Joining a new company? Or looking for a new hire for your team? It’s crucial to understand Leadership Style. Will you fit in? Will the new hire respond well to the way the company or department is run and managed?
It is important to understand leadership style and how it can impact the team, after all, according to Gallup 75% of leavers leave managers rather than companies.
We spend a lot of our time here at Inspire Selection matching the right candidate to the right vacancy, it is so much more than just finding someone who can do the tasks outlined in the job description. Company culture and leadership style have a lot to do with how well a new starter will settle into an organisation.
Here we investigate the main styles of leadership to help you to identify yours.
The Autocratic or Authoritarian Leader
The ‘Do as I say’ Leader. Often an Autocratic leader will make decisions alone or with a small, select group of trusted advisors and will expect employees to do as they are told. Successful in organisations with strict guidelines, or when team members need a great deal of supervision.
This is not an environment for a ‘free thinking’ individual who wants to have an input into the direction of the business as employees often feel ignored and restricted.
It can be effective when teams need to be kept on track or decisions need to be made quickly.
The Laissez-Faire Leader
The ‘let them be’ leader. On the opposite end of the spectrum to the Autocratic leader, the Laissez-Faire leader mostly delegates tasks to team members and provides very little or no supervision.
This leadership style is successful when team members are highly experienced and require little guidance, however, if team members need motivation or boundaries this style of leadership can result in, at best, a dip in productivity, at worst chaos, and confusion.
Importantly bringing new team members into a company with a Laissez-Faire style of leadership can be problematic as there will typically be no guidance or hands-on support for the new employee.
The Transactional Leader
The ‘telling’ leader. A Transactional leader will hand out instructions to their team members and in return will offer a range of rewards or penalties to get the job done.
This leadership style ensures that established procedures are followed efficiently but limits the opportunities for innovation and creativity.
It can improve motivation as short-term goals are identified and rewarded when achieved, however, it can also encourage employees to just do the bare minimum of work with little or no focus on the long-term goal.
The Coaching Leader
The ‘consider this’ approach. A Coaching Leader is someone who can quickly identify their team members’ strengths, weaknesses, and motivations and will work to help everyone improve.
Often seen as positive and advantageous to both the employee and the organisation, a Coaching Leader will set achievable goals, provide regular feedback and will promote individual development, empowerment and foster a confident company culture.
Unfortunately, whilst being seen as a highly valuable form of leadership style, it is also the most time-consuming and highly skilled and therefore less common – especially in a deadline-driven environment.
The Democratic Leader
The ‘participative’ style of leadership. The Democratic Leader asks for feedback and input from their team before making decisions.
This form of leadership works well for employees as they feel valued and empowered, in return, they are more motivated to achieve company goals.
However, the Democratic Leadership style can be inefficient, especially in teams where a consensus is difficult to achieve or the team members are not skilled to make decisions.
Understanding your leadership style or the leadership style of the company/department you’re joining is very important, finding the right job or a suitable candidate is more than matching skills and tasks, consideration should always be given to the personality of the leader and the team.
If you’re looking to hire or for your next role – get in touch with the consultants at Inspire Selection.
