Communication leadership styles

Leadership is a broad topic that is integrated into our lives in various contexts. It is all around us from early childhood to late adulthood. For instance, even in kindergarten, some children become the team captain in group games and guide others to achieve a common goal of winning the game. Later in life, we become supervisors, directors, administrators, governors, and lead a group of people to reach several goals.

Although leadership is widespread, the world lacks good leaders. In the last few decades, it has been hard to find ethical and effective leaders in leadership positions. Most leaders in big leadership positions such as ministers, presidents, CEOs of multinational companies, focus on selfish concerns rather than the common good of the society, leaving so many people harmed. In other words, as we have so many ineffective and unethical leaders globally, there is a global leadership crisis, which affects societies negatively. Therefore, it is more important than ever to understand what leadership is and learn about different leadership styles; being knowledgeable about leadership could help us be more critical when choosing our leaders in an era of global leadership crisis.

This text will provide a brief description of leadership and the communication leadership styles to help you analyse the actions and behaviours of leaders around you, as well as developing your own leadership style.

What is leadership?

As researchers have been trying to understand and explain leadership for centuries, it is probable to come across many different definitions. After reading numerous definitions, I chose to define leadership from a communication perspective: Leadership is a communication-based process of influencing the actions and attitudes of others (followers) to accomplish shared objectives.  

To understand the concept of leadership better, it is important to keep in mind that:


  1. Leadership is a joint product of leaders and followers. Without followers, there wouldn't be leaders, as leadership is about influencing and motivating one or more individuals to act towards achieving a mutual goal.

  2. Communication is the core of leadership. Communication plays a substantial role in leader-follower interaction. Leaders must communicate their objectives effectively with others to be able to influence them.

  3. Leadership is about meeting the collective goals and needs of a group or organisation. It is not about meeting the leaders' selfish wants and needs. Leaders and followers should share common objectives and aim to accomplish them together in collaboration.


 

What are the communication leadership styles?

One factor that determines whether leaders are effective or ineffective is their communication styles. In other words, “communicative behaviours in which leader engages when interacting with followers”[1] impact the productivity, interactivity, satisfaction, and the working environment of the followers. Although there are many categorisations of leadership communication styles, I will focus on authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire leadership.

1- Authoritarian Leadership

Leaders with the authoritarian communication style implement direct supervision on followers and strictly control the strategic goals, decisions, and actions to accomplish tasks. Authoritarian leaders give orders to and dictate the behaviour of the followers, set “policy and procedures unilaterally”, ignore the advice coming from team members, see themselves above their followers, and create a distanced relationship with followers (see more on Table 1). For instance, if a school principal gives orders to teachers or changes their class schedule without asking, that means he/she is using an authoritarian communication style.

As a result of the authoritarian communication style of leaders, followers abstain from expressing their own opinions and ideas. Therefore, they become nonautonomous and unsatisfied with their experience. Although authoritarian leadership is not the most ethical leadership style, it might be one of the most effective ones when there is a limited time to make democratic decisions.[1]

2- Democratic Leadership

In the democratic style of communication, the ties between followers and leaders are strong and interactive. Leaders allow the contribution of followers in the goal-setting and decision-making processes. Democratic leaders ask for recommendations and deepen commitment by enabling participation while setting up strategies and policies. Besides this, they focus on motivating and training the followers. A great example of a democratic leader is a football coach, who organises the training hours by ensuring each team member is available at that time of the day. Democratic leaders are involved in interpersonal communication and supportive relations behaviours, “demonstrating consideration, concern, and acceptance for the needs and feelings of others.”[1] Democratic leadership results in high productivity, increased commitment, and follower satisfaction.

3- Laissez-Faire Leadership

Laissez-faire leadership communication style follows a hands-off ruling, meaning that laissez-faire leaders are reluctant to take responsibilities, guide and intervene in the actions of followers, and make group discussions or interactions (Table 1). This type of leadership communication gives followers autonomy and lets them designate their own goals and policies but demotivates them to complete tasks unless they are highly motivated experts. For instance, a group of medical researchers might work effectively without guidance from a leader when provided with the resources they need as they are knowledgeable in their working area. However, if a group of children is directed by a teacher who is a laissez-faire leader, it is likely for students to fail in their tasks.

Table 1. "Styles of Leadership Communication”[1]














Democratic Authoritarian Laissez-Faire


  • Involves followers in setting goals

  • Engages in two-way, open communication

  • Facilitates discussion with followers

  • Solicits input regarding determination of policy and procedures

  • Focuses interaction

  • Provides suggestions and alternatives for the completion of tasks

  • Provides frequent positive feedback

  • Rewards good work and uses punishment only as a last resort

  • Exhibits effective listening skills

  • Mediates conflict for group gain

  • Sets goals individually

  • Engages primarily in one-way, downward communication

  • Controls discussion with followers

  • Sets policy and procedures unilaterally

  • Dominates interaction

  • Personally directs the completion of tasks

  • Provides infrequent positive feedback

  • Rewards obedience and punishes mistakes

  • Exhibits poor listening skills

  • Uses conflict for personal gain

  • Allows followers free rein to set their own goals

  • Engages in noncommittal, superficial communication

  • Avoids discussion with followers

  • Allows followers to set policy and procedures

  • Avoids interaction

  • Provides suggestions and alternatives for the completion of tasks only when asked to do so by followers

  • Provides infrequent feedback of many kind

  • Avoids offering rewards or punishments

  • May exhibit either poor or effective listening skills

  • Avoids conflict

 

Overall, all three communication leadership styles have positives and negatives, depending on the context of leadership.  For me, democratic leadership is the most ethical and effective one as it involves open communication and collaboration with the followers. In general, the advantages derived from democratic leadership outweigh the potential costs,[1] unlike authoritarian and laissez-faire leadership styles.

Reference

[1] Johnson, C. E. & Hackman, M. Z. Leadership: A Communication Perspective. (Waveland Press, 2018).

Photo: Wilson Joseph, Pixabay.