Everyone works differently and are motivated by different ways of management. The problem is that the vast majority of managers aren’t asking themselves which management style fits them. They’re simply adopting the one they’re most familiar/comfortable with, or the one they’ve been told to display. It can be difficult to get right and one size doesn’t fit all but there are ways that we can improve. The bottom line is that the wrong management style demotivates employees, kills productivity, and trains employees to disengage or leave.
Here are a few styles of leadership that we think will benefit you and motivate your team to be the best they can be!
Democratic
In democratic management, majority rules. Employees participate in the decision-making process because managers value their team’s ideas and understand that people are the key to a team’s success. Democratic managers ultimately approve of all decisions, but since their employees are so involved in the decision-making process, that has a lot of influence in their manager’s decision.
Employees are heavily involved in the decision-making process as managers know it makes their team feel valued, boosts their morale, and forges a healthy, trusting relationship between the two. It also makes it easier for managers to convince their employees to buy into a team’s vision – after all, they’re executing a plan that they’ve created together.
When executed poorly, a democratic management style can be inefficient. Managers who keep mulling over a decision even after consulting their whole team about it can slow down progress. And if you want your employees to feel like they’re all leaders of your team, you need to make sure they’re helping you make progress. Or else they might start thinking you’re just making empty promises.
Visionary
A visionary manager communicates a purpose and direction, which convinces the team to work hard to execute the managers vision. After setting their team’s vision and overarching strategy, visionary managers usually let their employees get to work on their own terms, as long as they’re productive. Managers will only check in on their team to make sure they’re on the right track or to share new insights.
Visionary managers are also known to be firm yet fair. Their vision is usually set in place, but they’re always open to listening to their employees’ ideas and willing to change their plan if a great idea is presented. To better execute their vision, visionary managers give a lot of feedback to their employees about their performance and praise them when their performance meets or exceeds expectations.
This type of management style is hard to pull off, though. It’s crucial that you sell your employees on the purpose of your vision before you expect them to execute it. If you don’t, they won’t be inspired to turn your vision into a reality.
Transformative
Transformational managers are innovators. They usually believe change and growth is the only way to stay ahead of the curve, so they push their employees past their comfort zone, making them realize they’re more capable than they originally thought. This motivates employees to keep raising the bar, leading to improved team performance.
These teams are innovative, so they can adapt to drastic industry changes. But they can also risk moving too fast and spreading themselves thin. Constantly challenging the status-quo is crucial for innovation and staying ahead of the curve, but, as a manager of people, it’s important to know how far you can push each of your employees before they start burning out.
The post Management Styles appeared first on Hello Monday.