THE THREE STYLES OF LEADERSHIP –
This concept is taught in marketing and business degree studies and is important. Born leaders are not those that are always at the front of the pack, because it depends what the pack needs that determines the leader. Good leaders know this because it isn’t about being a leader, it is about making the pack successful together.
There are three leadership styles developed by psychologist Kurt Lewin that are considered to be among the “classic” methodologies used by business leaders. Each has its strengths and drawbacks – here are more details on each of them:
1. Laissez-Faire Leadership
This type is the largely hands-off with minimal direction and supervision from the manager to the staff. The key to using this method is having well trained and efficient directors who can work as intermediaries between you and your employees.
2. Autocratic Leadership
This is a leadership style that has become something of a relic in today’s business environment. The reason is that most employees work better without the overbearing presence of their boss around at all times. However, there are some who would argue that the Autocratic methods are still as effective as they were in Feudal Europe – but only if properly balanced with feedback and face time.
3. Participative Leadership
The third approach is to find a happy medium between the above two methods. These managers back-off more to allow people to tap their creativity and think independently using their own initiative, while still maintaining enough control to guide the overall vision of teams without imposing their own vision on their decisions. In short, you’re giving them a much greater lead and will need to be more trusting of decisions made by your directors.
These three leadership types form the foundation of most styles used by corporate leaders today. However, they do not necessarily encompass every philosophy on the nature of a business and how leadership skills should be developed.