8 Key Leadership Styles

There are 8 key leadership styles.  We typically have a dominant one, but we can also be a mix and whilst one type is not better or worse than another, some types are better suited to particular industries, situations and employee personality types. 

1. The Transformational Leader is a big picture operator motivated by bringing about change for good.  They promote creativity and innovation, cultivating progressive teams.  Workers generally feel empowered and driven by them but not everyone shares an enthusiasm for change and without empathy this leader can alienate some workers. 

2. The Transactional Leader incentivises performance and penalises non-performance.  They ensure workers understand their role and the business’s expectations, but creative types can feel hamstrung with workflows that are usually precise and repetitive. 

3. The Democratic Leader likes to team and roundtable ideas and strategies and everyone is heard before decisions are made and responsibilities delegated.  Workers have a sense of inclusivity and engagement, but progress can be relatively slow. 

4. The Autocratic Leader leads from the top, unilaterally making decisions so outcomes are achieved quickly but some workers need a less dictatorial approach and can feel mistreated.

5. The Strategic/Servant Leader serves the team so the team will serve them.  They ensure everyone has everything they need to perform.  Many workers love this style, feeling supported and a strong sense of comradery, but these leaders can burnout more quickly than others.

6. The Laissez-Faire/Zero Leader delegates responsibilities and leaves everyone to their own devices.  They create open pathways for autonomy and innovation, but some workers feel directionless and consider the team unorganised. 

7.  The Bureaucratic Leader achieves outcomes by adhering to policies and procedures and they expect others to do the same.  They create clear organised pathways, but some workers feel innovation is stifled and too rigid.

8. The Charismatic Leader is charming, inspirational, motivational and an expert communicator laying out vision blueprints and plans and then releasing their team to go to work.  But this style can cause teams to miss detail and potential issues.    

Understanding a potential new hire’s style is critical to the business’s wellbeing and employee brand because hiring the ‘wrong’ style can disrupt any functioning team, supply chain and customer base.