Each bellwether at all levels of the company acts as an alpha person since it is he or she who determines purposefulness of collective activity, selection of personnel, psychological climate and other aspects within an enterprise. One of the most common sorts of leadership to our days still remains the directive one. It is often compared with autocracy and totalitarianism necessary for victory and survival among strong rivals. So, this approach is not suitable for everyone.
What Is Directive Leadership Style?
Directive management type is characterized by high centralization and dominance of undivided authority. Its supporters give preference to orders and directions because they are not inclined to dialogue with employees. Such businessmen closely monitor the laborers’ work and severely criticize them for assumed mistakes, supplementing it with a hidden and sometimes obvious threat.
A working collective becomes excessively dependent on the authorities. They are required to coordinate any action. Therefore, in the event of chief’s sickness or even release, a workflow will be disorganized, as no one decides to take the initiative. So, a commanding leader must always be healthy, full of strength and energy.
Directive boss demands that everything, even the slightest nuances, is reported to him/her. An autocrat does not always understand how to proceed further because he or she “looks” at a situation from one angle. Favorite methods of influence are demands, remarks, reprimands, and deprivation of bonuses.
Characteristics of Directive Leadership Approach
The directive leader does not allow demonstrating own curiosity or empathy toward wage-earners as he or she keeps a clearly expressed distance. His/her primary responsibility is only management, not the establishment of contact. Workers are made passive and are experiencing constant stress. Dissatisfaction with workplace, status, colleagues or system is growing. Intrigue and gossip are gaining. As a result, laborers either begin often to ache, or become opportunists, engaging in personal benefit.
Researchers prove that autocrats are prone to psychosomatic illnesses arising from excessive tension. The body is just working to the bottom, not being able to recover. Frequently, directive style is chosen by people who crave for power and control. But in life, everything cannot be monitored. Awareness of this fact causes a feeling of powerlessness, with which not everyone could reconcile.
Experts advise resorting to it exclusively in extreme conditions, requiring coordinated actions of the team in a short period of time. The reason is that corporate culture in most firms is built around the establishment of reciprocal linkage, to which commanding individual is not capable. Today applying examples of directive leadership is perceived rather as a micromanagement, than a long-term behavior pattern.
10 Directive Leadership Style Examples
Not every person is able to cope with the role of an autocrat because he or she has to work a lot more laid and absolutely without rest. Furthermore, independent decision-making entails a one-sided responsibility. Add to this, the tension in your team, and you do not envy such a leader. If you are pursuing a goal to increase own efficiency, you should refer to the following tips.
- Show who is in charge here. If you are instructed to lead a particular group, you should not doubt own credentials. Remember, directive supervision does not need to prove to laborers that he or she is worthy of the received post. Only after consolidating own prestige, proceed with the delegation of functions.
- Observe checked standards. Conservative methods repeatedly proved their usefulness and productivity. Creativity is always associated with risk and inadequate response. It is significant for you to reach excellent results, so using traditional ways.
- Raise awareness. You should know about the responsibilities of employees more than they do. Your opinion on a specific work item should take precedence over all ones.
- Do not contradict your principles. The supervision, who achieved love and respect, should not neglect them. Write a list of things that are completely inadmissible for you in communicating with your team. If you, for instance, firmly decided not to allow delays, announce about such rule. As soon as you concede and leave an offense without sanctions, your regulation will immediately lose value for the whole personnel. It is better not to overdo with such principles, enough five, otherwise, you could create an image of a despot.
- Be resolute. Decision making is provided that you must tell your staff about company’s objectives with verbal and other means. Often the officers are not too motivated to perform assignments in a high-quality manner. You serve as an incentive, inspiring them to work.
- Establish clear criteria for assessing the quality of activity. People should distinctly understand what you are demanding of them. Do not go on about the emotions that may lead you to take an irrational choice. Spend on any meeting a scheduled amount of time, for instance, 30 minutes. If the workers keep in mind that the time to resolve a certain issue is limited, they will almost certainly cope with this deadline.
- Monitor the work of laborers. Always keep abreast of what is happening. Enter procedures that allow you to have access to the information necessary for assessing the diligence of each employee and his or her labor achievements. Remember that without proper supervision the project will not be completed on time.
- Pay wage-earners attention to all cases of non-compliance with the rules. Let them know what behavior cannot be considered satisfactory. Insist on strict observance of instructions within a company.
- Do not be afraid to take responsibility. Following a directive approach, employees should not question your plan of action. I.e. it is the leader who initiates innovations, develops prospects and corrects strategies.
- Set a rigid hierarchy. Without it, you may hardly effectively delegate assignments and perform work as a bellwether. Create a chain of commands necessary to reach aims. Avoid familiarity with dependent persons. Absolutely everyone should be from you on an equal distance in communication, it is not necessary to make exceptions.
Thus, the directive management style has both minuses and pluses. Among positive aspects, one could note discipline, the focus on outcomes and coherence of activity, especially during the crisis. But it is worth remembering that excessive pressure and centralization of powers, as a rule, entail the firing of valuable personnel, which is fraught with economic losses for the firm.