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Democratic Leadership Style Handout
Democratic Leadership Style Handout
Leaders know how to solve problems, but they may not be able to solve all problems. Their
knowledge base is limited to their own education and experience. The democratic leadership
style empowers leaders to work with their team, based on consensus, to create open lines of
communication that acknowledge the problems being faced. By allowing everyone to work on a
solution using their own education and experience, innovation is encouraged, making it possible
to address complex and critical concerns.
2. It encourages creativity.
The democratic leadership style is more of a hands-off approach. Instead of micro-managing the
situation, leaders use this style to encourage individualized creativity. For many teams, this
creates higher levels of productivity and insightful inputs because each team member is
encouraged to use their strengths to benefit everyone. It encourages more opportunities to think
“outside of the box” instead of relying on traditional methods of completing tasks or solving
problems. It also allows employees to develop a plan that helps them be able to evaluate their
own performance.
The advantages and disadvantages of a democratic leadership style show how important it is to
embrace the diversity which exists within every team and workplace. This style also shows us
that it must be carefully managed to be beneficial and may need to be combined with other
leadership styles to maximize its effectiveness.