Welcome back to Calibre’s weekly roundtable discussion!
This week our discussion will be based on leadership styles in the workplace. We will also provide you with some scenarios to give you a better idea on how each one of these leadership styles might be executed in a typical office environment.
Do you have your hot drinks and refreshments ready for this discussion? If so, let’s begin….
LEADERSHIP STYLE 1: AUTOCRATIC
Let’s start with the more inflexible, authoritative and old-fashioned form of leadership style out of the bunch, the autocratic style. Most autocratic leaders will do all the decision-making without asking their subordinates for their opinions. They will essentially treat their workforce like robots. Setting unrealistic deadlines, having hardly any communication with staff, providing minimum assistance and simply being difficult to work with are all typical traits of a demanding autocratic leader.
Scenario: it’s lunchtime and instead of going for a break staff members remain glued to their office desks and desk chairs. This is not just a one-off, it happens on a daily basis! The autocratic leader would notice this but instead of encouraging staff members to go for breaks they will just act oblivious and be too concerned about staff meeting deadlines rather than an employee’s health and wellness.
LEADERSHIP STYLE 2: DEMOCRATIC
Next up is… the democratic leadership style. This is a commonly practiced leadership in the modern workplace. The beauty of this leadership style is that the opinions of the subordinates are always heard and there is always plenty of communication going on between leaders and their subordinates.
It’s however important to note that despite there being many opinions exchanged, the leader will always make the final decision and delegate tasks accordingly. Unlike the autocratic leader, they will always be helpful whenever their colleagues are stuck on tasks.
Scenario: it’s time for the weekly meeting again instead of it taking place in a formal boardroom setting the democratic leader decides to hold the meeting at a more informal setting, the breakout space! Also, instead of the leader talking at you and giving you orders, this fair democratic leader will give everyone a chance to speak and listen carefully at what everyone has to say on various topics. How wonderful?!
LEADERSHIP STYLE 3: LAISSEZ-FAIRE
Finally yet importantly, there is the laissez-faire leadership style we think you should know about. The laissez-faire leader is completely opposite to the autocratic leader. They will allow you to be autonomous with your work and have full ownership of your work activities with minimal or no interference. In a nutshell, it’s an extremely laid-back leadership approach, ideal for employees who love to work independently!
Scenario: an important client deadline has been missed because a staff member failed to manage their time well and the client is furious. Instead of ensuring there is a quick turnaround, the laissez-faire leader leaves it two days before approaching the problem due to their easy-going attitude.
To conclude:
We have now reached the end of Calibre’s roundtable discussion for the week on leadership styles. As you can see, there are three types of leadership styles that exist in the workplace, the autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire. Most of the staff members at Calibre Office Furniture feel that the democratic leadership style is probably the best one. Why? because it keeps staff involved but it also ensures that everyone doesn’t slack and keeps on top of their work. What are your views on this? We would love to hear your thoughts!
In addition:
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