Other Types of Leadership
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The democratic leadership style is a useful style of gathering feedback and participation from your team.
The democratic leader shares decision making with the team and they confer the final authority of the decision making on the team.
Like democracy in a nation, where the citizens get to vote for their leadership, a democratic leader gives power to this team to decide on certain issues.
This style is useful when:
• Your team has greater knowledge than you in a particular area
• It is important to you that everyone feels heard
One good example of it would be Bill Gates, where he spends his time communicating with his information technology specialists about how the new products he makes can be woven into the industry standard products.(Schlender 2002)
As a leader, you must be secure enough to know that you cannot know-it-all. And you must be ready to listen to your team regarding issues that you might have little knowledge of.
This means delegating the power to make a decision to your team, but yet stay responsible of the outcomes.
Also if you feel that a decision is not critical and you want to ensure that your team feels that they are part of the decision-making process, you can actually adopt more democratic style.
I usually face this situation where I have a lot of ideas, but I hold myself back because I want my team to come up with the solution together.
No matter how apparent or obvious the solution is, I rather the answer come from my executive committee than me.
That way, I won’t appear to be domineering and imposing my ideas upon them, and at the same time those that came up with those ideas will feel a greater sense of ownership!
This style is useful in these situations, and it’s definitely something that you can learn to adopt as a leader.
Yes, you might have all the answers, but don’t be the one to make them all the time. It makes a huge difference!
Other Theories of
Types of Leadership
» Servant leadership
Servant leadership is not so much a style, but an attitude that a leader adopts. It finds its roots in the Bible.
» Strategic leadership
One would find strategic leadership in business organizations where change management is required and a strategic vision is necessary for the business to grow.
» Autocratic Leadership
An autocratic leadership style is somewhat like a directive leadership style; but autocratic leaders are generally more task oriented. They expect their task to be done and they do not consider their follower’s feelings in their decision-making.
» Democratic leadership
A democratic leadership style is in the opposite spectrum of the autocratic leadership style. Also known as the participative leadership style, this type of leaders generally seeks a consensus on the direction of a group. They are generally more people oriented and the feelings and thoughts of their followers matter to them.
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