Autocratic leadership: qualities, skills and styles

Autocratic leadership focuses on strict individual control in decision-making regarding an activity or project. It can sometimes be beneficial.

Having autocratic leaders with decision-making capacity can help a company overcome a crisis situation; however, low employee participation can be demotivating and negatively affect team performance and satisfaction.

In this article, we will explore what autocratic leadership is, its qualities, skills and styles.

What is autocratic leadership?

Autocratic leadership, also called authoritarian leadership, is a management style based on the maximum authority and power of a leader who makes decisions with practically no input or suggestions from his teams.

This type of team management uses different tools such as rules, regulations, orders, demands, and, in the most negative cases may use punishment and threats.

It is therefore common to use micromanagement, an invasive supervision that can occur especially in inexperienced teams or teams that require quick decision-making in crisis scenarios.

In such circumstances, the trade-off for the leader is that all responsibilities fall on him, and as far as the team is concerned, this can be the source of great demotivation and lack of creativity.

Difference between autocratic and democratic leadership

As we have just seen, in autocratic leadership, the leader (which is included in the 5 levels of leadership). makes all the decisions, while in democratic leadership, solutions are sought as a team, combining skills and encouraging creativity and innovation. 

For many Human Resources experts, both styles can form a good tandem when they are in balance and applied according to the needs of a specific context, using tools such as endomarketing.

Autocratic leadership qualities and skills

The following qualities are essential in an autocratic leadership in order to be successfully employed in the scenarios that require it:

1. Self-confidence. It is undeniable to trust in oneself to be able to make decisions, otherwise a counterproductive and stressful chaos can be established.
2. Motivation. If a leader is not able to inspire his teams, he will hardly be able to implement a successful way of working without affecting the motivation of his teams.
3. Clear communication and consistency. Communication must be coherent and the objectives established must be clear, realistic and adapted to the capabilities of the people who must assume the proposed tasks.
4. Confidence. An autocratic leader must be trustworthy and for this he must be able to strategically delegate tasks, and promote rules and norms to improve the efficiency and performance of the employees.

To avoid falling into a leadership that is detrimental to the teams and the company, the leader must have skills that allow him to help his teams understand his decisions and inspire them in adverse situations.

In addition to having sufficient communication skills to transmit guidelines clearly and respectfully, an autocratic leader must develop the following skills:

• Stress and pressure management.
• Conflict resolution.
• Results orientation.
• Decision-making.
• Negotiation and management of resistance to change.

These are some of the power skills of this kind of leaders, but empathy must stand out above all of them, since we are talking about working under a structured and directive command. 

Autocratic leadership styles

Autocratic leadership is further defined by its characteristics, such as the limited participation of group members in decision making, the establishment of immovable work methods and processes, and the creation of rigid and highly structured environments.

This type of leadership can be developed in different degrees, so we would speak of autocratic leadership:

• Directive. This is the most rigid, where the manager’s decisions are indisputable.
• Permissive. It is somewhat more flexible than directive and allows for a certain degree of participation by group members.
• Paternalistic. Focuses on developing strict leadership, while caring for the team and taking care of communication.

As we have already mentioned, autocratic leadership taken to the extreme stifles people’s expression and discourages innovation.

What is the beneficial autocratic leadership style?

Now that you know the characteristics, qualities and skills that define autocratic leadership, it is easy to conclude that his style should move away from coercion and dictatorial methodologies that rely on threats and, of course, mistreatment of workers.

It is highly recommended that an autocratic leader approaches an exponential leadership that knows how to recognize the talent of his teams and drives them to success.

In this way, leadership becomes a source of inspiration and the team recognizes the manager’s leadership role and aligns itself with it.

We can reduce the two ways in which an autocratic leader chooses to proceed to the following phrase: all dictators are autocratic, but not all autocratic leaders are dictators.

When does an autocratic leader work best? Examples

Leaders of great empires, nations and companies throughout history have used and continue to use this type of leadership. Examples include Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon Bonaparte or even Bill Gates or Elon Musk. 

While it is true that an autocratic leader can be inspiring, he or she can also respond to teams that need to be guided and do not want to assume any type of responsibility or risk beyond the tasks entrusted.  

Moreover, there are difficult business contexts that may call for autocratic leadership that knows how to make the right decisions under high-pressure and high-risk situations with an unwavering focus.

A clear example of this is the military hierarchy whose top leaders are capable of executing quick, urgent and effective strategies with great responsibility. 

How to avoid being a negative autocratic leader

Throughout this article you have discovered that autocratic leadership can be positive or negative, depending on how it is applied. To get the most out of it, it is crucial to have leaders who know how to establish trust in their teams and empower them.

Honest dialogue, active listening, the creation of spaces for exchange and the recognition of individual and group achievements create bonds of trust with workers, nurture a sense of community and improve their performance.

A great tool to boost talent in your company and improve the results of this type of leadership is to create a culture of continuous learning in your company that drives workers to excellence.

Resources such as professional coaching and training programs are strategic.

When it comes to empowerment and confidence, being able to provide objective and confident assessments is invaluable.

At Smowltech, we provide our clients with innovative tools for their online and remote supervisions. We are talking about proctoring plans that integrate seamlessly with the most prestigious and in-demand Learning Management Systems (LMS).We invite you to discover them for yourself by requesting a free demo.