From Mahatma Gandhi to Winston Churchill to Martin Luther King, there are as many leadership styles as there are leaders. Fortunately, business people and psychologists have developed useful and simple ways to describe the main styles of leadership and these can help aspiring leaders to understand which styles they should adopt. So, whether you manage a team at work, captain a sports team or lead a major organization, which approach is best?

Autocratic leadership

With this form of leadership leaders have absolute power over their workers or team. At one extreme, these leaders are aloof from their staff, thinking big thoughts, their eye on the distant horizon, focused exclusively on their task and their destiny to remake the world in their own image. They will have total authority over any decision-making and tell their followers what needs to be done and how the tasks should be completed. Staff and team members have little opportunity to make suggestions. A variation of this type of leadership is known as ‘command and compliance’, a style that does have its place and its uses. It is particularly effective when time is limited, such as in a medical emergency when it is vital for someone to take charge and prevent any chaos or confusion. Another example is when a doctor prescribes a course of antibiotics for a medical condition and the patient is advised to take the medicine. The style is also good when dealing with groups that need close supervision, such as young children or very inexperienced employees and recruits.