Who is a directive leader

There is still a place for directive leadership. If your team are new to a task, they will need greater direction as they learn. This is when you should be more directive, telling them how to do it. As your team members learn and develop, you will no longer need to monitor their work so closely. After a while, you may be able to leave them to work more autonomously. The less skilled your team is, the more likely they will need direction to complete the work successfully. In addition, motivated people may require less direction, because they tend to take greater pride in their work.

If you have somebody who is skilled and motivated, you can often provide them with greater autonomy to get the job done.

When there is an issue or emergency, time is of the essence. This is where directive leadership really shines. Directive leadership may cause you to be a little abrupt as you work to fix the issue, but often this is necessary to solve a problem quickly.

Urgent situations can give leaders the leeway to be more direct than normal. You know you are using this leadership style when… This style works best when… The drawbacks are… You give task directives to achieve a short-term goal You expect compliance rather than consensus Providing quick role or project clarity Tight deadlines leave no time for discussion Limited discussion and low consensus on solutions Becomes micromanagement when overused. Submit a Comment Cancel reply Your email address will not be published.

Search for:. You give task directives to achieve a short-term goal You expect compliance rather than consensus. Providing quick role or project clarity Tight deadlines leave no time for discussion. Limited discussion and low consensus on solutions Becomes micromanagement when overused. They do not seek out to empower others.

Employee growth and insight is secondary to the tasks which must be completed. It is a one-way street where specifics are communicated about a job that must be done. Then the leader assigns responsibility to specific tasks and holds individuals accountable for not meeting expectations. It reduces overall morale for most teams. There are some teams which thrive with a directive leader at the helm.

In the military and law enforcement, morale actually lowers when other leadership styles are used. In the corporate world, however, the need for directive leaders is decreasing.

These leaders expect compliance with published workplace rules. They expect orders to be followed without question. For many people this creates a lack of ownership for the work they are asked to complete, which increases their personal dissatisfaction. It increases the work burden for the supervisor. Leaders who use the directive style are forced to take full responsibility for the performance of their team.

Even if others make decisions, the leader is responsible for the outcomes. That means this leadership style requires extra work when compared to other leadership styles because no delegation is permitted. That leads to higher stress levels for the supervisor, which can even lead to health problems if coping skills are unavailable.

A leader who finds themselves in this position may not make the best possible decision because their experience is lacking, yet they do not seek input from more experienced teams. Certain people even have negative emotional responses to situations like this, which may cause the best workers to leave the organization.

A commanding leader should be highly experienced and skilled in the projects, tasks, and work assigned to the team. Furthermore, a commanding leader needs to know the competency and pros and cons of each team member. The experience, knowledge, and skills of the leader help him or her to:.

The above is essentially establishing the framework and the clarity required for commanding leadership to function. The hallmark of commanding leadership is clarity of communication. All team members know what is expected from them and the rewards issued for successful task completion.

They also know the consequences of not completing a task successfully within the given timeframe. The precise rules and guidelines offered by this leadership style make it possible to create a robust framework for maintaining safety and meeting regulatory requirements.

When deviation from regulations is disastrous, commanding leadership is a good idea. The leader outlines the specific tasks and duties that must be followed. Since the commanding leader makes all the decisions, decision-making is very fast. No one from the team needs to be consulted.

This is good in the right situation, but making decisions on your own can be harmful in many other situations. The decision can also be executed quickly since commanding leadership essentially means giving orders, and those orders are executed.

The leader gives directions, and the team is expected to follow accordingly. Rewards and consequences are used to encourage admirable behavior. Employees in the corporate world tend to be against this leadership style because it leads to micromanagement and autocratic leadership behaviors.

The higher the skill and the higher the involvement in the job is — the more negative the reaction to commanding leadership will be. Commanding leaders believe that an established set of rules should always be stringently followed. This creates a work environment where creativity is discouraged.

Commanding leadership also means giving detailed instructions, or orders, which should be followed to the letter. However, few of those employees exist in this modern era where millennials expect their bosses to value their creative input. Due to the command control structure, tight follow-up, and micromanagement the leader might be involved in, the leader may be overburdened with work.

This can easily lead to the leader becoming a bottleneck when it comes to decision-making. Even worse, if the commanding leader is inaccessible, who will make the decisions?