Leadership is a quality that allows you to motivate others so that you can work in collaboration in order to achieve common goals. There are different techniques to reach the organization's objectives. Such different objectives of giving direction and encouraging people are called leadership styles. 



Most good leaders are capable of understanding their strengths and weaknesses so that they can learn the best-suited leadership style. By knowing your strengths and then honing them, you can connect and inspire your team members better. 

You can easily communicate with your team when you are familiar with the different leadership styles. When your team members know what type of leader you are, they are more comfortable interacting with you. They know what to expect from you and what not to expect. 

Here are the common leadership styles so you can identify your personality. When you familiarize yourself with the types of leadership, you might recognize the areas where you need to improve. 

1. Autocratic, coercive, or commanding – Autocratic leaders make decisions without any participation from anyone who reports to them. They don't consult their team members before giving them direction and expect them to fall in line. The leadership style is also known as Authoritarian, commanding, or coercive. 

2. Affiliative – Affiliative leaders create emotional bonds with their members. These types of leaders always keep people before their profit and believe that team should always come first. 

3. Bureaucratic – These leaders follow the textbook template and act in a manner given to them. They are different from autocratic leaders in that they prefer to uphold the past policies of a company. 
Bureaucratic leaders are found in organizations that have a highly regulated atmosphere and follow strict guidelines. Such a leadership style doesn't promote innovation in the employees.

4. Coaching – A coaching leader spends a lot of time fostering the strength of each member of the team. They will try to understand their team members thoroughly. This leadership style is similar to democratic and affiliative leadership, but coaching leadership emphasizes the success and growth of individual employees. 

5. Democratic or participative – Democratic leadership style is similar to affiliative leadership as it emphasizes the knowledge and skills of the team members. They always ask for input from their team members. Democratic leaders listen carefully and use their team members' collective wisdom. 

6. Laissez Faire – Laissez Faire is the leadership style with minimum intrusion. It is mostly found in entrepreneurial start-ups where a business owner puts full trust in their team. However, it can also limit their development. Sometimes, employees need to be corrected, which is not possible through Laissez Faire leader, that can cause inefficiencies in an organization. 

While it is common to develop a desire to adopt a particular type of leadership style but you should know that you can also be flexible when it comes to leadership style according to the situation. Suppose you are looking to enhance your leadership skills across an organization. In that case, you can go for leadership training programs that will help you accentuate and refine your strongest leadership qualities while helping you improve the aspects that need correction.