The 5 Management Styles
Breaking down the pros and cons of each management style to help you understand the type of leader you are and the type of leader you work for.
Key Takeaways
There is not one management style that proves itself above the rest.
It’s more than just being a micro manager or macro manager. We have all been led by different types of managers and leaders. There are various styles of managing that you should know about. Which one are you?
Results Based
This type of management style speaks to results and efficiency. It doesn't matter how you get things done as long as they get done well, and as quickly as possible. This is great if all members of the team are result-based driven, as it can be very motivating and unifying to the team to work hard towards a common goal.
However, not all people are suited for result based environments, and in some cases, it can leave people feeling unsupported and isolated from one another.
Democratic Style
Democratic leaders are eager to involve their entire team in company decisions, rather than making it an isolated manner. They feel confident in their team and they care about their employees opinions. This style is great as it creates a strong bond of trust and respect. It encourages everyone to participate and contribute to the team.
This style, however, requires ownership of ideas. So although everyone may be contributing to conversation and passing of ideas, ownership needs to happen to determine a plan of action.
Transformational
Transformational leaders encourage team members to go above and beyond their comfort zones. They focus on continuous change and growth within their team. This style is ideal and high performing fast paced environments, like startups for change and problem solving is most effective.
However, the downside to this can result in team burnout, as they have created a culture that is continuously trying to raise the bar without stopping to coast along when needed.
Servant Leader
This is a bit more self-explanatory in the sense that you are putting your people first in serving your team and tending to everything else. Second, bottom line they want their team to feel supported in their work. Servant Leader is a fan favorite for digital project managers. As generally, if your team is happy, they will be motivated to produce and get results.
This can become worrisome however, if the results are to focus on becoming everyone's friend. Rather than getting the work done that needs to be done.
Transactional
Transactional management uses rewards to motivate teams to get work done. This becomes an exchange to encourage work and results. This is great for short-term solution and gains. It has proved to be very effective, especially if there's a lot of work that needs to get done.
However, transactional management is not a long-term solution. Eventually the rewards will run out, which means the work results will too.
So now that you have an idea of what types of management styles that project managers can possess, you will see that there's not one management style that proves itself above the rest. But with that being said, what kind of management style do you think that you are?