or show them the right direction.
However, you must know when to use a loner style if your team needs some time to focus on their work and complete it without any distractions.
Once their project gets completed, you have to provide them with enough support to keep everyone motivated for future projects.
Final Thoughts:
No matter what type of leadership style you choose, keep in mind that your team members are the ones who will help you achieve bigger goals in your organization.
Therefore, you must motivate them constantly so they can work at their best without any distractions.
Furthermore, you should not stick with one leadership style throughout your project because different scenarios might require various leadership styles.
Finally, I hope you enjoyed reading this article, and if you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading. Have a great day!
Rather than trying to motivate your employees, create an environment where motivation is inevitable. — Ed Foreman.
