Ilm Understanding Leadership

Understanding Leadership Styles

There are a number of factors that will influence the style of leadership a leader may choose, such as:
The working environment,
The task or project that is being tackled,
The staff themselves and their preferred style of working, along with their personal traits and qualities
How do you determine what is an appropriate style?
Any leader uses a range of different styles at different times during the course of a single day. Decisions have to be made and it may be appropriate for different styles of leadership at different times, and for different situations during that day.
Another factor that has to be considered when choosing a leadership style is that the leadership style at the beginning should be consistent with what people in the organization expect.
Transactional leadership
This is done by enticing staff with rewards such as bonuses, prizes, something that will be of benefit to the staff member; these are achieved by setting targets. The outcome of this will be that the target is achieved but the morale of the team may be affected with some doing very well and gaining great recognition, others not so well which can demoralise the staff and affect their enthusiasm for future tasks.
Transformation leadership
This is a beliefs and values type of leading getting the team to believe the vision of the final aim. This is done by talking and listening to the team and being positive and enthusiastic about the aim. One of the benefits of this type of leadership in comparison with Transactional leadership is that no one feels like they are being singled out for under achieving as they are all working together and believe in the leaders vision, this is done by encouraging individuals values and enthusiasm for the task.
Authentic Leadership
This is a leader who is extremely good at what they do whilst remaining grounded and in touch with their workforce, an assumed leader rather than elected. They can inspire their