What is Participative Leadership? Theory & Examples

Who is a Participative leader?

Indeed, A participative leader is one who contributes towards the leadership development of employees, encourages, involves, and utilizes everyone’s input in decision-making. When it comes to team engagement, he takes a democratic approach. Employees with participatory leaders have the opportunity to demonstrate their creativity by coming up with solutions to problems.

What is Participative leadership theory?

Participative leadership theory is the theory of leadership where employers invite employees to participate in organizational decision-making. While this leadership style is less popular in the business sector, several professionals, such as social workers, arbitrators, group therapists, and facilitators, demand this approach.

What is Participative leadership Style?

The participative leadership style is a more democratic one that allows a group to discuss and make decisions jointly. This is in contrast to a top-down or command-and-control management style, in which leaders make decisions without first discussing their subordinates. Because the team makes decisions together, the participative method stimulates collaboration and empowerment by requiring group members to contribute to the discourse.

Leader’s Tip
Leaders should encourage open communication, active engagement, and shared decision-making among team members.

5 Examples of Great participative leaders

Thus, Here are examples of great leaders who followed the participative style of leadership-

1.Tetsuo Ogawa

The Chief executive officer of Toyota Motor North America, Inc., is one of the top leaders who has demonstrated how effective it is to lead a team directly through problems and failures to limit damage and successfully address issues.

2. James Parker

Parker placed the needs of the employees above his own he has done at Southwest Airlines. Following the 9/11 attacks, while all airlines were grounded, Southwest personnel were observed taking their clients out to enjoy activities such as movies and bowling and involving them in other activities to help pass the time. Moreover, while other airlines were cutting personnel, Southwest began profit-sharing instead.

3 . Bob Diamond

Bob Diamond has had a lot of success due to UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s deregulated financial markets, taking measured risks and working directly with others while being both cautious and aggressive to grow Barclay’s into a major player in the global financial market.

4. Jack Stahl

Working with others was the way to go for the President of Coca-Cola and then the CEO of Revlon. With his capacity to work with the tiniest details of any activity while also standing back when appropriate, he has increased profitability under his leadership.

5. Donald Trump

However, Trump has amassed a fortune by promoting ideas and encouraging others to freely share information. Also, He evaluates all possible outcomes, considers other people’s ideas in every decision, and seeks to increase the collective mind in every decision, ensuring that everyone has a say in the organization’s endeavors.

5 participative Leader Qualities

Thus, The leadership skills of a participative leader are :

• Collaborative
• Open-Minded
• Encouraging
• Curious
• Excellent Communication Skills

5 Advantages and Disadvantages of participative Leadership

So, Five advantages of participative leadership are

• More effective problem-solving
• Focus on organizational values
• Increased connection and buy-in
• Stronger teams
• Decision-making flexibility

So, Five disadvantages of participative leadership are

1. Participative leadership is a Slow process
2. It may be Challenging for large groups
3. The involvement of many members can create confusion
4. Reduces the quality of expertise.
5. Inhibit swift decision-making.

Strategies for Encouraging Participative Management

1. All levels of decision-making should be encouraged, and both tough and favorable decisions should be rewarded and acknowledged. There must be a way in place to determine when a decision is a profitable and monetary compensation for that profitability.
2. Employees must play a proactive role. Additionally, To boost the company’s profitability, an engaged employee actively seeks, finds, and solves problems within the company.
3. Management must be aware that new leadership skills, problem-solving, coaching, public speaking to groups, and so on may be required of employees. Many businesses will implement training programs to improve their employees’ skill sets in areas other than their primary responsibilities.
4. It is critical to establish a participative structure by communicating with employees at all levels. A bottom-up approach to policy change is more effective than a top-down unilateral policy change.
5. As with every HR program, employee participation must be updated regularly with new ideas from the employees themselves.
6. Middle-management workers and supervisors must have a clear grasp of their roles and duties.
7. Without a system of accountability, which includes monitoring results and their repercussions, there can be no responsibility system. Moreover, Reward systems can take numerous forms, depending on the company’s main value performance indicators. They can be based on profitability or increased revenues.

5 best leadership quotes

Thus, Here are five leadership quotes by some great leaders

1. “The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority.” – Kenneth H. Blanchard
2. “Leadership is an action, not a position.” – Donald McGannon
3. The secret of leadership is simple: Do what you believe in. Paint a picture of the future. Go there. People will follow.” – Seth Godin
4. Leadership is solving problems. The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help or concluded you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.” – Colin Powell
5. “Management is about arranging and telling. Leadership is about nurturing and enhancing.” – Tom Peters

5 Participative leadership books

Here are top 5 participative leadership books

1. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action
   by Simon Sinek 
2. Brave New Work: Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization?
   by Aaron Dignan
3. Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness by Frederic Laloux
4. The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups
   byDaniel Coyle
5. The Psychology of Participative Management by Ray Helmcamp

FAQs

Key Takeaways

• A participative leader fosters employee leadership development, encourages and incorporates input in decision-making, and employs a democratic approach for team engagement.
• Develops employee leadership, involves input in decision-making, uses a democratic approach for team engagement, empowers creativity in problem-solving.