Leadership is often confused with leading, but these terms have different approaches and meanings. Leading is a dominant way of controlling a business, and the manager has a superior position among the employees. On the other hand, leadership is based on certain principles that allow teams to become truly immersed in the company’s goals while maintaining a human connection that cultivates a healthy work environment.
Many leadership elements, such as clarity, competence, critical thinking and consideration, are essential in a leader’s business approach. While these are only soft key features, each industry requires a certain set of technical skills that will complete the final model of a proper leadership role.
However, the limitations of how a true leader should look and act might hinder one’s true potential. So now, different leadership styles have emerged in the business world to help other individuals drive employee innovation.
Let’s discuss some of them.
Entrepreneurial leadership
Entrepreneurial leadership aims to motivate a team in order to achieve a certain goal. This approach doesn’t focus on systems and processes but on innovation, risk optimization and taking advantage of opportunities. The main characteristics of such a leader include the following:
- Communication: the leader can articulate ideas and the plan for achieving goals;
- Vision: the entrepreneur knows the direction he’s going towards and the way to get there;
- Support: as the team needs help to correct mistakes without being punished, the leader comes to analyze and discuss things thoroughly;
- Growth orientation: the leader provides feedback and encourages employees to come up with ideas and share their opinions;
Only some people can approach this style because supporting a team needs to be done constantly. The leader must have high self-esteem and self-confidence to be competent in reaching a bigger goal next to an entire team that might get easily discouraged.
Transformational leadership
Transformational leadership is focused more on individuality, and the main goals of this type of leadership include loyalty and instilling confidence. While entrepreneurial leadership focuses on leading everyone in the same direction and keeping their hopes up, transformational leadership targets changing one’s expectations and motivations to reach a goal.
Some of the components of transformational leadership consist of the following:
- Intellectual stimulation: the leader encourages employees to be creative and explore new ways of doing their tasks;
- Individualized consideration: the team is confident to share their ideas because they know the leader will always offer recognition;
- Inspirational motivation: the leader can transfer their reasons and vision to their teams to fulfill goals without being forceful;
A transformational leader has active listening skills and is emotionally intelligent. Some examples of such leaders include Barack Obama, Nelson Mandela and Steve Jobs.
Charismatic leadership
Charismatic leadership is something truly unique. The leader has a certain charm, and their personality is so amiable that people are drawn into being motivated simply by the leader’s presence. This type of leadership combines interpersonal connection, persuasiveness and maturity. Compared with the transformational style, the charismatic method uses more personality to influence the others around and appeals to their employees professionally and emotionally.
This type of leadership is not really something that can be taught because charismatic leaders are born this way. In the Myers-Briggs personality test, the ESFP type is considered the charismatic leader or the “life of the party.” The importance of such leaders can be understood with the help of leadership keynote speakers who can thoroughly help reimagine authority roles into a company’s culture.
A charismatic leader is:
- Open to taking risks as they see them more as unique opportunities;
- Accepting unconventional task approaching, such as working from home or in a hybrid manner;
- Calm under pressure because they believe in keeping everyone committed and motivated;
- Sensible to the team’s needs, and it helps them navigate sensitive situations;
Participative leadership
Participative leadership is the one that involves employees in the goal-achieving process the most. In this case, the leader listens to people’s opinions and includes everyone in decision-making. An inclusive mindset is always required because leaders must be willing to share their power with multiple people and recognize when someone has the right vision.
Participate leadership encourages accountability and makes anyone responsible for the final outcome of a specific project. This allows teams to be more productive while not feeling pressured by the leader’s supervision. At the same time, participatory leadership helps avoid dissonances between team members that often occur in most companies. The benefits of this leadership style include the following:
- Increased engagement that the high-level decision-making process people drive are involved into;
- Boosted morale supported a more profound feeling of community and more motivation;
- More collaboration since more voices are allowed to speak out;
- Encouraged independence because employees require less intense management as tasks are appropriately delivered;
Why is leadership important?
Leadership is the only way that a team can go toward similar goals. Teams need leaders because their energy sometimes decreases, and someone has to be responsible for directing good energy and motivating them for more effectiveness. Therefore, a leader is needed to promote good values, boost creativity levels and remind employees of the project’s purpose.
Leadership also provides some essential elements to a company’s culture, such as guidance, commitment and integrity. Finally, morale is a powerful feeling that sometimes gets lost along the way. But that’s not a problem because it can be regained with the help of the perfect leader.
Influential leaders can adapt to almost any change and take the course of things to a more efficient route that offers enough stability for workers. Some things that an effective leader abides by include prioritizing learning and continuous training, which is why employees can be determined to contribute to change and focus at the same time.
Bottom line
Many different leadership styles can provide a better business approach than traditional ones. However, as industries are distinct and managers are looking for people fitted into a certain ideal, leaders must also fall under these expectations and blend in with the team perfectly.
