Introduction
Leadership is the process of ensuring that all things are working as required in ant given organization or in a team. Every group of individuals functioning together needs to have a leader who will be overseeing the various duties and responsibilities in the organization. There are various styles of leadership that can be adopted in any organization to achieve goals and objectives.
Leadership
One of the successful leaders that I have worked with is the manager of the food processing and packaging company that I worked with two years ago. This leader applied very good leadership styles that ensured efficiency in production in the company and proper coordination of employees at all levels. Our manager used a democratic leadership style where he could ask for the views of all the employees, or their representatives in all departments when making decisions on issues concerning the company. The manager however used to make the final decision but he considered the views of the employees which were their likes. This process earned efficiency in the production of the company since the employees felt that they are part of the company by getting involved in decision making. They could therefore work hard towards improving the company’s performance especially on issues where they have decisions on (Goldman, & Dubow, 2007).
Our company had staffs of all levels, the permanent employees, the casuals and the subordinates who were either learned ad some were not learned. Regardless of the position held, or the levels of education, our manager viewed every one important and needed to be involved in making company decisions. This process was however slow since it could take quite some time to get views from the employees and for the manager to reach a final decision. However, his method of leadership produced the best results as compared to other companies where the leader could use other leadership ways (Schwartz & Tumblin, 2002).
Leadership styles
There are ten skills of leadership as identified by the Baptist Leadership Institute. These are autocratic leadership where the leader applies a lot of authority over his employees or the members of his team. Those being led are only given very few chances of giving out their suggestions even in issues in the interest of the organization. The other skill of leadership is bureaucratic leadership where the leader ensures that the employees follow the exact procedures. He does not consider the situation but goes by the book even in risky matters The Health Research and Educational Trust, 2006). The other form of leadership is charismatic leadership where the leader has a lot of power in driving the employees, he instills a lot of enthusiasm in his staff and this makes them always follow him. Then there is democratic leadership where the leader makes the final decision after giving a chance for the employees to express their views regarding certain decisions to be made.
Another leadership style is Laissez-faire. This is a French term meaning let it be. The leader who uses this style leaves the employees to make decisions and act according to what they decide. This is especially for teams that comprise of experienced people (Dixon, & Bilbrey, 2009). People-oriented leadership is also another form of leadership where the leader is focused on organizing and developing his team players. This leads to improvement in teamwork among the employees and collaboration in their work. In servant leadership, there is no defined leader. The person who emerges the best in fulfilling the needs of his team is the one described as the servant leader. Another style is task-oriented leadership where the leader is highly involved in getting the job done. He is actively involved in defining the work, putting in place what is required in doing the work, and monitoring. He however does very little concerning the employees (The Health Research and Educational Trust 2006).
The other form of leadership is transactional leadership where the workers work on the condition that they are being paid. The leader can therefore punish them if the work does not meet standards. They are paid in return for the efforts they put and how they comply. The last style of leadership is transformational leadership. This is a true leader who motivates his team by sharing with them the future vision of the organization. This way, the employees will work towards achieving the vision (Mindtools, 2009). The leader of our company influenced my leadership greatly since he helped me learn the best leadership style that can improve the production capacity of company production. Involvement of the employees in decision making motivates the employees and instills a sense of responsibility to them thus improving their commitment.
Conclusion
Leadership is the major determinant of the level of performance of any organization. Avery’s leader needs to be informed of the forms of leadership style and make a wise decision on the type of leadership style to adopt. The followers or the team member also performs depending on how their team leader is taking them.
References
Dixon, D. & Bilbrey, P. (n.d.) Developing Leaders Daily. Baptist Leadership Institute. Web.
Goldman, E. F., & Dubow, M. J. (2007). Developing and Leading Successful Growth Strategies. Healthcare Executive 22 (3); 9.
Mindtools (n.d.) Leadership styles – Using the right one for your situation. Web.
Schwartz, R. & Tumblin, T. (2002). The power of servant leadership to transform health care organizations. Archives of Surgery, 137.
The Health Research and Educational Trust (2006). Report of the National Steering Committee on Hospitals and the Public’s Health. Web.