Which Management Style Should You Use? [Quiz]

There are many challenges that come with being a manager, and many methods and strategies that could help you overcome the obstacles in your path and deliver results for your organization.

One of the secrets to success in management is being not just familiar with the various styles you can use, but aware of their potential benefits and suitability, relative to the nature of your company and teams.

Take our quiz to get a better idea of the management style that would be best for you:

Participative management

Participative management is a positive and productive method if you have faith in your team members to work under their own initiative, and to accept responsibility for making significant decisions. It relies on employees coming forward with their own ideas and opinions, which you as the manager can use to plan workloads and set priorities.

It’s important that you have confidence in every member of your team to do their bit for participative management to deliver tangible results.

Network management

Another style that relies on you having trust in your staff and being willing to let your people take the lead, network management is all about facilitating links and connections between team members, and giving them the freedom to work and resolve problems in a collaborative way.

The emphasis on independence and autonomy within teams means network management can be a particularly efficient method if you oversee a number of distinct groups of employees. Your focus will be more on supporting relationships and communication than micro-managing.

Mentor management

If you achieved your management position through promotion, after excelling in one or more of the jobs your team members are now doing, mentor management could be a natural and effective style to use. It places an emphasis on working one-on-one with people and supporting their professional development.

The balance between mentoring and allowing people to learn independently means you will need to be comfortable with switching between hands-on and hands-off management.

Mentoring can be particularly effective if you are concerned that individuals within your team are struggling and need some one-on-one support.

Pacesetting management

This method sees the manager getting directly involved in setting the pace of work - setting deadlines and checkpoints, for example - but giving employees the freedom to decide how the work is done.

This could be the ideal system if you are keen to give your team members a certain level of independence and control, but you also want to feel confident they are sticking to a schedule and will get the job finished on time.

Authoritative management

 As the name suggests, authoritative management is a direct, no-nonsense approach that involves the manager dictating everything from which team members take on which tasks, to the methods used and the deadlines set.

This style is most likely to be used when a company is going through some difficulties. As a manager, you will need to step up and take responsibility for ensuring that teams are working in the most efficient, productive way possible.

While this might sound like an overly strict, disciplinarian approach, it can offer many advantages for teams and the business as a whole, such as taking pressure away from individual employees and giving people complete clarity in their day-to-day responsibilities.

If you have a respectful, trusting relationship with your staff, there is no reason why authoritative management can’t be a healthy and positive way to work.