Participative Leadership

The motto of Participative Leadership is one for all and all for one. In this article about participative leadership, a leadership that demands equality, we learn about the concept of participative leadership, objectives or qualities of participative leadership, advantages of participative leadership, how participation encourages creativity, how the modern organization is based on participative leadership, and the firms that cultivate under participative leadership respectively.

What is Participative Leadership?

Definition: Participative Leadership is a type of leadership style that encourages equality in the organization. Under such leadership, every person is treated equally and given equal respect.

There is no evidence of autocratic leadership; hence everyone has the right to project their opinions and views in front of the leader. Such organizations gain a sufficient amount of benefit and creativity from all the people of the organization.

A participative leader never differentiates amongst its members and makes sure that every person is equally involved in the functions of the organization. This way, the people felt wanted and recognized in the organization, which in return makes them feel more inclusive in the organizational structure. They give their best to the organization in such situations.

It is always seen that when people feel that the organization welcomes their work and participation, their morale increases by resulting in making the organization a powerful and effective working army. It is what participative leadership is all about and how it changes the scenario of an organization.

Objectives of Participative Leadership

The objectives and qualities that shape the style of participative or democratic leadership are as follows:

1. Participative Leadership supports equality

Participative leadership is based on the concept of equal participation of the members in an organization. Hence it promotes equality amongst the members of the organization.

For example, in participative leadership, the leader asks the members to work and involve themselves equally in the organization, unlike autocratic leadership.

2. Participative leadership teaches team spirit

Since participative leadership encourages people to take part equally in the functions of the organization; it makes them work as a team. It teaches them to respect each other their views and oppositions while working as a team.

It, as a result, creates a team spirit among them in the organization. For example, a team working together is stronger than a person working alone. A person working alone will never know how a team works even after having a lot of disputes inside the group; a team learns the quality never to let others know about it. It is called team spirit.

3. Participative Leadership increases equal engagement

It is always true that people work hard in conditions where they feel their work is being noticed and respected. Under Participative leadership, one still feels that he is equally responsible for the smooth functioning of the organization; hence this makes him get engaged in more activities of the organization with the whole heart and soul.

4. Participative Leadership generates logical thinking

When we talk more, we get more ideas, and at the same time, many opinions against the idea. It results in the analytically thinking power of the organization. Many opinions and discussions help the organization choose the best idea, which generates high profits for the organization.

These are some of the qualities of Participative leadership.

Advantages of Participative Leadership

Participative leadership is one of the most effective styles of leadership that helps the organization rich in qualities.

The various advantages of Participative Leadership are as follows:

• Participative leadership helps in increasing participation or engagement of the employees at a higher level than any other form of leadership style.
• Participative Leadership teaches people how to respect every person present in the organization as they are equally involved and responsible for the smooth functioning of the organization.
• Participative Leadership distributes responsibility in an equal manner that results in holding every member of the organization equally responsible for every action.
• Participative Leadership makes people think logically and rationally in every situation. People, when laying their opinions and create discussions they end up understanding a situation better and in an effective manner.
• Participative Leadership yields high productivity, as people are highly engaged under such leadership, which makes the organization earn benefits out of their participation.
• Participative Leadership welcomes ideas with open arms, and therefore, people generate more and more ideas for the effective and efficient working of the organization.
• Participative leadership helps people find their real motive of working in the organization and boosts them to work for that motive with immense power and motivation.

These are the few reasons why the participative form of leadership is highly wanted in the organization than the other types of leadership.

Participation Leadership creates Creativity

Participation indeed increases the level of creativity in an organization. People tend to work beyond their imagination when they are given a chance to perform according to their choice and way of working. People complain more about situations where they don’t like the work, yet they are given the whole responsibility, which results in becoming a burden for them.

Equal participation helps in the lighting of the burden by involving every person in the decision and holding them responsible for the actions.

For example, a person works more creatively in situations where he can implement his ideas instead in a position where his opinions are not taken into account.

Hence, participation gives a chance for the creativeness of the people a boost in the organization.

Firms Cultivating Participative leadership

In today’s time, an organization functions with a democratic mindset where every person has an open mind and opinionative nature. It is a time where people want to be heard and not ordered.

It has become a root cause for the increment of such organizations in the business world rather than the typical functioning organization under autocratic leadership.

The various firms cultivating participative leadership are as follows:

• Event companies.
• Start-up firms.
• IT firms.
• Media firms.
• Advertising agencies.
• Private organizations.

Examples of Individual Participative Leadership

In the world, there are many successful leaders who all are having reasonable confidence in themselves. If you look at them, you can see that they are useful in taking the right actions as well as support for the teams as well.

Some of the top leaders who are good in participative leadership are as follows.

1. Thomas Jefferson

He was an authoritarian as well as a democratic leader as well. He left no ambiguity for the devotion of the country. They, too, hold the truths with self-evident, and all men are equal as well.

2. George Washington

He was not only the commander of the revolution for America. But he too plays an essential democratic role in the US government. He is well-known for going for the influential leaders in the cabinet.

3. John F. Kennedy

A charismatic leader who was well-known for the democratic style of leadership- He, too, headed the Apollo program and was well-known for it all over the world.

4. Jimmy Carter

Earlier, he was a naval commander. He has got qualities and pitfalls for the democratic as well as participative leadership, which acts like a president. He, too, comes in the old staff way and acts in the right choice as well.

Requirement for the Participative Leadership

When you are searching for participative leadership, then you can see that it involves many things. They are mentioned here.

• Shared leadership.
• Participative decision-making quality.
• Participative leadership.
• Open book management.
• Democratic management style.

In participative leadership, the style comes with the similarities, which include excellent leadership like laissez-faire. When you go for the Laissez-faire leaders, it allows the subordinates as well as help in deciding about how to complete the task and projects as well.

But when all these things are going on, it is seen that participative leadership does not go for accepting the subordinates, ideas as well as suggestions. All these things, too, encourage the input on these decisions and other strategies as well.

If you take a look at the style, then the method depends on leadership skills. With the help of leadership from equal things, it is like going for the inexperienced personnel. They, too, help in asking the trouble for the workers who all have extraordinary intuition for the things that need to be done.

So, when you are going for the participative leadership, you can see that they go through history. They are very much encouraged, and the staffs, too, get involved in a significant way as well in decisions.

Characteristics of Participative Leaders

If you look at these things, then you can see the common traits that come with the laissez-faire leaders. Among all the words, the key element in it is the involvement of the decision making process.

In the case of participative leadership, it does not involve the experts or even runs the divisions or projects as well. For all these things, you always need to go for themselves in this process.

The characteristics that they need to have been here.

1. Fair-minded
2. Engaged
3. Egalitarian
4. Role models
5. Team-orienting
6. Consensus builders
7. Forward-thinking
8. Adaptive

These are the top things that participative leadership involves in it. But among them all, the key selling points are all about democratic leadership and how it works as well in an organization.

Apart from that all, the autocratic leadership and the works that present inside the things are very much outstanding. These kinds of leadership are seen to exist in many companies as well. Starting from the organization and is focused on growth. Talent acquisition and research.

The things include the educational institutions, companies as well as non-profit organizations as well. Apart from that all, it, too, includes the encouragement and other leadership rewards that exist here.

Benefits of Participative Leadership

When you are going for participative leadership, then it needs a particular type of leader. It, too, requires a special group of participants, which includes the process for the participatory. So, for all of it, it is seen that it needs the observant leader and spontaneous acts in the team.

If you look at some of the leaders who all have got the charismatic features, they are democratic leaders. They all need to be highly republican and rational leaders who all are having the characteristics.

All of these leaders are not good at motivating speeches, and their main aim is to attain short-term goals.

All the participative leadership has got many confidence-boosting things. The leaders of such standards keep themselves surround with like-mind people who all have set realistic goals. They, too, help them to achieve it in the right way.

Pros and Cons

Here is the list of different pros and cons of leadership for you all. You can go below by getting the best idea about it.

Pros of Participative Leadership

• It helps in increasing job satisfaction and empowerment thing.
• It helps in decreasing the absenteeism among the employees.
• The productivity to increase due to the result of the solution of the centric workforce.
• It brings creativity as well as innovation among all the employees of the company.

Cons

• It helps in giving the incisive decisions, which results in deadlines.
• All the leaders can get a burden due to over challenges.
• It comes with the collaboration of the things in consuming valuable time.
• All leaders can also become over-dependent as well

These are the top things that come to participative leadership.  So, when you are going for these things, you need to make sure that you get the best out of them.

Wrap Up!

If you take a look at participative leadership, then you can see that they are well-known for multitasking. They are the ones who all can handle things in a great way.

They, too, work in an experienced manner and on collaborative team things as well. With so much stuff in the offering, they are the best ones to help you in achieving the objectives as well as other deadlines as well.

So, make sure to have great participative leadership in your team to reach great heights.

How important do you consider participative leadership for effective business management? Share your views with us in the comments.