Leadership styles        

           

Before talking about leadership’s styles, it is important to define what a leader is. Unlike the boss, who is the figure of order and manages deadlines and goals, the leader is the one who is able to promote the commitment of the professionals towards a common goal.

For this, the leader must know the members of the team, their characteristics and how to delegate the activities according to the profile of each employee. However, not everyone has the essential characteristics of a good leader, like: strategic planning, communication, relationship, daring, creativity. Therefore, it is important to develop these qualities to be able to lead more efficiently.

In this way, there are different types of leadership that can fit the needs of each project, they are:

•          Autocratic Leadership: Only the leader decides and sets the guidelines, without any communication with the group. He determines what task each one will perform, being rigid in his decisions.
•  ·         Democratic Leadership: Allows all subordinates to participate in important group decisions and believes that ideas, criticisms, and suggestions are important for the betterment of projects, staff, and organization as a whole.

•          Liberal Leadership: Gives employees freedom to carry out their duties without direct interference. The professionals are responsible for managing the results of their work. It is a way of demonstrating confidence in the ability of employees and giving them more autonomy.
• Server Leader: The project manager plays the role of mentor for the team members, providing the tools and resources needed to achieve the goals set. Servant leadership is especially useful for attracting and retaining talent, developing collaborators and creating a conducive environment for sharing experiences and opinions, strengthening the team and increasing engagement.

In this way, the following question arises, what is the best type of leadership for the project?

One of the main approaches that answer such a question is based on the maturity of the subordinates. 
The key concept of this model is the level of maturity of subordinates, which consists of the ability to
set goals, accept responsibilities and the ability to perform the task requested. This idea divides into 
four levels of maturity along with the four styles of leadership. This relationship can be seen in the 
table below:

MATURITY
A low maturity (M1) refers to people with no ability and no disposition. Requires an autocratic leadership style (E1), where the leader gives little emphasis to relationships and focuses their action on tasks, defining roles and specifying required deliverables.
The maturity between low and moderate (M2) deals with people without capacity, but with disposition. It requires a little bit of autocratic and democratic leadership style (E2), where the leader must give directional and behavioral support, aiming to establish and reinforce the confidence in the team.
Moderate to high maturity (M3) is for people with ability but no disposition, needing a server leader (E3), where the leader must support their initiatives and participate with them in decision-making.
High maturity (M4) is for people with ability and disposition, needs a liberal and server leader (E4), where the leader may still be responsible for problem identification, but those who are in charge will develop the solutions, requiring little support or direction.

There is the opportunity to apply a method that allows the manager to evaluate the subordinates, and then, define what leadership behavior to adopt to help them.