Leadership style is often the intersection of personality, intelligence, emotions, life experiences, and thoughts of the leader. Therefore, understanding the effectiveness of that leadership style within an organization or situation is extremely important. So what is leadership style and what are the common leadership styles today? Let’s find out in the article below!
What is Leadership Style
Leadership style is understood as the methods and approaches of a leader to provide directions, strategies, and goals to motivate employees and meet business expectations. A leader typically applies various forms or different leadership styles to address different business situations.
Understanding leadership style can help leaders grasp ownership, control, and responsibility for the scope and objectives of tasks and goals ahead.
Most Common Leadership Styles for the best managers
This is a leadership style where the leader makes decisions from a subjective standpoint, without listening to the contributions of others. Authoritarian leadership style is often flexibly applied in urgent business situations that require control.
Advantages: Leaders adopting this style usually have a confident, decisive, and dynamic demeanor. Especially effective in urgent situations as leaders can apply a broad perspective and make quick decisions without spending time consulting multiple opinions.
Disadvantages: May make members or employees feel undervalued or not highly regarded. This style often discourages participation or input from others, which can lead to lack of motivation and commitment to work.
Democratic Leadership Style
In contrast to authoritarian leadership, democratic leadership always encourages everyone to voice their opinions and ideas to find solutions together. Democratic leaders are usually very transparent and willing to provide necessary information for effective discussions.
Advantages: Boosts morale of individuals, making them feel valued by the business or organization. This opens the way for creativity, trust, and mutual learning. Solutions from various perspectives bring about diversity, facilitating task execution in multiple ways.
Disadvantages: Often takes a lot of time due to the need for discussion sessions to reach final decisions. Not particularly flexible for situations requiring quick decision-making.
Delegative Leadership Style
With this style, the leader delegates their authority and responsibility to subordinates to solve problems on their own. Those assigned tasks have full autonomy in handling and are responsible for completing the tasks and goals.
Advantages: Promotes creative capacity, empowering employees to improve and develop their professional skills. No need for specific guidance or instructions from leaders.
Disadvantages: Lacks mentoring, close monitoring, and may limit problem-solving approaches, especially for newcomers. Organizations may suffer serious losses if leaders do not intervene in a timely manner.
Coaching Leadership Style
Leadership in coaching style involves identifying and creating conditions for the development of each employee’s strengths. Leaders with this style typically have good communication skills and coaching abilities to support employee development.
Advantages: Enhances the relationship between the leader and the employee. Helps employees build confidence to develop skills and improve work efficiency.
Disadvantages: Investing in each employee may take a lot of time. Not suitable for work environments with flexible goals and timelines.
Transformational Leadership Style
This style involves inspiring employees to step out of their comfort zones to achieve what they didn’t believe they could. Leaders in this style are often honest, emotionally rich, and visionary.
Advantages: Promotes innovation and work productivity. Helps employees discover their limits and potentials.
Disadvantages: Can exhaust employees with challenging goals and tasks.
Transactional Leadership Style
This leadership style typically sets roles and responsibilities for each employee to encourage them to complete tasks on time. Consequently, good performance is rewarded, while poor performance may result in punishment.
Advantages: Ensures fairness, distinguishes rewards and punishments fairly.
Disadvantages: Employees may lose motivation if penalized for temporary mistakes.
Read more: Solving Human Resources Issues in Times of Recession
Bureaucratic Leadership Style
Leadership in a bureaucratic style always adheres to established rules and policies. Leaders may consider employee opinions but reserve the right to refuse if those opinions do not align.
Advantages: Helps employees adhere to rules seriously.
Disadvantages: May hinder innovation, especially for businesses pursuing ambitious goals and rapid growth.
Servant Leadership Style
This style prioritizes serving the business or organization before the principles of leadership. This requires leaders to be understanding, empathetic, and generous.
Advantages: Helps employees develop and discover their hidden potentials. Builds and strengthens trust between employees and leaders.
Disadvantages: May lag behind leaders with larger ambitions. Not flexible enough to cope with urgent situations.
Situational Leadership Style
Leadership based on situations is a flexible style that changes according to specific situations, including the importance of tasks, the ability, and spirit of those who will undertake them.
Advantages: Explores the creative abilities and hidden problem-solving potential of employees.
Disadvantages: Can create tension and confusion if the leader’s approach changes too frequently.
Applying the appropriate leadership style contributes to the development of organizations, creating conditions for employees to increasingly improve in terms of thinking, character, and competence.
Conversely, if leaders do not apply appropriate leadership styles, it will hinder the development of businesses or organizations, reduce cohesion, respect, and cooperation in work.
Hopefully, this article has helped you understand more about various leadership styles to find the right direction for your business.
