Management styles are the driving force behind the culture of a workplace. They set the tone for how employees are treated, the level of autonomy they have, and the overall atmosphere within the organization. If you don’t have effective leadership, your business could truly suffer. Yet it’s a fine line between motivating employees, pushing them to do their best, and micromanaging. So how can you, as a manager, help? We’re breaking down the different management styles and ways that you can assist your team to keep your business running smoothly.

Different Management Styles

Before we get into how different management styles shape workplace culture, it’s important to understand what each management style is like. 

• Authoritarian: This style is characterized by a top-down approach, with management making all the decisions and employees following orders
• Democratic: This is more collaborative, with management seeking input from employees and making decisions based on consensus
• Laissez-faire: Laissez-faire is hands-off, with management providing employees with the resources and freedom they need to do their jobs
• Transformational: This style is all about motivating and inspiring employees to achieve great things
• Transactional: Transactional style is focused on setting goals and rewarding employees for meeting them

Each style has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the best style for a particular situation will vary depending on the team, the task, and the management’s own preferences. However, authoritarian, laissez-faire, and transactional should typically be avoided as much as possible.

How Management Can Help An Organization

Keeps Everyone on the Same Page

When it comes to a company’s mission and vision, management is the one that ensures everyone is aligned. Employees want to understand what they’re working for and how they can help reach specific goals. As a manager, it is your role to help create strategies that will allow them to hit those milestones. The more they feel motivated, the more satisfied they will be in a position. The higher the satisfaction they experience, the better the work they provide.

Get Through Hard Times

Let’s face it. There are always going to be challenging times in a business. Whether you’re struggling to meet specific sales numbers or your numbers are down, it’s not always going to be smooth sailing. Management’s role is to keep calm and weather the storm. If you panic, your employees are sure to also panic. Clear communication and strategy building can help employees feel confident moving forward, even when things are hard.

Provide Learning Experiences

If employees don’t feel they’re allowed to grow and develop new skills, they will become stagnant. If not taken care of, this can lead to unhappiness and eventually searching for another job. There is no such thing as too much education or experience. Management is responsible for harnessing this growth amongst its employees and providing learning experiences to help employees improve at their jobs. 

Create an environment where employees feel safe to make mistakes and learn from them. Allow them to tap into their creativity and try new things. This experimentation can often lead to incredible things that benefit the business. 

Hire Top Tier Managers

At the end of the day, management can make or break a team. If you’re not equipped with a strong enough team that encourages employees to grow and be the best versions of themselves, you’re doing yourself a disservice. There’s a time and place for every kind of management style–it’s all about finding out what works best for you and when.

Here at MBS, our goal is to help you fill professional roles with top talent–including management. If you have openings that you’re struggling to fill or you’re just looking to find the best of the best for your business, contact us today.