A lot of managers are bad managers not because they are stupid or bad people. It is because they have minimal to no knowledge of how to lead people. There are different types of managers that you will encounter throughout your jobs.
A typical manager
A manager, in general, is a successful businessman who got to the current position by opening his business or through promotion to higher management positions. A typical manager has advanced education and skills and is very good at their job. The industry he/she works in might be beneficial for them since they have expertise in that.
Even if all of those are true, the typical manager does not have expertise in leadership. It is unlikely that the manager has ever attended any management or leadership courses. He might have experience of leading people from leading his family or community. So, a typical manager is most likely not qualified for being a leader despite their expertise and knowledge in the industry they are in.
Leading is a skill
Like any other subject or class that we study at school, we have to study leadership as well. Even if you have been promoted as a manager, it does not mean that you have the necessary management skills to manage a business.
There are many ways to learn leadership. One way is to attend or enroll a class on leadership skills. In this way, you have to learn this skill the same way as you have studied other classes. This is suggested for every manager all over the world, before takin the huge responsibility of leading people.
Another popular way is experience. Of course experience is superior to theoretical approach, however, it can lead to negative results. For example, if a manager has been leading people with the wrong mindset for a long time, then that manager will be unable to change his way of leading people. This could have changed if the manager had attended classes on leadership.
A very rare case is when people are born as leaders. This is when they are naturally good at leading people. You will notice this when you get positive feedback from your employees.
Two types of leading
Although there might be several distinctions of leading types, the main question is: based on what do you make your decisions? This questions leads to two main types of leadership: authority and wisdom.
Authority
This one is the wrong one. When a manager makes a decision based on authority, it means that they are simply making a decision because they are the manager. Nothing else matters. These kind of managers do not listen to his employees and ignore their inputs. The manager will never give explanations for the taken decisions because the manager will believe that they surely have it right. If someone disagrees with them, the manager will simply use their authority and power and silence those who oppose the manager. As you can see, the manager will get its authority but the productivity and efficiency of the business might be undermined.
Even though you might think that this type of leadership is long gone, it actually is common in many places. Although it is quite rare in the business field, it can be dominant in the political or military field where authority still gets a huge importance.
As many can see, this type of leadership will not bring huge success to the business. Employees will not respect the manager, they will be reluctant to express their opinions and they might even decrease their productivity. This is an incorrect form of leadership.
Wisdom
In this type of leadership, the manager’s does not care for its authority and power. They will make the decisions based on pros and cons rather than their own opinion. This type of manager will listen to the employees and hear their opinions as well. The manager will not be scared to admit that its decision was wrong and the employee’s opinion is much better. They will go with what is best for the business.
As you can see, this type of leadership is the best. It brings out the best of people in the business and it enhances the productivity of the whole team. It can create an inspiring environment where people will be motivated to create and innovate. A manager who explains their decision is surely someone who deserves the respect of the employees.
How to spot which type of manager you have?
After reading these types, it will be very easy to spot the leadership type of your manager. When you see that they have made a decision, you can ask them how they arrived to that decision. You can also explain your opinion related to that topic. If the managers chooses to listen to you and explain their thoughts and opinions, then you know that they lead by wisdom. They give you importance and they want to make you feel like you are an important part of the business. If the manager ignores your opinions and makes the decisions only because they are the manager then they are leading based on authority.
It is certainly difficult to find true leaders. However, by learning and gaining experience day by day, we can all become better leaders for the future.