Authentic-Democratic Leadership Styles

Leadership is a learned quality, which depends on the personality of the leaders, situation, task and the followers (Ganepola). Developing leadership skills can be managed by various activities. Being a good leader is a process. Practicing leadership skills, create an effective leader who achieves his or her goals by working together with an effective team. Hence, self-discovery helps to know more about the strengths and weaknesses of a person. Consequently, efficient leadership skills can be gained from improving the identified weaknesses. Different styles of leadership are explained according to the means how a leader achieves the goals and how he or she interacts with the followers to get the job done effectively. Thus, many leadership styles

Desperately, both authentic and democratic leadership styles have the advantages and disadvantages when acting alone. Effective leadership quality can be gained when both of these leadership styles are combined, minimizing the flaws in each style. In emergency situations, it is hard to take quick decisions if only the democratic leadership prevails. To compensate this critical situation, being an authentic leader works. In such unexpected situations where quick decisions have to be made, a leader should be able to make the own and effective decision without collaborating with the team. Importantly, in this case, the team should understand the situation and need of a sole decision by the leader to manage the conflicts among the team and leaders. It is the duty of the leader to create such an environment where the followers trust the leaders in his or her

Firstly, one should develop self-confidence as a leader, which is “a combination of self-esteem and self-regulation” (Ganepola). Having faith in his or her abilities is important for self-identification such as knowing the strengths and weaknesses and directing and controlling own actions. Identifying themselves will help to know and understand others as well. Secondly, being a good listener is one of the key strengths that helps to become an effective leader, especially in participatory leadership style. In order to get inputs from the team members as an authentic-participatory leader, listening skill is important. Another quality that needed for a good leader is management skill. The leader who can manage time, people and work efficiently is the one who is focused on the goal. The distribution of the work equally and organizing people will help to get the specified job get done efficiently. Further, trustworthy, understanding the people, able to motivate people, good decision making, being responsible, being realistic and being ethical are some important aspects of a leader to develop as a good leader. Considering personal leadership goals, one aspect that I would like to improve in myself is confidence in speaking English in front of others. It is not about how many people around me, but it is about talking in English. Even though I