The main types of leadership

We mainly find five types of leadership which is important to know, since each one of them has certain particularities, so that they can be more or less beneficial depending on the use or the objective that we have when carrying out a project. For that reason we are going to analyze the importance of leadership and we will study those that encompass, from a general perspective, the qualities that characterize people based on the type of leadership they exercise.

The importance of leadership in today's society

There is no doubt that leadership is essential today, and we live in a very competitive society in which a minimum confusion can become a significant detriment to other people and even to ourselves. That is the reason why both companies and associations of all kinds always have in mind the search for people who offer certain leadership-related profiles, thus achieving a better result when carrying out any type of procedure and of course in relation to the way in which a work group is managed.

In fact, in larger companies it is common to find several leaders with different leadership profiles, and it is that some of them can be more effective in certain aspects, with which, the company will always guide the behaviors based on these characteristics and the needs of each group.

It should be noted that none of these types of leadership can be considered superior to the rest, but rather we are talking about different ways to achieve the same goal, but with very different particularities so that they allow a better adaptation depending on the area to be led. However, there is a detail that we can differentiate between them and that can be characteristic of each one, so that we can understand two main types of leadership that would be the correct or positive leaderships and incorrect or negative leaderships, that is, those that cause benefit or harm to the group.

Regarding positive leaderships, we find those that allow to improve performance, also increasing profits, improving of course the result and all this ensuring that each of the participating members enjoys adequate well-being and feels like an integral part of the team in general. .

On the other hand, we have negative leaderships, which are those that are detrimental to the team, creating strong stress and decreasing the self-esteem and happiness of the team members, so we would talk about a leadership that aims only to achieve a good result but at any cost, so that often ends up significantly decreasing performance and even several team members are forced to abandon the project because they do not they can carry on with that kind of pressure.

It is important to bear in mind that a leader has the power of decision, so that it can be considered that he is in a privileged position with respect to the rest of the team members, but it is also true that he has a greater responsibility on his shoulders, since any error in a decision can ruin a project that may have involved a large investment or even a lot of work time, and if the error occurs by the team itself, in turn they will also be responsible, so that they will have to face these responsibilities and stand up to defend the group or to face the consequences that may have resulted from these mistakes.

The most important types of leadership

But as we said, in each case we are going to need a different type of leader, which is why we are going to introduce you to the main types of leadership, which define people with different profiles, that is, these models are based in a certain way on the particularities of each person, so that it is difficult for one to pass from one type of leadership to another of their own free will, but we could To say that each one is born to lead in a different way, so that it fits into any of these types and, although it may present characteristics included in other different ones, it generally would not work well by changing the form.

Autocratic leadership

It is a type of leadership that is based on the main leader is the one in charge of making each and every one of the decisions, in addition to being the one who will organize each aspect related to the group's work.

Faced with this type of leadership, the work team can only obey the guidelines imposed by the leader, so that they cannot contribute anything on their part other than to carry out the work that has been entrusted to them.

This autocratic leadership can be very effective in the case that we are facing a type of work in which we have to make many decisions and very quickly, which will generally be delicate, and a mistake can spoil all the work and even suppose some very significant losses.

For its part, the leader must maintain constant control over the workers, which generally increases productivity a lot, but also has some negative aspects such as the fact that the worker cannot contribute his opinion in relation to the project, which causes him to lose motivation and even feel little valued within the group.

Usually, over time, these people end up feeling out of place, having the feeling that the company does not need and appreciate them, which generally leads to a decline in performance and even abandonment of the company itself. .

In short, we will be facing a type of leadership that can be functional in very specific moments, but it is always recommended that it combine with other different types of leadership to avoid that this monotony ends up affecting the workers and the group in general.

Delegative leadership

It's about the acquaintance laissez-faire leadership, which is a type of not very participative leadership within the group, being also characteristic for not being authoritarian at all. Basically it is a type of leadership that is used with employees who have great experience and motivation, so that the need for supervision is considerably reduced by making decisions correctly and especially by being productive without the need for the leader to be on top all the time.

Basically they can fulfill the assigned tasks without the need for constant surveillance, so that greater freedom is achieved when it comes to develop the creativity of the participants, in addition to that they feel more integrated in the project since it has the feeling that basically part of them, which means that they work harder to make the right decisions for the best possible results.

Of course, it is essential that it is an experienced team and that above all it is passionate while feeling integrated into the company, since as a general rule it is quite difficult to create a group of this nature, because as a rule In general, employees do not have these characteristics, so it is necessary for the leader to establish the tasks and indicate the deadlines to avoid them resting on their laurels.

That is why we are talking about a very positive type of leadership, but only when we carry it out with a competent team prepared for it, with sufficient capacity to be able to manage it properly; the fact that the team may have very good intentions is not enough to apply delegative leadership, since it needs to meet all the positive aspects that we have indicated for it to really be an effective tactic.

Democratic leadership

Democratic leadership is a type of leadership where the whole team participates in decision makingIn such a way that the leader will be in charge of promoting a good relationship and dialogue and communication between the workers, and at all times he will take into account the opinions of the group, although he will obviously be responsible for making the final decision.

It is a very well balanced leadership, since workers are part of all decision-making processesThus, they feel that they are an important part of the company, which increases their commitment and appreciation for it, also managing to offer more of themselves thanks to the fact that they try harder to achieve the best possible results to benefit the business.

One of the main advantages is that it opens the door to innovation, since having several different contributions and allowing everyone to make a consensual decision (always accepted or rejected by the main leader), helps new ideas emerge that can be very beneficial.

However, it also has some disadvantages, such as the fact that more time is required to complete projects, since it requires discussion, in addition to the fact that disagreements often appear so that, over time, groups may have a a certain tendency to divide into two or more parts.

This can also lead to enmities and positions found between two or more people, which obviously in the end will harm both the project and the work capacity and motivations that had been achieved through this system.

For that reason, here the leader is going to have a great responsibility, which will be to have the necessary skill that allows him to maintain unity within the group, guarantee collaboration among all and increase motivation so that everyone is aware that their opinions are taken into account and that there should be no quarrels within the group.

If not, democratic leadership can end in great failure.

Transactional leadership

This leadership focuses exclusively on achieving the objectives that have been foreseen, so that awards are given to workers in exchange for reaching them. Basically the worker has to know from the beginning what is the goal he has to achieve and what will be the reward that he is going to receive, something that allows him to organize himself in his own way, but above all always keeping in mind the final objective that is achieve what has been stipulated, be it the completion of a project or even the culmination of some of its parts.

This type of leadership also has disadvantages, since the worker will focus more on the benefits and rewards than on the project itself, that is, everything goes here in order to achieve the goal, so that quality is considerably reduced. of work with which the project may not even reach the effectiveness that was raised at first.

However, this type of leadership helps to create a greater understanding within the work team, since all have a clear objective of obtaining the prize obtained from reaching the stipulated objective, with which there is usually a much faster, more agile operation and a greater capacity to agree since everyone benefits in this sense .

Transformational leadership

And finally we have transformational leadership, in which leaders establish complete communication and participate in the activity with the aim of transmitting to the employees their way of seeing the way in which the project has to evolve.

This leadership increases productivity and work efficiency, mainly because the group will be more controlled by the leader. It also increases the vision and only a leader has the mission of motivating the team, since he is part of it in a fully integrated way, creating a greater sense of trust and respect, in addition to the fact that workers learn a lot from their leader with which also establishes an admiration for him.

As for the disadvantages, the truth is that we cannot present any that are characteristic of this type of leadership, except for the fact that obviously here the leader has to present very well-defined qualities and of course also dominate the field in which he is involved. oriented the project, so that workers can effectively learn from it.

Another essential aspect is that the character of the leader has to be motivating and win the trust and admiration of the group, since otherwise we would find ourselves in a situation in which what it would do would be to lose relevance and even respect or valuation within the group, without in return obtaining benefits that would effectively motivate the use of this type of system.