Cultivating Your Leadership Style

People in leadership positions should consider adopting various management styles in their leadership roles. It is absolutely necessary to consider the outcome of your management before committing fully to a particular leadership style. Be it a seasoned executive or a new manager, one must realize that leadership styles are sometimes difficult to define.

Your leadership style conveys how you execute plans, provide inspiration, and direct your people. Autocratic, democratic, and free reign are the most common practiced leadership styles. It is natural that one style is dominate, however a skillful manager mindfully uses all three styles and never completely yields to one.

Precise, conclusive, and irrefutable defines the autocratic management style. Feedback is minimum and margin for error is slim to none. Some of the appropriate conditions to use this style of leading is when you have all the information to solve the problem, you are short on time, and your employees are well motivated. Only on rare occasions should you employ this style of management.

Democratic leadership involves shared decision making. By involving employees in some of the inner workings of the management mind, this style encourages open communication and joint decision-making. However, this style has less structure than autocratic leadership. Many times you will have multiple points of view concerning certain topics. This causes conflict, which pretty much slows down the decision-making process. Consulting your team members on difficult issues is not a sign of weakness, it illustrates effective leadership skills. This allows you to make better decisions, while building a trusting relationship with your team members.

The Laisse-Faire manager chooses to exercise little control over his team members, permitting them to specify their roles, assign their work duties, and make their own decisions with no input on his behalf. If your group has a high I.Q. concerning management processes and your trust level is high in their decision making, then this style will be functional. The hands off manager understand he must delegate and set priorities because everything is not for him to do.

In conclusion, base your management style on the results you want to achieve. An effective leader gets the most out of his group. They give proper training and development by providing a model of consistent policies and practices. Everyone has their preference and is inclined to a certain type of leadership style; however it is beneficial to implement all three. The bottom line is knowing what is appropriate for your business and your associates before planning your approach.