LAISSEZ FAIRE LEADERSHIP: CHARACTERISTICS, BENEFITS AND EXAMPLES - PSYCHOLOGY - 2024

The laissez faire leadership is a leadership style characterized by great freedom enjoyed by subordinates. Contrary to what happens in other models, the leader trusts his team and lets his members do what they consider most appropriate in each situation.

The term "laissez faire" comes from French, and means "letting go." In this style of leadership, the main objective is to create a team that is able to function on its own, without the need for any kind of guidance or interference from the boss. Thus, employees are trusted to act in a way that makes sense to them.

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The foundation of this leadership style is the belief that, left alone, team members will act in ways that are more beneficial to both themselves and the project. Because of this, the role of the boss is very different from other models, especially the bossy style.

Laissez faire or liberal leadership is highly controversial within management circles, and has both detractors and staunch defenders. In this article we will see its main features, as well as its most prominent advantages and disadvantages.

characteristics

The leader fulfills a role of helping his employees

In most leadership styles, the boss is the one in charge of making all the decisions, telling his employees what to do and generally taking the reins of the company or team. This is so regardless of whether the opinions of subordinates are more or less taken into account.

On the contrary, in the laissez faire style the leader does not make any decisions or tell his employees what to spend their time on. Rather, an overarching goal is set early on, and subordinates are trusted to act in the most beneficial way possible to achieve it.

Thus, the leader in this style fulfills a supporting role, giving his subordinates the tools they need to solve any problem autonomously.

He can also answer questions or give help when necessary, but always respecting the decisions of those who are below him.

Focus on training team members

In a laissez-faire company, employees have a much greater responsibility than usual for what tasks to perform and how to perform them.

Therefore, leaders have a duty to train, teach, and provide all the resources they need to do their job well.

In this sense, a liberal leader has more of an educator and facilitator role than a leader in the traditional sense of the word. Many of the company's resources, moreover, will be destined to improve the qualifications of the employees, so that they can carry out their work correctly.

Trust in employees

In order to use the laissez faire style correctly, the leader has to be able to fully trust his subordinates.

They have all the freedom possible when making decisions, making mistakes and learning from their mistakes, and taking those actions that they believe are the most convenient to achieve the objectives of the company.

To achieve this, liberal leaders have to choose very carefully all the members of their team. Once this is done, they can relax knowing that all workers are talented enough to do their jobs properly. In addition, the leader himself has to have the ability to delegate and trust others.

On the other hand, subordinates have to know that they will not be punished if they make a mistake or do something in a way that is not exactly what the leader would want.

Only in this way can they develop all their creativity and achieve the best long-term results, even if to get there they have to make mistakes several times.

Advantage

Despite being an extremely different style from traditional leadership models, laissez faire has a number of characteristics that make it very attractive to certain groups and companies. Below we will see some of its most outstanding advantages.

Increased job satisfaction

According to many studies on this subject, one of the aspects that most lowers employee morale within traditional companies is the fact that they cannot make their own decisions and the need to always carry out the same actions in a similar way. This, however, is simply not the case with liberal leadership.

Research on laissez faire leadership seems to indicate that employees who have more autonomy in their work also become more motivated than normal.

Because of this, your productivity may increase and your results will tend to be better, although certain factors can prevent this from always being true.

Enhance creativity

One of the most important benefits of laissez faire leadership is that employees can develop their full capabilities and try to innovate without fear of failure. Because their bosses give them all the freedom in the world, they may come up with new ideas and improve the company's bottom line.

Although creativity is not important for all companies, those that are dedicated to a more innovative sector can benefit greatly from this feature. Thus, for example, in industries such as marketing, advertising or design, laissez faire leadership has proven to be very successful.

The leader can focus on more important matters

A leader who is following an authoritarian model, or who wants to personally supervise all the actions of his employees, will have practically no time for anything else.

So instead of finding new business goals, dealing with customers, or developing new ideas, you'll spend all your time managing your subordinates.

On the contrary, when the laissez faire model is followed, the boss can trust that his employees will do their jobs correctly even when they are not being supervised. Because of this, you can relax and dedicate yourself to other more important tasks, in which your time will be better spent.

Disadvantages

Although the laissez faire leadership model can have many points in its favor, it is also true that it is not suitable for all situations. In this section we will see what its main drawbacks are.

Lack of clarity in roles

While the freedom of laissez faire leadership can be very positive, there may come a point where employees are unclear about what is expected of them.

If you are starting work on a new project, for example, subordinates in a company that follows this model may not know what to do.

This can leave employees frustrated, not knowing exactly what they are supposed to achieve. Therefore, laissez faire leadership is most useful once the roles of each person have already been clearly defined.

Not everyone can take this responsibility

Not all employees are capable of being truly productive when given absolute freedom. Some of them may take advantage of the lack of supervision to work less than they should; Others can get distracted and forget about deadlines, causing all kinds of problems.

Because of this, liberal leaders can only work with people who have very specific characteristics, and who are comfortable with this arrangement. Therefore, it is necessary to do a very intensive pre-selection before hiring a new employee.

Greater number of conflicts

We have already seen that creativity and freedom can greatly increase the results of a company. However, when working in a group, each of the people who belong to it will have their own idea about how it is necessary to carry out each task; and without firm guidelines, conflicts are likely to arise.

Thus, in companies that follow the laissez faire model, it is very common for members of a working group or even different departments to often argue about the best way to solve a problem or carry out a task.

The leader has to be able to mediate in these cases, but this can be very complicated because he cannot impose his point of view; rather, you will have to listen to both parties and help them come up with a solution that satisfies everyone.

Examples of leaders

Although the laissez faire model is still not very common in our society, there are some examples of people who have adopted it successfully. Next we will see two of the most important cases.

Warren buffet

Warren Buffet is known for being one of the richest men in the world. Its economic successes are very well documented; But what not many people know is that this employer gives his employees the maximum freedom to do what seems most convenient for them.

Thus, one of the secrets to his success is that Buffet has surrounded himself with people he can trust, who fulfill their tasks in a creative way without the need for him to be supervising them all the time. Thus, their job is usually limited to intervening when a situation turns unfavorable.

Mahatma Gandhi

If there is one phrase that made Gandhi famous, it was "be the change you want to see in the world." This Indian political activist had very clear ideas about how he wanted his environment to change; But instead of imposing himself, he simply became an example to follow for millions of people around the world.

Thus, without the need to use force or impose his own point of view, Gandhi managed to free his country from one of the most powerful empires in all of history.

References

1. "Laissez faire leadership" in: Tools Hero. Retrieved on: January 27, 2019 from Tools Hero: toolshero.com.
2. What is Laissez-Faire Leadership? How Autonomy Can Drive Success ”at: St. Thomas University. Retrieved on: January 27, 2019 from St. Thomas University: online.stu.edu.
3. "Laissez Faire Leadership Guide: Definition, Qualities, Pros & Cons, Examples" in: Cleverism. Retrieved on: January 27, 2019 from Cleverism: cleverism.com.
4. "5 Main Principles of Laissez-Faire Leadership" in: Status. Retrieved on: January 27, 2019 from Status: status.net.
5. "What is laissez faire leadership?" at: VeryWell Mind. Retrieved on: January 27, 2019 from VeryWell Mind: verywellmind.com.