Strategic leadership is a mind-set rather than a process. Those individuals in command of an organization — usually an owner or executives — must be able to inspire those who work in the company. Leadership is about accomplishing tasks through people and not because of them. The different types of strategic leadership include authoritative, participative, or delegative. While leadership often starts with one individual, the traits and characteristics for it must be shared with others in order to complete a company’s strategic objectives.
An authoritative strategic leadership style is a top-down approach. Leaders are more commanding in their strategies and demanding for goal accomplishment. Rather than collaborating with individuals, an authoritative leader will be more direct. This leader believes in staying above the fray of daily work while directing and controlling the activities of others. Though an authoritative leader can be successful, workers may soon resent this hard-charging leadership style.
Participative leaders are typically the opposite of authoritative leaders. Here, this strategic leadership style demands interaction from the leader along with employees. Leaders help accomplish some tasks and often work alongside others when completing strategic tasks or activities. Certain cultures may be more conducive with participative leadership than others. The mind-set from a culture may demand more interaction with workers rather than the usual bossing around of employees on a daily basis.
The third leadership style — delegative leadership — can be a hybrid strategic leadership style when compared to the previous two styles. Here, a leader delegates nonimportant tasks to employees while working on specific, upper-management tasks or activities. Strategic leadership that falls under this mind-set often focuses on teamwork and the accomplishment of smaller tasks through many individuals in order to reach large-scale goals. Delegation can be a hard management technique to learn. Leaders must know which tasks to delegate and then not engage in micromanagement if employees accomplish the tasks in different ways.
Personality types can also play a role in the different types of strategic leadership. For example, individuals may be benevolent and act like a parent or a visionary in the business. An individual’s personality is additional to the strategic leadership style and can add to or take away from it. The organization’s culture will soon take on the leader’s style in many cases. This creates a tone and culture in the organization that employees will work with or dislike when working in the company.