10 Common Leadership Styles

Are you curious about the Leadership styles for your business model? Then you need to focus upon different leadership styles that can provide the right direction, motivate the workforce and execute plans for accomplishing your

When it comes to leading a business towards success, you cannot opt for a one-size-fits-all kind of leadership business goals. style. All these Leadership Styles incorporate their pros, cons, and usability. – And in this article, we will delve into the world of different leadership styles to explore their key idiosyncrasies and implications.

So, without any further ado, let us get started right away-

What are Leadership Styles?

For running a company, school, business, or even a country, leadership is necessary.

Therefore, according to the requirement, each group needs it as it will be beneficial for its growth. Some require transformational leadership and some need pacesetter, all of them differ in behavior as they have distinguished pros and cons.

Providing mentoring, encouragement, and insights to the members, that’s what leadership is all about.

The intensity differs based on style as all of them work on different methods.

As change is constant, so you need to know what kind of leadership will you need with changing time. Everyone needs to grow and change; therefore, you need a leadership style for every change.

Sometimes you will need a serving leader, and on some days you need a strict leadership style like autocratic. It depends on the obstacle they are facing and what is the focus of the industry.

There are some styles like a servant, transformational, transactional, pacesetter, autocratic, charismatic, democratic, bureaucratic, coaching and Laissez-Faire, choose according to your need.

Let us dive into each of these leadership styles one by one to find out their key characteristics-

10 Common Leadership Styles 

10 Common Leadership Styles

1. Autocratic Leadership 

Autocratic leadership is a management style that allows the leader or any member of the company to decide on behalf of the entire group.

This leadership authorizes only a single member or just the leader of the group for making any critical judgment. There is no involvement of other members of the group in this leadership as the outcome is dependent on the decision of one person. So, we can say that this leadership style is about dictatorship instead of involving everyone equally.

Sometimes, autocratic leadership works better at instant decision making because there is no chance of confusion or ambiguity in concluding it. As the decision is dependent on one individual, there won’t be any kind of clash or arguments because of opinions.

Although it is good at times, it can lower the morale of those working in it as it doesn’t respect their opinion.

It is more damaging to the group members instead, if having a positive impact because they aren’t recognized for their work. People are criticized if they do not complete the work on time, but they aren’t appreciated once. This leads to confine the creativity and skills of the group members.

2. Servant Leadership 

“To serve”, this is the main characteristic of serving leadership, and it includes the mindset of people-first instead of personal involvement.

People who are servant leaders are most likely to respected and trusted by their group members because of their constant motivation and encouragement. This leader puts others first and helps them to perform better to achieve their target.

The customers and group members are the priority of a servant leader as they believe in giving and inspiring others.

The employees gain personal growth and get wiser because they get all these benefits from the servant leader. Therefore, it inspires them to follow the same path as their leader. Several companies follow the path of servant leadership, where they believe the employees are to be served instead of ordered by their leader.

This mindset helps them to grow wiser and get benefits to the company.

The encouragement of collective decision making and leading with generosity leads the members to rely on their leader. But during the tight deadlines and quick decision making, it can be proved ill-suited.

3. Transactional Leadership 

The transactional leadership style is more inclined towards motivating their employees to do better in their work.

One can say that it is a bit related to Pacesetting leadership because both of them include encouraging the team members. But we can say that transactional leadership focusses strictly on the efforts made by the group members as the group members are required for their excellent work, and they are punished for any ambiguity.

Therefore, we can say that it is result-driven as it is the only thing that decides whether the member will be rewarded or punished.

This leadership elucidates the responsibilities and roles of every employee as it judges the members based on performance. Those who are ambitious and goal-oriented are more likely to be one of the most successful members of the group because they struggle to achieve their goals.

The leaders, here, provide mentorship, training, and instructions to the group members for training their target.

Transactional leadership is the most common type of leadership these days because it is a pronounced way to treat people based on their work and effort. This leadership is not about always encouraging but also includes criticism which can be immoral at times.

4. Transformational Leadership

One of the most effective kinds of leadership that involve emotional intelligence and integrity is transformational leadership.

These leaders are empathetic, self-aware, humble, and authentic as they share their views and communicate well with other members of the group. We can state that transformational leaders not just manage their day-to-day responsibilities but also manage the strategies to increase the growth and success of their company.

They focus on collaborations, motivations, and team-building.

For performing better and attaining the goals, they push their group members by encouraging them. Also, they provide better guidance to them for not just professional purposes but also to get better personally.

For achieving rapid success by team-building and creating a vision, this leadership style can work better because the leader is encouraging and motivating instead of being bossy or a dictator.

So, any individual who is good at following the footsteps of their leader can work better for this leadership.

The leaders, here, hold themselves responsible for any inconvenience or any actions instead of putting it on the members.

5. Charismatic Leadership 

The communicators who are well-skilled and possess the behavior of encouraging others by their way of persuasion and personality incorporate charismatic leadership.

These leaders are available to motivate their followers to improve and get their assignments done beforehand. This management is attained when the leader is good at invoking the eagerness within a person to complete their target.

One can infer that charismatic leadership is totally about the leaders “heroism” because this leadership focusses on the personality and style adopted or already present in a leader. These leaders can captivate individuals and evoke strong emotions for attaining their goals.

Politicians and several celebrities have that charisma in them that attracts their followers. This makes their followers take the same path as the leaders because they feel they have inspired them. Therefore, this leadership inspires followers to be like their leader.

6. Pacesetter Leadership 

Pacesetter’s direction can be determined in a quote, “Do as I do, now”, after reading this, you might have had a glimpse of what pacesetter leadership is.

This style is wholly involved in leading the followers for achieving their goals by leading an example. There is a consistent motivating vibe that is shared by each individual who is a part of this leadership. This leadership is not about creativity or anything that the leader has not done.

Here, the followers aren’t allowed or asked to do anything that their leader hasn’t done because pacesetting is about showing the exact path to their followers.

For the business results, this leadership can be considered one of the best and effective ways because it is highly results-oriented. The followers give an outstanding performance as they take the same path suggested by their leader.

This style is highly competent for those employees who are good at following others instead of those who think creatively. The group members are asked to work quickly instead of learning or implying any new things or ideas.

7. Laissez-faire or Hands-off Leadership 

When a leadership style provides the liberty to their followers to make decisions, we can say it is Laissez-faire leadership or delegative leadership.

The group members are allowed to solve their problems on their own because this leadership is sort of liberal, and there is very little guidance provided by the leader. Leaders may provide the tools and resources to their followers for completing any task or target. There is no adherence to deadlines, and leaders do less encouragement.

However, this leadership is least productive because of poor outcomes and uninvolved leaders; it is perfect for those who are well-skilled and creative. When the group members are experts at taking the decision, it can be useful in several situations but not all the time. Therefore, we can say that this leadership needs those group members who are more skilled than the leader itself because the leader is uninvolved and does little to encourage the members.

This leadership values independence, and because it is a hands-off kind of leadership. This needs lots of trust and management because it is too liberal and one-sided.

8. Bureaucratic Leadership 

Leadership is a type of management style which is still used for managing last corporations.

When a company has an environment that is highly governed, then this leadership style can have a significant impact on it. This style constitutes some specific rules that need to be followed by each individual, and they should be under the line of authority.

Therefore, we can say that the leader of this leadership also functions under the rules of higher authorities.

Bureaucratic leadership style is effective in those kinds of companies that do not require any creativity or innovations. They can simply work consistently and focus on already planned administrative rules.

Most probably, this leadership style is used in the public sector as it about strictly following the rules and regulations for getting the results.

In their jurisdictions, the leaders of this leadership have separate powers, and the laws aren’t flexible at all. Those people who follow bureaucratic leadership prefer sticking to necessary regulations that are to govern people.

9. Democratic Leadership 

When the leader has the final say, but meanwhile, group members get the opportunity to speak up and present their ideas as well, this is democratic ledership.

People who are a part of this leadership become more productive, have better morale, and have substantial contributions amongst the group. People are often rewarded and encouraged to think out of the box, and they show their creative part. One better knows this leadership style as “participative” or “shared” leadership.

Researchers have found that any company that possesses democratic leadership of one of the most effective because it allows everyone to participate. The ideas of every member are exchanges, and the discussion is encouraged.

Precisely, talking about the leader here has to control and offer guidance to the members instead of being the sole decider of the company.

The leaders who follow a democratic style are intelligent, competent, honest, courageous, and creative. Although sometimes this leadership can be proved as ambiguous because of a poor decision, it has high productivity and better commitment.

10. Coaching Leadership 

Coaching Leadership is when a leader can recognize the efforts, weaknesses, strengths, and motivations of their team members.

The coaching leaders are always ready to help other team members for improving and completing their tasks. This leadership is inclined towards assisting others and helping them to set smart objectives and how to focus and manage challenging projects.

Coach style leadership is about promoting the growth of their co-workers or group members. Talking about the employees, this leadership is one of the most advantageous because it helps them to manage several things.

The coach not only helps them but also prepares them to tackle critical circumstances. Although this leadership style has several benefits, its time-intensive behavior makes it a bit underutilized.

A coaching leader will always try to assist their employee instead of just giving them advice. This creates a positive impact on the employees as they get competent in achieving their goals and managing issues.

Final Thoughts!

Leaderships change according to their name, some are result-oriented, and some are serving in nature.

The opting for leadership style depends on how a company should be running. As all the ten kinds of leadership styles are different from each other, they are somehow connected in their qualities. But one needs to judge what is the need and focus of their group.

How important do you consider the implications of the right leadership styles for a business?

What are your favorite leadership styles from the aforementioned set of leaderships?

Did we miss any of the key leadership styles that you consider the best fit for your business? Feel free to share your views and experiences on leadership with us in the comments.