Provide Responses for these posts:

Post 1:

Post an analysis of how different leadership styles can be beneficial.

Leadership style is important when in a leadership role as this determines what you will do, how it will influence others and how effective you will be (Northouse, 2025b). There are three common leadership styles, authoritarian, democratic and laissez-faire (Northouse, 2025b). The authoritarian leadership style tends to control everything and doesn't really trust their employees (Northouse, 2025b). The democratic leadership style listens to their employees and allows them to have the flexibility to solve problems on their own with minimal interventions (Northouse, 2025b). The laissez-faire leadership style is extremely hands off, doesn't provide guidance and allows the employees to do things on their own (Northouse, 2025b). Different situations require different leadership styles. For example, if there is an important audit and files must be up to date in 2 days with specific things, then it would be appropriate to have an authoritarian leadership style. If a new process to schedule new intakes is needed to make things more efficient, then a democratic leadership style would be appropriate in order to listen to the staff and allow them to provide input. If staff want to do an end of the year staff event, then a laissez-faire leadership style is appropriate in order to be completely hands off and allow the staff to do it on their own.

Select the leadership style that you least identify with and describe one positive attribute of this style. How might you integrate this attribute into your leadership?

The authoritarian leadership style is the least I identified with. I scored a 13 which falls in the low range (Northouse, 2025c). A positive attribute of this leadership style is that it is efficient and productive (Northouse, 2025b). Authoritarian leaders provide clear goals and directions so that the job is done effectively (Northouse, 2025b). These leaders tend to figure out the barriers and lay a step-by-step plan that will allow you to be successful. As such, authoritarian leaders help employees increase their performance and be more successful (Chen et al., 2024). When this is achieved, employees can gain more work satisfaction (Chen et al., 2024). I would integrate this attribute into my leadership when there are important and complex goals that require tasks to be completed a specific way. For example, if the contract for the program wants staff to complete training in a certain order, then I would give a list of training with the date it would be started and completed. I would then monitor that this is being done as it's supposed to.

Explain how you would learn about the needs of your team and the leadership style they prefer to work under.

In order to learn about the needs of my team, I would have a conversation with each employee. I would ask them what they need from a supervisor in order to succeed. I would also ask them how they learn best. Additionally, as the team starts to work, the data will inform me of how they are doing and what they need. These would let me know what leadership style I need to use with each employee and eventually with the team overall.

Based on what you learn, to what extent would you adapt your leadership style?

I would be willing to adapt my leadership style based on what I have learned about each employee and the team as a whole if it will benefit the success of the team and program. Being flexible is important as a leader. Everyone is not the same and thus will not respond the same if only one leadership style is needed. Some employees need more hand holding than others. Determination is one of the six key traits of being a leader and being able to adapt my leadership style is part of my determination for the program to succeed (Northouse, 2025a).

References

Chen, L., Huang, X., Sun, J., Zheng, Y., Graham, L., & Jiang, J. (2024). The virtue of a controlling leadership style: Authoritarian leadership, work stressors, and leader power distance orientation. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 41(2), 507-547. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10490-022-09860-7

Northouse, P. G. (2025a). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice (6th ed.). SAGE. Chapter 2, "Recognizing Your Traits" (pp. 23-37)

Northouse, P. G. (2025b). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice (6th ed.). SAGE. Chapter 3, "Understanding Leadership Styles" (pp. 55-66)

Northouse, P. G. (2025c). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice (6th ed.). SAGE. Leadership Styles Questionnaire, p. 72

Post 2:

Post an analysis of how different leadership styles can be beneficial:

According to the text, there are three different leadership styles: authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire. The authoritarian leadership style emphasizes that the leader is in charge and exerts influence and control over group members (Northouse, 2025). The democratic leadership style emphasizes working with group members rather than controlling them and tries hard to treat everyone fairly without putting themselves above their group members (Northouse, 2025). The laissez-faire leadership style recognizes group members but is very laid back and makes no attempt to influence their activities (Northouse, 2025).

Different leadership styles can be beneficial because they can be applied to various situations and goals and can allow a leader to adapt their approach for optimal outcomes. Utilizing a blend of the authoritarian, democratic, and laissez-faire leadership styles can help make sure an organization or agency has a style that fits every occasion and maximizes potential. The most effective leaders should understand when to blend these styles, which demonstrates awareness and emotional intelligence to adapt their decision-making and support their team's needs for both short-term tasks and long-term success.

Select the leadership style that you least identify with and describe one positive attribute of this style. How might you integrate this attribute into your leadership?

The leadership style that I least identify with is the laissez-faire leadership style. One positive attribute of this style is personal growth. In essence, the laissez-faire leadership style empowers team members to take initiative, experiment, and learn from their own experiences, which can accelerate their development (Northouse, 2025). To be honest, I am not entirely sure how I could integrate this attribute into my leadership. It could be something where I send my group members opportunities for them to grow their skills every once in a while. Though these learning opportunities would not be mandatory, I would make it known that if my group members wished to partake in them, they were more than welcome to. Otherwise, I am a person who needs structure and regulation to function, so I do not think I would be the best person to practice this leadership style. Northouse (2025) states that many people are directionless and at a loss to know what to do under the laissez-faire leadership style. I also feel as if I would not be nearly as productive if I adopted any other aspects of this leadership style.

Explain how you would learn about the needs of your team and the leadership style they prefer to work under:

I think learning about the needs of my team would require me learning about their different personalities. I feel as though different personalities gravitate towards different leadership styles. For instance, someone who tends to be more independent may function better under a laissez-faire leadership style, whereas someone who needs some semblance of direction and structure may function better under an authoritarian leadership style. In any workplace, there is always a mesh of different personalities that makes it that much harder to find a leadership style that could accommodate all of them. Thus, I think it would be important to consider what the dominant personality is within any group and then curate a leadership style based off of whatever that dominant personality is. This helps to ensure that the majority of needs are being met, and attributes from the other styles of leadership could also be incorporated to try to meet the needs of those individuals who do not have the dominant personality trait.

Based on what you learn, to what extent would you adapt your leadership style?

I believe I would try to adapt my leadership style to a great extent based on what I learned about my colleagues. This is because I do not want my leadership style to clash with the personalities I will be working with, as this would result in less productivity. As such, I would need to figure out a way to accommodate everyone and to ensure we work well as a team. For instance, despite the fact I do not resonate with the laissez-faire leadership style for the most part, I still may need to incorporate certain aspects of this style for certain individuals if their personalities tend to thrive more under this style than under any of the other styles. In essence, I would have to be intuitive to the needs of my colleagues and then adjust accordingly.

REFERENCES:

Northouse, P. G. (2025). Introduction to leadership: Concepts and practice (6th ed.). SAGE, 55-66.