Leadership Flashcards
What are leaders, why are they different to managers?
Many businesses have managers, but not all of them are leaders.
Leaders often have visions that they share with others, whilst pushing people in the right direction, they often think in the long term and are always looking to improve and innovate.
A leader’s power exists whilst they continue to motivate and inspire those around them.
- Managers make day to day decisions, set objectives for their departments and those under them. Managers look at what needs to be done to keep the operation flowing, as opposed to looking at how to improve.
- Despite this, good managers show leadership skills, the best managers will make employees follow instructions not because of an obligation, but because they are inspired by the manager.
What are the different types of leadership styles?
Autocratic style - The leader makes decisions on their own. They identify the business or departmental objectives and state exactly how they need to be carried out. This is useful when dealing with lots of unskilled workers or in crisis management. It requires lots of supervision and workers cannot make their own decisions which can demotivate intelligent employees who want to innovate.
What is a paternalistic style of leadership?
Softer form of autocratic and used in similar situations. However this style focusses on employee motivation more than autocratic. The leader consults staff before making decisions, then explains them to pursuade them. They think that getting people involved and human relations is a good motivator, but do not necessarily trust them with too much autonomy.
Democratic style.
The leader encourages workers to get involved in the decision making process. They discuss with workers and delegate responsibility to them and listen to advice - see them as capable to help, which can increase motivation. It can also take some weight off the employer, however can take a long time and be difficult to impliment.
Laisse faire style.
Very hands off style of leadership where they may offer training or support, but will very rarely interfere with the running of the business. This is appropriate for a small, highly motivated team of able workers.
Transformational leadership.
Used when a business needs to drastically change. The leader has highly innovative ideas about how to improve and will need to inspire employees to make this happen. This requires an existing business structure in need of fixing and is best used in businesses in need of modernising or small businesses trying to scale.
How may a leadership style change?
Leaders adapt to change their style based on the circumstances. A leader may use a laisse faire style when a product is being developed, but a autocratic or paternalistic style when it is being produced to ensure targets are met.
