Whether you’re leading a team of two or two hundred, understanding different leadership styles examples – and recognizing which is best suited for a given situation – is crucial for success. This is where examples of leadership style give you real-world models to learn from and adapt.
Seeing leadership styles in action, through concrete examples, helps solidify your understanding. Numerous leadership styles exist, and learning about them can feel challenging. This blog post will provide clarity. You’ll learn about six common leadership styles with examples illustrating their operation within different organizational contexts.
Table Of Contents:
The Six Most Effective Leadership Styles Examples
Defining the ideal leadership approach is similar to asking someone to define the ideal anything. The best approach ultimately depends on the situation. Leaders who demonstrate adaptability across different situations tend to be best equipped to handle the complexities of team dynamics. Let’s explore six leadership style examples, as introduced by Daniel Goleman in his influential Harvard Business Review article from 2000, “Leadership That Gets Results.”
1. Authoritative Leadership
Authoritative leaders set clear expectations and establish goals. They then direct team members toward accomplishing those goals. This approach often prioritizes efficiency. While clear directives can help with the timely execution of a project or task, an authoritative style can stifle creativity if not carefully applied.
However, this leadership style can be beneficial in some industries. Think about military operations, construction, or manufacturing. These environments frequently demand stringent safety measures and streamlined processes that might not lend themselves to individual initiatives. Authoritarian leadership style involves making decisions independently, based primarily on individual judgment with limited input from team members.
For instance, an authoritarian leader might say, “Here’s the goal, and here’s how we’re going to achieve it.” There’s less room for “How do you think we should do this?” although it’s still vital that questions are welcomed.
2. Participative Leadership
The participative leadership style values collaboration, engagement, and team input. Also referred to as democratic leadership, this approach values a more decentralized structure. This participative leadership style values collaboration, engagement, and team input. Also referred to as democratic leadership, the participative democratic leader approach values a more decentralized structure. This democratic leadership style encourages team idea-sharing to reach optimal outcomes for everyone involved.
One helpful way to think about participative or democratic leadership styles is to picture a company-wide meeting. The leader says, “Okay, team, we’re facing this challenge. Let’s hear everyone’s perspective, explore all options, and figure out the best path forward as a team.” The leader will ultimately determine how to move forward. The key difference with this leadership style is gathering a broader range of thoughts and ideas before reaching those conclusions.
3. Delegative Leadership or Laissez-Faire Leadership
Often called “laissez-faire leadership,” this leadership style empowers team members through trust and autonomy. With more independence comes a higher need for strong communication. Each individual should understand their individual responsibilities.
The team should also share clarity around goals. That way, everyone can work cohesively toward a unified vision. Imagine your manager giving you a deadline and the resources to finish your work.
This scenario could point to delegative leadership at work. Leaders trust their team enough to give them the wheel while remaining available as guides or resources if and when complications or obstacles arise.
4. Transactional Leadership
This leadership style centers on a clear system of rewards for good performance and consequences when goals aren’t met. It aims to provide structure and clarity surrounding performance. For example, a sales manager might implement a bonus structure to incentivize higher sales numbers.
Focusing on performance incentives alone can sometimes fail to motivate certain team members. Successful leaders cultivate strong relationships within their team, inspiring those around them beyond just quotas or goals. Here’s an example of this approach: Employees are rewarded with bonuses or other incentives when they exceed their sales targets.
5. Transformational Leadership
Transformational leadership style operates by clearly defining a compelling future vision. The transformational leader also motivates and empowers those around them to work collaboratively toward its manifestation. Inspiring a shared sense of ownership fosters loyalty and can be an incredibly powerful engine driving progress, engagement, and long-term growth.
Rather than relying solely on carrots and sticks, transformational leaders excel in encouraging and nurturing each individual’s potential to cultivate collective success. These leaders often share specific examples from their own journeys, which establishes stronger team connections by fostering greater feelings of relatability as everyone experiences challenges.
For example, a manager sends a company-wide email celebrating small milestones. They publicly thank those who contributed while acknowledging that more work must be done. The manager notes that success will eventually arrive as long as they progress.
6. Coaching Leadership
A coaching leadership style emphasizes mentorship and professional development. The aim is to nurture every individual’s strengths and talents. It’s a fantastic style if your team has a growth mindset and loves to be challenged.
How might this look in practice? Picture a manager who holds weekly one-on-one meetings. She offers her team personalized support, feedback, and guidance on their individual contributions, performance, and goals.
While a transactional leader might simply lay out the expectations, a coaching approach reframes those expectations as an opportunity for mentorship and learning. Coaching focuses on supporting the individual by tapping into their strengths so that they might reach their full potential.
FAQs about Leadership Styles Examples
What is a real-life example of a leader who embodied several different styles, successfully weaving them together throughout their careers?
While many historical and contemporary figures could be mentioned as excellent examples of leadership styles in action, Indra Nooyi, the former CEO of PepsiCo., often receives praise for demonstrating adaptable, strong, and effective leadership throughout her tenure. Nooyi’s approach incorporated aspects of:
- Transformational leadership (setting a bold vision for the company)
- Participative leadership (actively seeking team input and feedback)
- Coaching leadership (showing a genuine investment in individual development by championing mentorship within PepsiCo).
Do some leadership styles work better with remote teams compared to in-person work environments?
Given the global rise in popularity of remote work options over the last several years, it’s no wonder many companies are curious about tailoring their leadership approach accordingly. Although effective leaders recognize the importance of consistently applied leadership principles regardless of the chosen work structure, you may find that styles prioritizing open and consistent communication and trust-building (like delegative leadership, for example) tend to perform well with independent, remote-first teams.
Building a strong company culture relies upon a unified team dynamic. Without shared physical spaces, leaders must be especially mindful that virtual communication sometimes misses crucial social cues only obtained through in-person exchanges. Encourage frequent opportunities for informal team check-ins so everyone can stay on the same page. This approach helps cultivate greater cohesion amongst remote teams.
Conclusion
Leading teams is rarely one-size-fits-all. Adaptability across different scenarios will always give you the best chance of navigating various professional landscapes. There’s rarely, if ever, a scenario where applying just one approach will be the most beneficial. That is why familiarizing yourself with diverse leadership styles examples will best equip you to become an effective, impactful leader, no matter where you are in your professional journey. Recognizing which style best aligns with the company’s overarching needs and individual team members’ working styles empowers you with greater capabilities across every imaginable situation.
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