Leadership styles remain a complete mystery to many managers across the world? Why is this?

Well, it's because there are so many different types, and nearly all of them work very effectively for different types of organisations, meaning that there is no clear rule-book on leadership styles and which to use for your organisation.

This is an issue!

The ambiguity and overlap between different leadership styles can only be solved with simple definitions and a clear guide as to which style is appropriate in different industries. A guide I'll kindly provide here :).

Autocratic Leadership Styles

The first style I will touch upon is autocratic leadership. The autocratic leadership style (wiki) is an ancient leadership style that was used hundreds of years ago, and is continued to be used in the modern day. An autocratic leader seeks to maintain overall control of operations and decision making. Consultation with subordinates is rare, and punishments rather than rewards, are often dished out on the basis of performance.

It has been criticised as being old fashioned, and it certainly is for high growth industries such as technology & IT. Graduates and other recruits are put-off by autocratic leadership styles, and hence they often result in high employee turnover and poor quality recruitment of talent.

Democratic Leadership Styles

Democratic leadership is the new champion. Introduced during the 20th Century, democratic leadership promotes healthy and fair decision making which generates a harmonious culture in the workplace. Good examples of companies which have effectively utilised the democratic leadership style would be P&G and BMW Mini.

Democratic leadership enhances communication channels by encouraging two-way consultation between management and 'staff'. As well as improving employee morale - this is necessary for the implementation of fashionable japanese management approaches such as Kaizen Costing & Total Quality Management, because shop-floor employees are the best positioned staff to know how a business process can be improved.

Other Leadership Styles For Leadership Development

Other leadership styles attempt to 'break the mould' in terms of their approach to leadership. Lassiez Faire leadership is a notable one. Lassiez Faire cultures are about independence from management. What this means in reality is that management set tasks as usual that will improve business performance inline with corporate strategy. What differs is how teams or individuals complete the tasks set. Under autocratic leadership, the manager may step by step order the employee to complete the task in a specific and restrictive way. The Lassiez Faire leadership style says that employees should be left to complete tasks using their own initiative. This works particularly well in teams, where the team can be left to identify and exploit the strengths of those teammates around it.

As you can see, depending on which leadership style you think is relevent for your job - your could really take a different path. Leadership Development (wiki) is the pursuit of leadership skills through proactive change and training. Leadership development is essential to your personal growth, and will boost the performance of your company if leadership development is used effectively.