The Holy Trinity to a Happy Work Place
Why Management & Leadership Styles Impact Your Mental Health
Leaders aren't managers and managers aren't always leaders and here's why.
Sometimes, the most effective leadership style depends on the mix of personalities present or the mix of experience levels. Understanding and ensuring the right style is matched to the right role and environment is really important.
We should always be aware of this unconscious bias.
Take this clip of Susan Boyle: Note the panels reaction until they see her value, her voice
Look on the judges and audience faces, they are judging her before she has even been given the chance.
How many times have you made a decision based on socialtal norms?
Autocratic Leadership Style
Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership, is a leadership style where the person has absolute control over decision. People are not asked for input; they are expected to comply with all decisions and orders made by their leader.
Autocratic leadership, like all the other leadership styles in management, has its benefits as well as its drawbacks.
Benefits of autocratic leadership include saving time on the decision-making process, every member of the team knowing exactly what is expected of them and how they are to perform, and fewer strategy implementation errors because there are fewer people involved in the strategic planning process.
Drawbacks include employees feeling like they are not personally valued, reduced motivation among team members and an increased risk of employee rebellion, risk around no shared knowledge.
Workplaces where there are high stakes in play, where human error can mean a safety or security risk, like the military often have this style of leadership.
In other environments, like education and creative services, an autocratic leader can hinder their team and ultimately, undermine their organisation’s success.
However not all situations, in say the military or police need to be autocratic all the time, this is where it is important as a leader to be flexible.
One of the primary reasons why you get poor wellbeing under autocratic cultures, is that there is a fear of failure, so people will protect themselves as the mind is there to keep you alive not happy.
Many autocratic leaders may well disguise their own self worth with a shield of confidence and self-importance, this can create wellbeing issues for both the leader and the followers, the competition then starts as to who can carry the heaviest chains.
Anyone who stands up in these enviornments can be seen as affecting the safety of the group, which of course isn't true, but the environment has become so hostile it appears normal.
This can create hidden toxic cultures, where on the surface all seems ordered to tick the wellbeing box, but underneath everything is breaking.
Eventually this cognitive dissonance will show through, but often it is too late.
Democratic Leadership Style
In many ways, democratic leadership is the opposite of autocratic leadership. Democratic leadership, also sometimes known as participative leadership. This is a leadership style characterised by the leader’s choice to involve team members in the decision-making process.
In all decisions, the leader has the final say and is the owner of the result, but they make decisions according to the input they receive from his or her team and although the owner of the decisions, do give credit to the collective effort.
These types of leaders create connection and purpose.
Benefits of democratic leadership include:
Employees feel motivated to participate in decision-making
Employees feel like their input is valued
Leaders have a diverse set of perspectives to consider
Democratic leadership is not the perfect leadership style, though. Drawbacks include a time-consuming decision-making process, as well as the potential for poor choices if the employees do not have the experience necessary to provide well-informed input.
A democratic leadership style can be a great choice for a smaller team or a team composed of similarly skilled members or specialists.
A true leader in this field has the ability to know what is required but open to the input of others.
Emotionally stable, mental health concerns in this type of leadership style are less, simply because this type of leader comes from a place of empathy and understanding, making decision viewed from many angles.
These leaders are playing the infinite game not the finite game.
Laissez-Faire Leadership Style
Perhaps the easiest way to understand laissez-faire leadership is this:
If democratic leadership is the moderate opposite of autocratic leadership, laissez-faire leadership is the extreme opposite of autocratic leadership.
Laissez-faire leadership is, essentially, the lack of a clear leader role, one may say true democracy, great in principle but difficult to implement successfully.
While one individual may be the leader in title, the reality in this type of workplace dynamic is that everybody is an equal decision-maker and every piece of input from the team is considered equally.
Rather than gathering team members’ input and then considering it when making a decision, a laissez-faire leader leaves the decision-making up to their team members.
This can lead to feelings of importance among every member of the team, but it can also lead to confusion and bottlenecks in strategic processes. Conflict and battles can occur.
A laissez-faire leadership style can be a very effective way to lead a team composed of highly skilled, highly specialised individuals, where their collective purpose is more important having a hierarchy.
Each team member can take the lead in situations that require their expertise and trust their colleagues to make effective choices when they are in the “driver’s seat.”
This really only works well within teams that follow the same rules for living, are highly emotionally aware and know when to step up and step down.
They are driven towards a collective purpose which is not driven by personal gain.
From a wellbeing and mental health point of view these dynamics can be amazing but if the parties involved don’t have congruency in intent, the lack of one strong leader can cause discord and division.
Very strong when it works but only needs one weak link to cause issues.
Transactional Leadership Style
A transactional leader’s primary goals are order and structure in the workplace. Under a transactional leader, self-motivated employees tend to be most successful because the leader has created a structured, rigid environment where they use clear rewards and punishments to drive employee performance.
For example, a transactional leader might require each member of the sales team to speak with five prospective customers each day, offering catered lunch on Friday for every team member who met this goal Monday through Thursday.
These are carrot leaders not stick leaders.
People who like to just be and know their place will thrive under this leader, creative not so much.
Benefits of transactional leadership include:
Clearly defined short- and long-term goals
Clearly defined rewards and consequences for meeting or not meeting those goals
A streamlined, efficient chain of command
Employee security in knowing there are no surprises regarding expectations and outcomes
Transactional leadership can also have drawbacks. These include:
Little room for flexibility or adaptability
Employees feel like followers, rather than innovators or leaders
Personal initiative is not rewarded or valued
Employees can feel stifled by their work environment
Often departments such as Sales, HR and Finance thrive in these environments, but thinkers and creatives feel like they are penned in.
The mental health impact can be huge when you have a transactional leader looking after creatives and innovators, they will make them feel caged.
Innovators can work in this environment as long as the goals set have flexible parameters.
Transformational Leadership Style
Among all the recognised leadership styles in business, transformational leadership is perhaps the most focused on the leader’s personality.
With this type of leader, employees are guided by a clearly defined vision for success, which may be the leader’s personal vision or the company’s mission statement.
This kind of leadership inspires innovation and generally creates a positive workplace culture.
A good CEO should be a Transformational leader, but should have other Transformational leaders around so not to become God like.
Transformational leadership is characterised by:
The leader acting as a role model to employees
Close, consistent focus on the company vision
A high value on interpersonal relationships
Inspiration as a tool to motivate employees
There are
benefits and
drawbacks to transformational leadership.
A transformational leader can inspire employees to try to be their best selves, create a workplace where mutual respect is highly valued and encourage employees to think critically about the values they hold.
However, this type of workplace can make the leader a cult personality and create an environment where gaining the leader’s approval becomes a priority for employees, diverting their focus from performing their jobs well or supporting each other.
Transformational leaders may not always have a transformational company.
Due to the God like status other employees may hold their leader in, this may create a lower culture of transactional and authoritarian leaders underneath, ensuring the façade of the transformational leader is kept intact.
A company or organisation which is truly transformational will have many transformational leaders to ensure the ethos is kept in check, with a balance of other styles.
These leaders will promote innovation amongst staff and allow them to fail knowing that transformation never happens without failing many times.
The transformational leader is the conductor of the orchestra, with a balance of other leaders their to stabilise each section of the orchestra.
Recognising Leadership Styles in Management
I often smile when I see people being described as members of the senior leadership team when in fact, they are managers.
For me leadership can come from anyone, where as management is about responsibility.
Neither should ever be about authority.
No two leaders approach management exactly the same way. Although managers can have similar styles, and individuals often emulate their mentors, or the culture of the organisation. There are as many leadership styles in management as there are people in management.
How many people reading this left their job, not because of the job, but because of how they felt. Unsafe, unfulfilled, they just didn’t feel connected to their organisations true culture, not the one on the Intranet.
The role of a leader is to make you feel safe. The role of a manager is more transactional and is there to get results.
As an employee recognising a team leader’s management style can help you understand their mindset, the reasons behind their decisions and how best to communicate with them.
By doing this you can ensure you are better focused on self-criticism and not feeling good enough or disempowered. It is your managers leadership style that will help you feel safe, but knowing who you want to follow and how your boss or team show up gives you the power to stay in your own lane.
It is not uncommon for an individual to exhibit characteristics from two or more styles, like a leader who embraces transformational ideas and puts them into action through democratic methods. In fact, very few leaders can be classified into any one leadership category 100 percent.
Many of the issues around mental health occur when the same type of leadership and management style come into place across a workplace and a culture forms.
This will promote 3 behaviours:
1. Agree – You have conscious and subconscious values that align. You think and feel the same.
2. Fit in – You consciously try to fit in but subconsciously you don’t. You think and act to stay safe, but subconsciously you feel uneasy.
3. Disagree – You consciously don’t fit in and subconsciously you don’t. This can often be portrayed by others in the group, as difficult or rebellious as you battle to find your place in this alien world. Feeling unsafe leads to Anxiety and dis-ease (disease/illness).
Both 2 and 3 are where the primary wellbeing challenges occur and where often hierarchical structure fails employee welfare.
It is easy to move from Agree to Disagree and anywhere in between just by a change in leadership style.
Example:
Most companies will employee HR representative to look after policy, conduct and wellbeing.
However many HR employees will be transactional or authoritarian leaders, they love rules and stand blindly by them, they process tasks cognitively.
However welfare and wellbeing is a subconscious need, it's emotional.
This is why process does not create a firm basis for employee welfare and why many feel they go through a conveyer belt system rather than feeling safe and secure.
If your leadership team are mainly transactional of authoritarian, people who prefer a Laissez-Faire, Democratic or Transformational leadership style will find themselves feeling unsupported.
This in turn will lead to the employee feeling they do not have the support they need, they will bury their feelings because they do not believe they will be listened to, they need to fit in so they keep their job and they will enter survival mode.
Often unconscious bias can kick in if the leader or department cannot recognise the type of leader they are or what type of leadership style the employee reacts to.
Often though we don’t take into account the subconscious, emotional feelings of people because that takes work and is often difficult to pin point.
So what makes a great leader and why is this important for mental wellbeing?
Well according to leadership expert Simon Sinek author of Leaders Ask Why, creator of the Golden Circle formula and the Infinite Game, it’s not a great mystery.
It really boils down to three things: selflessness, empathy, and an ability to recognise people’s needs.
If you’re in a leadership position and you don’t use this then I would reflect on your position as a leader.
However it is also important to be a leader and take charge and understand what your core needs are and what choices you have if you are suufering.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
How many of you have heard of this, but use it when dealing with people?
So how does that promote mental health, be that at work or even generally in society?
We are hard wired to make connection and avoid rejection and your minds job is to keep you alive not happy. By using this pyramid you are strengthening our natural bonds of connection and giving purpose, this fosters respect and trust, which enable the collective the thrive not survive
Selflessness is about considering the viewpoint of others, like the democratic leader.
Empathy is putting your self in that persons shoes without judgement or offering an opinion. Holding space and supporting them to fail and succeed, empowering them to find their own answers like the Laissez-Faire leader.
You create less Anxiety by being a Transformative leader, inspiring people to dream and know they can have it all.
So what about Autocratic and Transactional, leadership?
Well if you ask me they are not leadership styles they are management and framework styles on which to create, inspire and build.
If you were to build the most beautiful building you would need concrete and steel maybe to make the foundations strong, but it offers little beauty or inspiration.
Your Transformative leader is your architect, your visionary.
Your Democratic leader is the constant juggler finding balance and order in what could be a chaotic world, offering the core components in building of abundance, sandwiched between the dream and the necessary.
The Laissez-Faire leader would be the innovator where no problem cannot be resolved, the eternal optimist.
So you see all leadership styles have their place in the order of things, but like nature, to maintain balance it is important to look within at what is disturbing the peace.
Mental Health in the work place is not about posters, policy and process it’s about an emotional awareness, of who you are and where you want to be.
Creating a culture of safety, empowerment, purpose and trust.
So if you feel uncomfortable, not enough or different.
If you are suffering from poor mental health, it’s not you, you just haven’t realised your in the wrong environment.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Albert Einstein
You have not got Anxiety or PTSD, you simply have not found the root cause of why you feel the way you do. You’re just not living in your natural state.
The answer however does not lie outside you, blaming your manager or leader, it lies inside, taking the responsibility to tear off the armour you surround yourself with and find the root cause to who you really are, not who you’ve been programmed to be.
The choice however is yours.
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”
– Lao Tzu
