Democratic Leadership Training
The democratic leadership style is an inclusive approach to leadership that encourages leaders to gather feedback from their followers and let these subordinates make decisions about the direction of the organization. Democratic leadership training focuses on teaching specific leadership skills that can be used to help bosses and employees run the organization with a democratic leadership process.
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Objectives
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One objective of democratic leadership training is to continually internalize the idea of personal responsibility. For democratic leadership to work effectively, each member of a group or organization must consider herself personally responsible for the results of the organization. Another objective of training is for leaders to gain skills on how to interact with other leaders and followers according to democratic leadership style process.
Features
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Some democratic leadership training focuses on a large group introduction to basic democratic leadership concepts, followed by small group interaction where participants are asked to apply what they learned in mock settings. Other democratic leadership training takes place outside of the classroom or seminar environment, typically in workplace situations.
Some leadership experts and companies offer one-on-one democratic leadership training where they will work with individuals or small groups on a long-term basis to teach how to apply democratic leadership principles in an ongoing real-world environment.
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Benefits
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The major benefit of democratic leadership training is that leaders can learn and apply the democratic leadership style to increase follower commitment and productivity. Leaders can learn how to effectively delegate tasks without causing resentment amongst fellow employees. As well, leaders that undergo leadership training may have increased confidence in their abilities as leaders, which may inspire them and others to become more committed and productive.
Disadvantages
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One disadvantage of training may be that participants begin to focus too heavily on the democratic leadership style and neglect other leadership styles that may be effective such as autocratic or laissez-faire leadership. The democratic leadership process can be slow and cumbersome if all efforts are made to account for everyone's perspective, which can lead to missed opportunities. Another potential disadvantage is that leaders might not find a particular leadership program useful, as it may not be suited to their skill level or it may be too general to offer any specific helpful advice.
Considerations
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Leaders should determine what type of democratic leadership training they would like to participate in, and what they expect to gain from the training before participating in any program. As well, leaders should consider the length and scope of the training, such as participating in large or small groups, or if the program will be short or long term. Leadership training programs ideally will have some type of followup program to evaluate how well the concepts, skills and tools were applied since the first session.
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References
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- Photo Credit meeting image by Thorsten Frisch from Fotolia.com
