What is your leadership style?

Understanding different leadership styles

Any applicant for a management position will be asked “What is your style of leadership?” Employers will ask this question. You will be able to answer this question confidently if you know the answer in advance. This article will explain the most common leadership styles, and how to respond when asked this question.

What is leadership style?

Your leadership style is the way you lead, motivate, and monitor your team. Some leaders have more than one style of leadership. You should be able to adapt different leadership styles according to your needs at any given time.

Motivating employees with common leadership styles

These are the most popular styles of leadership that managers use to motivate employees.

Leadership style characterized by autocracy

A leader with an autocratic style makes decisions without much or any input from their team. A leader who is autocratic acts only on his or her own ideas, and does not listen to the opinions of others. They give orders to their team members and expect them to follow without questioning. Successful leaders usually avoid this type of leadership.

This leadership style can be useful in certain situations. If all of your team members lack experience in a particular area where a decision is urgently needed, this leadership style may be helpful. You can take a decision in such a situation without consulting your team.

Democratic Leadership Style

They always seek the opinion of their team members before making any major decisions. A democratic leader will always share information with their team about important company decisions. You are a democratic leader if you ask your team members “What do they think?” constantly during team projects.

There are many benefits to a democratic leadership style. The following are some of the benefits:

• This encourages the team to be innovative and to invest in their personal development. If you’re always open to hearing what your colleagues have to say, then they will be more willing to share valuable opinions.
• The team will be more cohesive and trustworthy.
• This helps build confidence in team members.

Laissez-faire leadership style

The laissez faire style is the opposite of autocratic. A laissez-faire leader allows team members to do whatever they want, without supervision. This leadership style offers workers the opportunity to develop and learn. Leaders who are too laissez-faire risk looking indifferent to their work.

This leadership style should only be used when your team is composed of highly responsible and experienced members with a track record of high performance. Avoid the laissez faire style if you can.

Pacesetter leadership style

This leader motivates his team to work hard and excel, and sets high standards for their performance. This type of leader can cause employees to compete with each other in order to impress him or her. This leadership style is only suitable if you have a team that shares your energy.

The pacesetter approach may encourage members to work harder and improve, but it can also promote competition among members. Members may also feel stressed due to the pressure of meeting arbitrary standards. You can help co-workers reduce stress by organizing weekend retreats if you’re a pacesetter.

Coaching leadership style

A leader who employs the coaching style spends most of his or her time developing their employees’ talents. The leaders complete projects with their teams by delegating tasks to team members and giving them some direction. This type of leadership allows workers to discover their full potential by receiving a little help from their leaders.

A leadership style that is authoritative

They provide detailed instructions to their team members. You should not confuse them with autocratic leadership. They are not to be confused with autocratic leaders. People who are under autocratic leadership listen to them because they don’t have any other option.

When employees become confused, leaders who are authoritative remind them of the vision of the company and guide them in the right direction. Workers under this type of leader are the least likely to make mistakes.

Affiliative Leadership Style

This leadership style can be described by the phrase “People Come First.” The leader will consider the emotional needs and wants of the team before making decisions. The leader tries to keep their team together rather than tearing them apart.

Leaders of affiliates avoid favoritism. They ensure that all team members receive the same benefits regardless of their level of experience. This style of leadership promotes harmony among team members and prevents conflict.

Leadership style based on procedural leadership

A procedural leader follows the rules. They stick to tried and tested methods rather than trying new ones. Detail-oriented, they analyze the situation and then decide what to do. It can be difficult for creative team members to work with procedural leaders, because they resist change.

The procedural style of leadership has the benefit of helping employees develop discipline through adherence to rules. This type of leader can be monotonous. Try executing tasks in a different way if you feel you are a procedural manager.

What is your leadership style? How to answer the question “What is your leadership style?”

After you’ve identified your leadership style, we will discuss what you should say when your potential employer asks to describe the leadership style.

Here are some tips to help you answer the question in a proper way:

You can’t claim you haven’t been a leader

You must have led a project in your career, even if you are not a leader by traditional standards. You were a leader if you ever managed a project at work or led a team. Use the way you handled the situation to describe your leadership style.

Do not say you’ve never managed or led people. Mention a technique that you find effective. What employers really want to find out when they ask about your leadership style is if you are observant. Decide on your leadership style or styles and use them as a way to communicate with others.

Give examples

You should be able, after describing your style of leadership, to give examples from real life where you led a team and achieved results. You can skip this step, however, if your employer wants a quick response. If you want to give a longer answer, describe the project’s results. Has your company increased its profit because of you? Your lecturer gave your team a high grade for the project. Be sure to measure your results.

Sample answers for leadership style questions

These are sample answers to questions about leadership style:

For example: I would define my leadership style to be affiliative. Before making a decision, I consider the impact it will have on my team. We have to work together so I want to make sure we have a positive working relationship. In my former role, I was responsible for scheduling shifts. I noticed that some of our employees are single mothers. I ensured they had only night shifts.

Example: My leadership style is procedural. Our job as nurses is to save lives. My team is often told to avoid new methods because they may be harmful to patients. When it comes to a patient’s health, you should only use methods that have been proven to work.

How to select the right leadership style

Selecting the best leadership style from a variety of styles will depend on your situation. The most appropriate leadership style will help you manage your team more effectively. We will now discuss the types of employees who are best suited to each leadership style.

Leadership style characterized by autocracy

This leadership style is best suited for:

• Small to medium business with few employees
• The Internship Program

Democratic Style

The democratic leadership style is best suited for:

• You may not have the same expertise as your team members
• Advertising is a good example of a project that requires multiple perspectives.

Laissez-faire style

The best results can be achieved by using a laissez-faire approach with

• Experienced workers
• Remote workers

Pacesetter style

This leadership style is ideal for highly motivated and energetic workers.

Coaching Style

This leadership style is best suited for:

• New employees
• Trainees

Authoritative Style

This style is good for making urgent decisions.

Affiliate style

Use the affiliative style of leadership in the following situations

• After a major conflict between members of the team.
• You are the leader in a newly-formed team.

Style procedural

This style is best suited for:

• Production and architecture are technical industries.
• The military