Types of Business Management Styles 

As a business leader, managing your team is crucial to creating the results you want in both the short term and the long term. Managing a team with gentle leadership can come in a variety of management styles. You may prefer one over the other, but they all prioritize your team and the success your team will share if you all work hard, making sure to be patient, kind, and open about what you are capable of achieving.  

Democratic Leadership 

The modern-day worker wants to be heard. Democratic leadership is about majority rule, and having your team participate in the decision-making process. This is a great way to encourage your employees to be more active and helps them realize their potential as part of a team. As a manager, being a democratic type of manager helps you take note of your team’s strengths and weaknesses. 

Autocratic Leadership

The top-down approach, the autocratic leadership style is the authoritarian, and traditional, management style of leadership. In this style, the focus is entirely on results on efficiency. This is done by close management of subordinates who make sure these employees are following instructions as close as possible. In this environment, employees are expected to listen and follow a manager’s orders. 

As one can expect, the autocratic leadership type of management style has become unpopular over the years. While it is a good way to promote loyalty, an employee want’s to know that they are valued as not simply a cog in the machine, but as an individual whose thoughts and opinions are valued. An employee who feels unappreciated will not stay for long, and after the Great Resignation of the Early 2020s, keeping valuable employees is a goal of any talented manager. 

Visionary Leadership 

This management style of leadership focuses on inspiring your team by potential. As the title suggests, a visionary leader is focused on the long-term goals of the organization and how these goals can be achieved by each member of the team. A big part of a talented visionary business leader is one that is willing to listen to their team members. The vision is an objective shared by your entire team. How you will achieve this dream is not up to you alone but to both you and the team.  

Of course, the con of such a management style comes down to hubris. A manager or team leader might be able to talk the talk, but can you prove that your inspirational words actually end in positive outcomes, and will you let your teammates share their opinions about your vision? 

Coaching Style 

Treating your team members as valuable individuals, you are there to encourage them to push towards long-term goals. When coaching your team with gentle leadership, each member of your team feels that they are recognized for their skills that only they can bring to the team, and can help create the results you are looking for. This is a great type of management style for those who are trying to grow a younger team and help create a sense of shared responsibility for how and why work needs to be done, and why we are all in this together. 

Where Can you Learn to be a Better Business Manager?

Becoming a better business leader is not about glitz and glamour, it’s about knowing how to communicate and show the respect your team delivers. In Saint Augustine College’s Associate of Business Management, you can get the tools you need to grow your business to its full potential. With a degree that just takes two years, you learn about the financial, legal, and macroeconomic metrics that are needed to run a successful business. Want to learn more? Contact us today.