Participative Leadership and How It Works

My leadership style according to the quiz is Participative. Participative Leadership is a style in which the manager invites employees to take part in the leadership process. This works by the manager giving employees the necessary information they will need to process data and develop a conclusion and form an opinion. The workers are then invited to give feedback or vote on the way forward and the manager oversees this process and helps to guide it.

I do feel that the Participative Leadership Style is reflective of my style of leadership. As one who is in charge of leading a staff, I often invite input from my workers when it comes to making a decision that will impact the group. I recognize that changes will affect us all and so see it as a good thing to inform everyone about the pertinent issues and then obtain feedback on how to deal with them. By allowing everyone to participate in the decision making process, I bring the group more closely together and empower them by giving them the information they need to make or form good decisions. I am always ready to guide them but am very happy to enable them all to participate in the leadership process, as I feel that this method inspires responsibility and accountability.

The leadership style that I feel best resonates with me is the democratic leadership style. This is very similar to the participative approach, as it "involves others in the process, seeking group participation and consensus" (Kearney-Nunnery, n.d., p. 170). I identify with this style of leadership because it is one in which the people on the staff are valued for their ideas, commitment, personalities, input, perspectives, and creative ways of thinking. It allows the leader to work with the group and involve them in the decision making process and work towards solutions to problems together.

The leadership theory that most resonates with me is the Skills and Abilities Approach. This approach is based on the idea that leadership is something that can "be learned and further developed and applied in an organizational setting" (Kearney-Nunnery, n.d., p. 169). What I like about this approach is that it promotes human, technical and conceptual skills within the organization. Human skills foster collaboration and team work among the group. Technical skills foster organizational development, as team members must know how to use the technology in the workplace and use it to achieve organizational aims. Conceptual skills help the team envision the problem solving process and how to implement it effectively. As I believe all these skills are absolutely necessary in the workplace, I think this approach is the best as it promotes those abilities which I see my staff as needing to cultivate.

One response to an issue involving the way we address burnout was to invite the staff to give their opinions on why burnout was happening and what could be done to fix it. This led to some creative brainstorming and positive exchanges that ultimately led us to implement a new policy. Possible alternatives to responding to burnout via a different leadership style might include the laissez-faire approach, which is essentially a hands-off approach (this would mean the staff would have to deal with burnout on its own and figure it out by themselves). The authoritarian approach would be another -- it would see the leader issuing a directive and expecting all to follow it. In this case, staff would have to accept the mandate given by management, after management assessed the situation on its own and decided on its own to implement a solution.

References

Kearney-Nunnery. (n.d.). Managing and Leading in the Organization.