Of the three leadership styles, what style comes easiest to you?
After completing the Leadership Styles Questionnaire, the leadership style that comes easiest for me is democratic leadership. In democratic leadership, group members undertake more participative roles in the group’s decisions. I am a democratic leader because I am defined by allowing the team members to share ideas and make decisions readily. Since I am a democratic leader, I focus primarily on the quality and not productivity. Democratic leadership thrives mostly from developing and fostering respect and trust from the team members and efficiently assigning tasks (Murcahyanto et al., 2018). Every individual is given a chance to participate, and they freely exchange ideas. In a democratic leadership style, people are encouraged to discuss freely and open up to themselves. Indeed, democratic leadership emphasizes equality within the group and free ideas flow.
At the same time, the group leader retains control and offers guidance to the team members. The democratic leadership style comes easily for me. This is because of its associated characteristics. Examples of the significant traits that define democratic leadership are the increased engagement of the group members, encouragement, and rewarding creativity. An excellent democratic leader has particular traits, including intelligence, competence, fairness, and honesty (Rahbi et al., 2017). A robust democratic leader inspires respect and trust among the followers. A democratic leader is sincere, and all decisions they reach are founded on their values and morals. The followers feel motivated to take action and contribute meaningfully to the group. A good, democratic leader obtains different opinions and does not try to silence the opposing voices. The accessible nature of this leadership style makes it stand out among the other available leadership styles.
Describe how people respond to you when you use this style
Whenever I use the democratic leadership style, my followers react positively and provide constructive feedback. It helps us to move together as a group. Democratic leadership style is practical for both the leader and the followers. It embraces the followers’ affirmation and collaboration. Since democratic leaders share the duties of problem-solving and making decisions with the team, followers provide better constructive feedback. Rahbi et al. (2017) mention that democratic leaders feel more engaged with the company and the group because they consider their views. The democratic leadership style values team participation, engagement, and involvement. Every member’s performances are honored and acknowledged. An environment with a democratic leader always produces followers with high morale, is highly motivated to provide innovative solutions, and creates an atmosphere of team spirit and cooperation. This leadership style relies mainly on worker participation.
To this end, the objective of the democratic leader is fostering the involvement of the employees in the organization. Democratic leaders invest in workers. Whenever I use this leadership style, it becomes evident that my followers appreciate my decisions and my quest to ensure they are involved in every step of the group’s efforts. Having loyal followers is very difficult for followers to achieve. Whenever the followers act according to the leader’s demands, motivating them and directing them towards achieving a common cause becomes simpler. Leadership is about making and influencing decisions. The ability to make these decisions rests on an individual’s leadership style (Rahbi et al., 2017). When this leadership is challenged, gaining followers becomes even more complicated and more challenging. I always want to ensure my followers are accessible and comfortable. I constantly endeavor to make my followers better and more involved in the entire process. As a democratic leader, I want to have an engaged team of individuals who achieve short-term and long-term organizational goals.
As you look at your results in the Leadership Styles Questionnaire, what scores would you like to change?
Looking at my results in the Leadership Styles Questionnaire, the score I would like to change is my score on authoritarian leadership. I did not know that I had authoritarian tendencies. From the questionnaire, I realized that my team members make decisions under direct supervision. They lack the authority to move freely. I also independently oversee group processes and policies. While the team is involved in the entire process, including shared responsibilities such as decision-making, I find it hard to include the team when executing company-wide policies. The team members make these decisions, but they have minimal control over what happens. The scores in this test made me understand that I form very rigid and highly structured work environments, which is not suitable for operations. There are also rules that I establish in the group, making it hard to communicate to achieve organizational success.
What would you have to do to make those changes?
To make these changes, there are some steps I should undertake. For example, I will create a scheduled timetable to understand how best to control my emotions. I need to rely more on my emotional intelligence and create a workplace where people feel comfortable about the space and the environment. Whenever people are comfortable in what they do, they are best placed to succeed in their efforts. The basis of success is to know where we make mistakes. These building blocks make or destroy us. I will also endeavor to create a platform where people can engage without fear of being reprimanded or scolded.
References
Murcahyanto, H., Asmawi, M., & Madhakomala, M. (2018). Effect of democratic leadership style and organizational culture on lecturers’ performance. In First International Conference on Technology and Educational Science. European Alliance for Innovation (EAI). https://osf.io/preprints/inarxiv/qvgmn/download
Rahbi, D. A., Khalid, K., & Khan, M. (2017). The effects of leadership styles on team motivation. Academy of Strategic Management Journal, 16(3). https://www.academia.edu/download/57425577/THE_EFFECTS_OF_LEADERSHIP_STYLES_ON_TEAM.pdf