At the head of every successful project is a great leader. But not all great leaders are the same. There are many different ways to lead a team. And different leaders have different traits that make their specific brand of leadership work. There are many different leadership styles, and one style just doesn’t suit a specific organization. Leadership in that sense is complex. Sometimes “leaders” don’t know that they are leading within the capacity of any responsible role.
Most of the leaders in today’s industry adapt leadership roles as they see fit. In that order, there is no specific formula that predefines a certain leadership style, or type of a leader for that matter. However, it doesn’t hurt anyone to know a thing or two about leadership before actually performing that role within any capacity. Keep in mind that if you ever find yourself in the shoes of a leader, don’t forget to improvise. People like a person who is a servant, assertive, and caring.
Here are the different types of leadership styles.
1. Transformational leadership
Transformational leadership is a leadership style that requires the leader to inspire employees and motivate them towards achieving their collective goal. Transformational leaders often embody their vision and believe in it so strongly that they can empower others to do the same. Transformational leadership puts a greater focus on the vision of the business, and therefore employees are usually more aligned with the company values.
This helps to build stronger relationships between teams and can result in higher employee retention and engagement – particularly among millennial employees. Many employees consider leaving an employer that didn’t have the values they expected – so transformational and visionary leaders are a great fit for this demographic.
However, this constant pushing towards an ambitious goal can result in employee burnout. Constant motivation is required to see teams through tough times, and even then, a transformational leader could unintentionally cause too much competitiveness among their team. Think of the start ups that work 80 hour weeks in a bid to disrupt their industry – yes, it’s exciting. But in the long run it can also be incredibly tiring.
2. Autocratic leadership
An autocratic or authoritarian leadership style imposes policies and procedures, sets expectations and defines outcomes. Authoritarian leaders are individuals who take full control of their team and makes all of the decisions with little input from anyone else. On the face of it, this leadership style can sound a little tyrannical, but there are some advantages of being an autocratic leader.
For example, if the leader is the most knowledgeable person on the team, then this leadership style can ensure decisions are made faster. Autocratic leaders are also great at making their expectations clear and directions easy to follow. However, as expected, this leadership style can result in employees feeling unmotivated and disengaged, which can ultimately result in increased turnover.
3. Participative leadership
Also known as democratic or facilitative leadership, participative leadership allows everyone on the team to get involved and work together to make important decisions. While everyone’s input is encouraged, it’s the leader who will have the final say in the decision-making process. The democratic leadership style is a great way to increase employee engagement and satisfaction.
If everyone is motivated to contribute and feels included, then they’re also likely to feel more aligned with the company, and this is the big focus of democratic leaders. However, we all know the saying about too many cooks. Disagreements between team members can result in the decision-making process being time-consuming and unproductive for the democratic leader and their team.
4. Transactional leadership
Transactional leadership uses a model of rewards and punishments to motivate employees. Clear goals are set at the start of a project, with everyone informed on the reward if those goals are met and the consequences if they are not. This “give and take” leadership style can motivate employees and increase productivity and satisfaction, so long as the goals outlined are clear and achievable.
Another advantage of transactional leadership is that it’s easy to understand and implement. Employees know exactly what transactional leaders expect of them and they can benefit from rewards if they regularly meet their goals. Disadvantages of this leadership style include a minimization of employee innovation and creativity, and a high employee turnover of those who are “punished” for not meeting their deadlines.
5. Delegative leadership
Also known as laissez-faire leadership, delegative leadership is a hands-off approach that allows every team member to use their own initiative to make decisions. There are similarities to participative leadership here, in that employees are valued for their opinions and decisions are made somewhat collectively.
Delegative leadership allows competent employees to shine and be rewarded for their innovation. This can result in a positive atmosphere that’s incredibly fulfilling to employees and makes them feel valued. However, like participative leadership, delegative leadership has also been associated with low levels of productivity. The more people that are involved in making decisions, the longer the decision-making process is going to be.
6. Bureaucratic leadership
The bureaucratic leadership style puts the needs of the company first and relies on stringent rules being in place for all team members to follow. This is common in long-established industries where rules have been laid out by predecessors. This leadership style can be advantageous in industries where there’s little room for error. It’s easy to implement because the responsibilities of each employee are defined by their job role or title. However, doing things just “as they’ve always been” can lead a team – and a company – to go stale and possibly fall behind.
7. Servant leadership
Servant leadership places the value of the team ahead of the individual. As such, a servant leader is someone who can shed personal agendas and whose main goal is for their team (and the company) to thrive. Servant leaders do everything they can to serve their team and ensure that everyone is happy and fulfilled.
Servant leaders – because of their selfless nature – see potential in their team and enjoy raising them to new heights. This can create an amazing working atmosphere and increase job satisfaction. However, because of this focus on serving the team, servant leaders can sometimes be undermined if they are seen as lacking authority.
8. Coaching leadership
The coaching leadership style is a great way to develop your team members and get the best out of them. It involves giving employees guidance and frequent feedback to help them grow and develop. Coaching leadership is a highly nurturing style, which can lead to improved team performance, increased job satisfaction, enhanced employee morale, and a stronger team bond.
Additionally, it allows for more creative problem-solving instead of relying on traditional methods. On the other hand, it’s high-maintenance and requires a lot of time and energy input. Coaching leaders need to be consistent in their feedback and guidance, which can be difficult in large teams. Also, some employees may be resistant to feedback or coaching and become demotivated as a result.
9. Situational leadership
Situational leaders have a very strong intuition. Some call it a gut feeling. But once it meddles with years of experience, situational leaders can easily adapt and improvise according to changing circumstances in a tough competitive market. Choosing the right style, making the right decision at the right time, and just being able to seize the moment is what make situation leadership last long.
On the same note, this style of leadership is very rare. As a student, if you can work under the tutelage of one such leader, go for it. Learn from him/her and hone your skills to help you become a better version of yourself in the market. Overall, it is a very dynamic leadership style because you must change your behavior, address situations differently, and make decisions at the right time.
10. Pace-setter leadership
Pace-setter leadership is one where the work is speed-oriented. The leader will push the team to get results fast. We see this leadership style in agile work environments where the work and time deadlines are not defined, and a lot of different elements are needed to be altered in real-time. We know that this is one of the leadership styles in which seems like the people are being grilled to do more and more work without any recognition. Not true.
Pacesetters push their employees, but they do that in a way that the employees are inspired to do more work. This actually enhances performance and individual energy levels rather than decreasing them. Pacesetter’s leadership style works quite well in stock markets and sales-related organizations where numbers matter a lot and rapid action is required to diffuse the situation.
11. Charismatic leadership
This leadership style solely depends on the leader. The amount of charisma he/she has will inspire the people more, and they’ll more work effectively to please their leader and benefit the company. Leaders like these inspire, energize and motivate the people working under them, and this technique is very successful as it increases the team morale and pushes them towards success. Not everyone is naturally charismatic, but you can learn to be more motivational and inspiring, which will help people not just in your work life but also in your personal life.
12. Strategic leadership
Strategic leadership is the ability to influence others to voluntarily make decisions that enhance the prospects for the organization’s long-term success. In Laymen’s terms, Strategic leadership is a manager or a team member’s ability to charter a vision for the team and the company. When they envision the strategy, they would easily persuade the other team members to follow the same strategy with the help of the right strategies and tools. This leadership technique easily enables the managers to create a team that is full of skill diversity, and exceptionally trained and well-equipped individuals, that help the company in any normal or emergency situation.
13. Paternalistic and maternalistic leadership
Paternal refers to a male figure in a leadership position. Maternal denotes female leaders. The authority comes with their ability to play both paternal and/or maternal roles. Often, subordinates envision their leader as a leading fatherly or motherly figure in a company. This concept mostly applies to family businesses that further transition to public IPOs over time. Regardless, this style of leadership focuses more on practical and ground-based work.
It also enables leaders to pay devoted attention to people in a company; whatever their recommendations and feedback are. Paternalistic and maternalistic leadership is very progressive and successful in countries where we have a joint family system. As this style of leadership can take advantage and survives under varying conditions against odd forms of adversity, you can expect such leaders to lead and last for a long time.
14. Directional Leadership
Directional leadership style is just like the waterfall project management methodology which makes you stay on track when everything has been decided and there’s no room for flexibility. The leaders using this leadership style guide their team daily with a large amount of confidence and certainty because they have perfected their vision for the project, and everything related to the construction of the project has been unanimously agreed upon by all of the stakeholders connected to the project.
This leadership style is mostly used in a situation where the development team is not that experienced, and they need someone to constantly supervise them and make all of the decisions while showing them the way to success. The leader does that by defining the roles and responsibilities of the team members and constantly monitoring their activities so that they don’t get confused and lose their way.
15. Visionary leadership
Visionary leaders are motivated by the end result. They imagine a thriving business, lots of workforces, and anything that has to do with the success of the highest echelon. Don’t we all think like that when we start something new in the industry? Of course, we do. However, visionary leaders have the tenacity to push through when times are rough.
They do focus on the big picture, but they are also blessed with consistency. That’s exactly where most of the “regular visionaries” fail. Many people these days have robust ideas but for a very short amount of time, they want to achieve fast, and have a short attention span. That’s why many people fail at being visionary leaders.
There’s no harm in focusing on the big picture. While you are at it, make sure you are aware of the setbacks, unforeseen circumstances, and adversity. Most importantly, you need to know the industry where you are about to introduce yourself. A visionary leadership style can harbour CEOs, successful managers, and the whole lot that has to deal with long-term success. These leaders often originate from humble beginnings.
Final thoughts
There are many ways to lead your team to success. Effective leadership styles come in all shapes and sizes – and, quite simply, the most effective leadership style is the one that best suits you and your team. Choose your own leadership style that’s most authentically ‘you’ and give yourself the best chance of success.
