Common Leadership Styles in Business

Every business has its style of leadership adopted right from the inception of the organization. As an employee of any organization, if you carefully look through the structure of the activities in such an establishment, you’ll see the type of leadership style the company is using. In reality, many employees don’t know the characteristics of each of these leadership styles. In this piece, we’ll look at some of these leadership styles and their features. Let’s check them out!

Leadership Styles in Business

• Autocratic leadership
In this style of leadership, all powers belong to the leader of the establishment without decentralization of powers. Such a leader is likely going to become a dictator as time passes. The leadership doesn’t see the needs to listen to any of his subordinates for advice as regards the progress of the business. An autocratic leader doesn’t trust any of his team members; he keeps the decision making to himself. He only dishes out information when he thinks it’s right, and none of the team members can’t challenge his authority.

• Dictator leadership
Quite similar to the autocratic leadership, the leader has all the powers to himself without delegating any of his authority to his team. He gives instructions directly to the subordinates, and they listen and carry them out without asking why and how. Here, team members aren’t allowed in decision making. The style of leadership adopts and uses fears and threats to persuade the employees to get the tasks done. As an employee working under this leadership style, it’s either you work, or you’re fired. It’s as simple as that.

• Democratic leadership
This leadership style, also known as participative leadership works with the subordinates. The leader ensures group discussions become finally arriving at a decision, which means the decision making isn’t unilateral. Employees under this style of leadership cooperate better compared to both the autocratic and dictator leaderships. Why? They feel their opinions count when it comes to decision making, and as such, they are ready to give their utmost for the success of the business.

• Transactional leadership
This style of leadership is quite different from the ones that have been talked about. Here, an individual has the power to control and lead specific members of the team to achieve a task. However, the leader still has the power to streamline and redefine the workflow process when the work isn’t going as expected.

• Charismatic leadership
This is a style of leadership team members love to work under. The leader trusts all of his subordinates and makes an integral part of the decision making process. He doesn’t enforce instructions like the dictator leadership; rather he encourages the team through his active participation in the workflow. A charismatic leader leads by example, as he always tries to gets his hands dirty as well. This style of leadership brings the best out of each employee to attain sustainable growth in the business.

Though there are still a ton of leadership styles, use in businesses nowadays as the ones mentioned above are just but a tip of an iceberg. As an employee, when you work under any leadership, you’ll know what style he’s using.

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