Growing up, I was only exposed to one type of management style. My baseball coaches were some of the most ruthless and demanding people I’ve ever met, pushing our team to our physical and emotional limits.
When I started doing internships in college, I expected my managers to be like my coaches. Since the stakes are higher in a business, I was scared to mess up.
But to my surprise, my managers in the working world were the complete opposite of my coaches. For the first time, I experienced different management styles.
Your management style impacts the team you oversee and sets the tone for your workplace environment.
Check out this overview of the top management styles to learn the pros and cons of each and how each style impacts your team’s performance.
1. Visionary Management Style
A visionary manager casts a vision for a purpose and direction their employees can believe in. They inspire their team to work hard to execute that vision.
I think a visionary management style works best when the leader has excellent communication and charisma to communicate their long-term vision.
When they succeed, they’ll gain buy-in and intrinsic motivation from employees.
When they don’t, they risk disengagement and underperformance.
Visionary leadership works best when managers give their employees autonomy and freedom in executing the vision.
If you want to employ this style, I recommend you empower your team to take risks and make decisions to work toward your shared goal.
2. Autocratic Management Style
Autocratic management is the most top-down approach to management — employees at the top of the hierarchy hold the power to make decisions.
Once a decision is made, autocratic leaders expect acceptance and execution from their team.
I think the benefits of an autocratic management style are fast decision-making and clear direction, both useful during a crisis or when training an inexperienced team. With clear directives and close supervision, an autocratic style can raise productivity quickly.
The risk of an autocratic management style is that employees may experience low morale if they don’t understand or have a chance to contribute to the vision.
Turnover is likely if employees don’t feel engaged and empowered. When implemented poorly, autocratic management can limit innovation and creativity.
Example of the Autocratic Management Style in Action: Satya Nadella, Microsoft
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is known as a clear and decisive leader who guided Microsoft from a struggling tech company to a market leader.
Nadella explains the benefit of clear, direct management this way:
“The most important attribute that any leader needs to have — and it is often underestimated — is the need to create clarity when none exists. You don’t need a leader when everything is well-defined, and it’s easy.”
Being an autocratic leader doesn’t mean that Nadella doesn’t consider employees’ points of view. He is also known for his empathy and embracing a growth mindset at Microsoft. But, when it comes to hard decisions, I respect that he takes full responsibility and leads with transparency.
3. Democratic Management Style
In democratic management, the majority rules. Managers let their employees participate in the decision-making process because they value their team’s diversity of ideas and understand that people are the key to a team’s success.
Democratic managers ultimately approve decisions but allow employees to shape and influence their decision-making.
I’ve found many employees prefer a democratic management style because they have a larger stake in and influence on the work they are doing.
But, when executed poorly, a democratic management style can be inefficient.
Consulting an entire team about a decision can slow down progress. Favoritism of choosing one employee’s ideas over another can also cause factions and frustrations.
If you want your employees to feel like they’re all leaders of your team, I suggest you make sure you are genuinely incorporating feedback and justifying your decisions.
Example of the Democratic Management Style in Action: Reed Hastings, Netflix
One example of a democratic management style is Reed Hastings, executive chairman and co-founder of Netflix.
During his 25 years as CEO, Hastings empowered Netflix employees to share innovative ideas from any department or level, even encouraging employees to go above their boss’s head when necessary.
In his book No Rules Rules, he shares how he built a culture of freedom and responsibility using continuous improvement and transparent communications.
Hastings also incorporates some elements of a visionary management style.
Before streaming existed, he needed to convince employees and investors that streaming would replace DVD rentals and led the company through that transformation.
4. Transformational Management Style
Transformational management is one of the most popular leadership styles, embraced by business leaders from Alphabet’s Sundar Pichai to Proctor & Gamble’s Jon Moeller.
Transformational managers believe that change and growth are the only way to stay ahead of the curve, so they constantly challenge their employees to perform better. They motivate employees to keep raising the bar, leading to improved team performance.
The best transformational leaders continue to push employees while equipping them with the support and resources they need.
These teams are innovative, so they can adapt to drastic industry changes. But they can also risk moving too fast and spreading themselves too thin.
As a people manager, I believe it’s important to understand the limits of how far you can push your employees before they start to burn out.
Example of the Transformational Management Style in Action: Pam Bump, HubSpot
Pam Bump is the head of content innovation, research, and growth at HubSpot. She oversees HubSpot Media’s Content Innovation and Research team and identifies as a transformational manager.
“Before I was a manager, I always jumped at major problem-solving opportunities, ambiguous requests from leadership, and identifying big bets for my companies. Now, as a manager, I encourage my team to do the same,” Bump explains.
Bump’s approach follows a long tradition of transformational management at HubSpot from founding leaders like Dharmesh Shah.
One challenge of transformational management is balancing individual and team goals, but a successful manager can accomplish both.
“To balance ambitious overall, transformative team-wide goals, and individual teammate needs, I check in with my direct reports about their growth, what they’re working on, and work that can help them grow their skills or visibility while also supporting team goals,” shares Bump.
Beyond weekly 1:1s, Bump also holds semi-regular career chats to discuss their personal long-term goals and the tactics they can use to get there.
5. Transactional Management Style
Transactional managers use incentives and rewards — like bonuses, stock options, or promotions — to motivate their employees to perform well. Their motto is “If you do this for me, I’ll do this for you.”
A transactional management style relies on extrinsic motivation, where employees are motivated to reach a goal by the promise of an external reward.
Research shows that extrinsic motivation can boost productivity and help employees reach goals in the short term. However, studies show that a balance of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation works best to motivate employees.
Potential pitfalls of transactional management include lower creativity and employees becoming over-reliant on extrinsic rewards. I think it can also lead to a focus on short-term results over long-term success and loyalty.
6. Coaching Management Style
Just like a sports coach, a coaching manager strives to improve their employees’ long-term professional development. I love how they have a passion for teaching and watching their employees grow.
They remain positive and patient through short-term failure, as long as the team is learning and improving. The best coaching managers may adapt their approach according to an employee’s communication style and needs.
Leaders with a coaching style have two main focuses: overseeing employees’ individual development and bringing a team together as a collaborative force.
The best teams are the most united, and an employee experiences the most professional growth when both their coach and teammates invest in their development.
Example of the Coaching Management Style in Action: Jamie Juviler, HubSpot
Jamie Juviler is a marketing manager for HubSpot’s Website Blog team and strives to help his team produce their best work while also pursuing their personal goals.
“I spend a lot of my time thinking about how to help my reports develop in their areas of interest and align their strengths with the needs of the team,” says Juviler.
“I want to manage individuals who are happy with their career growth, since they’ll be more invested in their work and willing to make a bigger impact than those who feel limited by their day-to-day tasks.”
You can learn more about Juviler’s management journey and approach here.
7. Servant Management Style
Servant managers put people first and performance second. They prioritize their customers’ and employees’ well-being over team results.
One key element of servant management is leading by example: Servant leaders demonstrate humility and aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and work alongside their teams.
I think the benefits of a servant management style are high trust in and respect for the leader. Teams with a servant leadership style often win over customers with a people-over-profits mentality.
One potential pitfall of servant leadership is that a focus on service may undermine results. This could make employees complacent, leading to average or even sub-par work.
Example of the Servant Management Style in Action: Joaquín Duato, Johnson & Johnson
Do Better Talks | Servant leadership and the builder mindset | A conversation with Joaquín Duato
Joaquín Duato, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, identifies as a servant leader.
“It’s very important to realize that you are leading on behalf of others. Servant leadership is not about you; it’s about others,” he shares. “That’s a principle that we try to instill in every single leader at Johnson & Johnson.”
To successfully adopt a servant management style, Duato advises that all managers must listen well and make an effort to connect with employees.
8. Brave Management Style
A brave management style, defined by author Brené Brown, is characterized by empathy, vulnerability, and trust.
The idea is that brave managers can build trust and lead with courage by vulnerably sharing their own struggles and failures amidst uncertainty.
“The number one consequence of a lack of brave leadership and courageous culture is we tap out of the hard conversations that we need,” says Brown.
“When people are afraid of being put down or ridiculed for trying something and failing, or even putting forward a radical new idea, the best you can hope for is a kind of status quo.”
In her book Dare to Lead, Brown describes brave management with this acronym:
- Boundaries. Do I respect my own boundaries and others?
- Reliability. Do I follow through on what I said I was going to do?
- Accountability. Do I hold myself accountable?
- Vault. Do I share information that isn’t mine to share, or do I keep it in a vault?
- Integrity. Do I act from a personal code of integrity?
- Nonjudgment. Am I nonjudgmental when someone asks for help?
- Generosity. Am I generous toward myself and others?
By following these principles, I’m confident brave managers can build trust within their team and work toward shared goals, based on shared values.
9. Laissez-Faire Management Style
Laissez-faire is French for “leave alone.” Laissez-faire managers monitor their team’s activities, but they remain hands-off. They expect their team to do their jobs with broad autonomy and only seek guidance when they need help.
Laissez-faire management is the opposite of micromanagement. Some employees thrive with autonomy and are happier and more motivated.
But, the flip side of laissez-faire management is that employees can suffer from a lack of guidance and vision. In turn, their work performance suffers, and underperforming employees could get away with doing the bare minimum work.
On the plus side, with autonomy some employees are happier and more motivated to succeed. It’s a double-edged sword, in my opinion, and has to be implemented in the right environment with the right team to be successful.
Example of the Laissez-Faire Management Style in Action: Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway
Legendary executive and investor Warren Buffet is one of the best examples of laissez-faire management in recent history.
In his 2022 letter to shareholders, he wrote, “Our goal in ownership is to make meaningful investments in businesses with both long-lasting favorable economic characteristics and trustworthy managers. When large enterprises are being managed, both trust and rules are essential. Berkshire emphasizes the former to an unusual — some would say extreme — degree.”
10. Situational Management Style
Finally, I learned that many managers find that they don’t fit exactly in one management style. They may blend several styles together and adapt their approach for each employee and what that employee needs in the moment.
Since every team member has different communication styles and needs, an individualized situational approach can be incredibly effective in giving each person exactly what they need.
Example of the Situational Management Style in Action: Kaitlin Milliken, HubSpot
Kaitlin Milliken, senior program manager at HubSpot, found that situational management works best to lead her team.
“Throughout my career, I’ve found myself changing how I lead based on who I’m working with. Some folks want hands-on management. Others operate best with lots of autonomy,” she explains.
Milliken says she likes situational leadership because she can work with people who have varying experience levels.
“Someone new to the field may need more mentorship. An expert may just want to know about our organizational quirks. Since I naturally adapt to what other people need, this type of leadership fits my style,” she says.
Effective Management Styles for a Thriving Team
Management is one of the hardest jobs in the working world.
But I think my takeaway from writing this article can offer some comfort:
Management style is not one-size-fits-all. Different people will manage their teams differently, and different teams want different leadership styles.
The point is to find the style that feels authentic to you and helps your team succeed. The examples above show how various types of management styles can lead to thriving teams.
After sharing the most popular leadership styles and the pros and cons of each, I hope you feel better equipped to lead your team through both the challenging and successful times.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
