Will a Democratic Leadership Style Make You a Successful Leader?

Considered to be the most effective leadership style in the modern workplace, democratic leadership thrives on open communication, creativity and competence to foster a highly engaged and productive workforce.

Your leadership style affects everything you do while in a position of seniority. From how you communicate with your staff to how you delegate work, you’re setting a precedent for how business operations should be actioned.

So, why is democratic leadership so well-regarded in the workplace? And, is it possible for you to develop the skill set required to become a great democratic leader in your organisation?

Democratic leaders lead from a position of mutual respect between themselves and their team members. Instead of adhering to a strict boss-subordinate hierarchy, the influence of the workplace, its projects, processes and culture are shared among all team members.

Democratic leaders tend to be very future-orientated and aim to ensure all employees understand and are invested in the organisation’s long-term goals and values. In other words, democratic leadership can be defined as:

The democratic leadership style, no matter the industry, is characterised by these core characteristics:

• Effective distribution of responsibility to team members
• Group members feel confident in communicating ideas, issues and concerns
• Creativity is encouraged and makes up a large part of day-to-day processes
• A more highly engaged team which often leads to high productivity

Effective democratic leadership relies on a strong foundation of both interpersonal skills and analytical decision-making. You’ll need to both encourage, listen to and value every employee’s input while keeping the organisation’s well-being at the forefront of every decision.

While ultimately holding the final say, this balancing act of sharing the decision-making process requires democratic leaders to have a diverse skill-set.

Although all of these skills are central to fully capitalising on the benefits of good democratic leadership, it’s perfectly normal to not have all of them already under your belt. Some skills will be innate, while others you may have developed in a previous role, and some may be completely foreign. What’s important to know is that all of these skills can be taught and developed.

Like any leadership style, democratic leadership has both the good and the bad. Many of these advantages and disadvantages will shift and change in prominence depending on your team and how the individual members respond to this leadership style.

Some common examples are:

Despite even the best of intentions, tough times and flaws in leadership are bound to happen, much like the disadvantages listed above. However, if you put in concentrated efforts into the right leadership education and training, you can develop the right skills to minimise and maybe even avoid some of these road hurdles.

Everyone can learn how to adopt a more democratic leadership style in the workplace. Leadership rarely comes naturally to people; rather, it takes time, practice, patience and training to feel confident in such a position. You can overcome the challenges of this leadership style and hone the skills you need to become a great democratic leader through training and education.

No matter how senior, every leader should prioritise training to stay well-informed and prepared for the future of their industry’s landscape. So, whether you’re already in a position of leadership or you’re looking to take the next step, a leadership and management course will be invaluable to your career development.

Choosing to undergo training and education in the leadership and management space allows you to identify your strengths and weaknesses and minimise the skills gap you may have, making you a more effective leader.

Take the next step in your career and find your best training course!