Democratic Leadership Style: What Is and How Does It Work?
Want to apply the democratic leadership style in your firm or organization? Here’s what you need to know.
Democratic leadership or participative leadership, or for some people, “shared leadership” is a leadership style in which members are given the chance to participate in making decisions. Everyone has the right to voice out their opinion, groups have representatives to carry out the majority’s thought about the issue on the table. It encourages members’ involvement, engagement, and participation. You can see this type of leadership in many governments, offices, public and private organizations.
In a democratic type of leadership, the power does not only rely on a single or selected group of people. The power ‘is’ the ‘people’. In this type of leadership, members and leaders exchange ideas, discuss processes and encourage everyone’s ideas to be heard.
While democratic style focuses on promoting equality among the group, a leader still emerges to steer the wheel and guide the team. You can say that it is the most effective type of leadership as it encourages collaboration, values formation among members, and strong confirmation of followers’ support for the majority’s decision.
