Leadership Styles for Small Business Owners

Many leadership styles are available, and choose which suits you can be challenging. Before you start thinking about which one is best for you, it’s essential that you have a good understanding of yourself and your team members.

Creative teams and small businesses can benefit from collaborative or democratic leadership styles. On the other hand, for larger service-based organizations, an authoritative style is ideal. In this article is a list of leadership styles that small business owners can utilize.

Strategic

Most managers are naturally strategic when it comes to their thinking. In a strategic leadership style, the focus is on the bigger picture and the vision. This type of leadership differs from micromanagement, involving everyone in the process.

If you plan on implementing this type of management style, ensure that your team members are good at filling in the blanks regarding project management. This type of management will not work if they cannot run with the vision.

Democratic

Another type of leadership style that is commonly used is democratic management. This type of leadership involves team members throughout the process of making decisions. Although the process may not last as long as casting votes, leaders still consider all viewpoints before reaching a final decision.

A confusing decision-making process can occur if the proper systems aren’t in place to gather input. Employees may not be able to provide helpful suggestions in every instance if they don’t have all the necessary facts.

Authoritative

Unlike democratic management, an authoritative style is more like a manager. This leader has the necessary skills and experience to make informed decisions. They are the one who directs the team, and they expect their subordinates to follow their instructions.

Transformative

One of the most popular leadership styles is transformational management, which is fluid and agile. This style is ideal for creative environments, as it constantly encourages businesses to look for new ways to improve their operations.

The downside of this management style is that it can leave employees with conflicting ideas about implementing new procedures. You’ll also have to find a more transformational team to guide you through changes.

Collaboration

Although democratic management is commonly used, the collaborative management style goes beyond this type of leadership by working alongside the team members throughout the process. This type of style is often seen in start-up businesses.

About the Author

Gianmatteo Costanza is a Senior Technical Program Manager for Meta in San Francisco, California. In addition to being a well-established developer and team leader, he is also a successful entrepreneur.

Gianmatteo’s first venture was in high school in Zurich, Switzerland. He and some friends co-founded a web design firm called 4nexus the webarchitects. They primarily designed websites initially, but their talents soon let the company evolve into web-based solutions for small- and medium-sized business clients, a hosting company, and software solutions for financial applications. This experience allowed Gianmatteo to explore his multiple talents as a project manager, accountant, designer, and developer.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Gianmatteo spent his summers learning about his industry of choice. As a freelancer for surfEU.com, he worked as a journalist and web designer for the popular web portal. While working as an intern for AdNovum Informatik AGA, digital solutions providers for multiple industries, cybersecurity, and cloud-based services, among others. Gianmatteo developed a Java framework for generating financial reports and devised a high-level meta-language for aggregating data. While interning for VMware, Gianmatteo discovered his love for the UI aspect of software development, creating the web center interface for the company infrastructure. These experiences launched Gianmatteo into Silicon Valley, where he worked with department heads to develop large-scale applications and manage his own teams from the ground up.