What is Participative Leadership?
Participative leadership style refers to the leadership style wherein the members of a community or team make decisions. It is also called democratic participative leadership. These decisions are based on their initiative and their perspectives. This means that they do not make use of a voting procedure where one person has to win over another for there to be a decision made. A participatory leadership style of decision-making allows all the members of the group to participate in the process so that every single member is an active participatory leader. Participative leadership style is a more democratic form of leadership as it respects the fact that different individuals have different perspectives and there is no way that a single person can represent the entire group.
Who is an example of a participative leader?
You probably have someone in mind who you feel is a participative leader. History has given us several individuals who demonstrated excellent participatory leadership. Some examples of famous participative leaders include people like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela. These are just a few examples that can inspire others to be more active in their communities as servant leaders, as well as lead group members in the community by example for other certain aspects within the community.
Advantages of Participative Leadership.
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Collaboration
This leadership approach encourages employee engagement within groups and departments.
This participatory leadership style promotes the idea of collaborative work environments where they encourage different group members who are people from various disciplines are encouraged to share their ideas, with a focus on building trust to get things done.
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Promotes An Organization’s Culture.
The participative leadership approach fosters an organization’s culture and opens up the company to more ideas. This makes the decision-making process easy for the group members in an organization. The participative style of leadership is more rewarding as group members feel appreciated whenever they participate.
Participative leadership style is a great way to encourage a team to foster its culture while also opening up lines of communication so that many new or unheard-of ideas can be suggested, implemented, and explored. This is where situational leadership is seen as members can accommodate other people’s opinions in the decision process.
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Decreases Competition
One of the benefits of a participative leadership style is that every team member is a democratic leader and is therefore in charge. This greatly decreases competition among workers in an organization. When you are in charge, there will be no need for a power struggle and less infighting among your team.
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Retention Of Employees.
Participative leadership style has been shown to improve retention rates. This propels your team or company to greater heights.
Participative style approaches have been studied for their effectiveness at retaining employees. Evidence suggests that it brings job satisfaction and they are a successful way of creating an inclusive work environment that benefits everyone involved in participative management, from lower-level workers all up through senior management. If a person in power tries to be an autocratic leader, they end up frustrating their employees as they will feel left out in participative decision-making. Employee participation is key to good productivity.
Why is participative management important?
The main reason why participative leadership style is an effective method for management is that it enables management to undertake large-scale work decisions without having to deal with numerous people. This participative style promotes the empowerment of employees through involvement in the decision process, and it encourages the sharing of responsibility, promotes employee creativity, employee motivation, and accountability.
One other important dimension of participative leadership is the dimension of ownership. This dimension refers to the fact that the members of the group are actively involved as a team in a participative decision-making process that affects the organization; hence no single person can claim to be the sole decision-maker.
What are the disadvantages of participative leadership?
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It is time-consuming.
Participative leadership can be a little more difficult in high-pressure industries, but it can help you stay grounded and focused. You should offer effective leadership and consider the potential impact on your company’s bottom line when employees feel that their opinions are being heard. As slow as it may look, democratic participative leadership is rewarding in the end.
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Indecision.
As a visionary leader, you may be faced with indecision from your employees. Indecisiveness is a common organizational behavior as employees in organizations large enough will have multiple perspectives. Still, as a good leader, and a participative leader, you should steer them in the right direction so that they can still come together as one cohesive team with your help. This will show great servant leadership skills on your part.
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Information leaks
If your business or organization deals with sensitive information, the approach of collective participative leadership could lead to the public exposure of things that require privacy. Without meaning to, employees may inadvertently share private data with someone who does not have clearance (or accidentally misplaced key documentation). This is where a laissez-faire leader should educate employees about the repercussion of sharing sensitive information.
Conclusion
Participative leadership style gives rise to a strong relationship between the senior executive and the junior employees. A leader should strive to use this kind of leadership as opposed to using authoritarian leadership. When a charismatic leader uses a democratic leadership style, they understand the strengths and weaknesses of the junior employees and work to provide a structure for them so that they can fulfill their roles. This will show that you value employee input in your teams.
Everyone will have a job satisfaction feeling and thus increase the employee retention rate. A police commander, for example, needs to provide the juniors with a clear understanding of their individual roles and responsibilities for them to make informed decisions based on their individual skills and abilities.
