How to Improve Autocratic Leadership?

Autocratic leadership, also known as authoritarian leadership is the idea where the decisions are taken by one single individual, considering little to no input from other members of the organization. While autocratic leadership can increase efficiency and productivity in some cases, it can do the exact opposite if not formed accurately. This article can be your guidance on how to improve autocratic leadership in order to benefit from it.

Autocratic Leadership Skills

Let’s have a look into the skills an autocratic leader possesses:

1. Sole decision-taking ability: An autocrat leader usually does not leave room for feedback. He mostly takes all the decisions on his own.
2. Enforcement of strict rules and regulations: In autocratic leadership, there are certain rules that bound the employees strictly, leaving out almost zero flexibility.
3. Structured environment: In such leadership, a rigid structure is followed, where everyone’s role and duties are well-defined, resulting in more productivity.
4. Discouraging creativity: The autocratic leadership demotes the workers to have out-of-the-box ideas and dictate to stick to roles they are allocated.

Related Reading: Autocratic Leadership of Henry Ford

How to Improve Autocratic Leadership?

Autocratic leadership works great while working with a large group, or for someone who loves to be consistent and does not want to take risks in the workplace. However, it is vital to remember that there is always room for improvement for every leadership, even for a successful one.

We’ll walk you through some factors that can help you to improve your autocratic leadership style:

Make Workers Feel Important

Although the idea of autocratic leadership is the concept of taking less to no feedback, sometimes listening to the concerns of the employees can play a big role to improve the overall workplace environment and productivity. Even though you choose not to take the feedback into consideration, sometimes just listen to them. This will help to make the employees feel that they are part of the family and motivate them.

Additionally, if feedback is not taken and communicated adequately, any problem that any subordinate faces will remain unattended. In the end, it will be seen that most of the employees face some inconveniences, which are left unsolved. This will eventually become a barrier to reach the planned goals if looked at the bigger scenario.

Communicate the Rules

As already discussed, autocratic leaderships rely on a strictly structured system and the rules and regulations are rigid. In order to ensure the enforcement of the rules, you have to communicate the rules with each employee accurately. Any form of communication gap can lead to mistakes. The direction and allocation of the work needs to be clear as well. This will allow the workers a better conception of the work they are assigned for. Furthermore, to understand if the subordinates have actually understood your instruction or direction, you can always take two or three minutes extra to ask them questions. Once done, ask the employees if they have any further queries. The process may seem little time-consuming in the first instance, however, if you look at all the times that were wasted because of miscommunication, this will seem like a great idea.

Confidence of The Leader

Apparent from the definition, an autocratic leader has to take the decisions by himself most of the time. Thus, if the leader is confident in himself, it allows him to take the decisions wisely. Sometimes, a leader is under a lot of stress, pressure and deadlines. In such a scenario, if the leader loses belief in himself, it can result in an inappropriate decision. To tackle such sensitive situations, improvement of confidence in the leader can play a big role.

Provide the Materials

In order to make an autocratic leadership successful, a leader has to ensure that once the tasks are allocated and well-communicated, the workers have all the necessary tools, education or training to reach the goals. If done right, this step will result in less interruptions in the work, as the employees are already well-known of the process. Further, if needed, additional support has to be delivered. Giving the subordinates books that may help them, arranging seminars where their tasks will be elaborated more, workshops to offer trainings or field trips can also be arranged by the autocratic leader in order to improve the performance of the employees.

Being Dependable

To make the best out of it, an autocratic leader has to work on himself being more dependable to the employees. Because of the structure of hierarchy, the workers follow the decision of the leader blindly. The more the workers are able to trust and depend on the leader, the more effective the results will come out.

Motivate the Workers

Many times, especially when put under a lot of pressure, the employees can lose motivation to work. To tackle such a situation, an autocratic leader has to know how to motivate his subordinates to follow the decisions he takes and work on them perfectly. In order to make that happen, the leader also has to show respect towards the feelings of the employees and be empathized. A great communication skill will come really handy as well.

Follow Your Own Rules

In a workplace with autocratic leadership, it is a must that the
Leader sticks to rules he has made. This will make the subordinates respectable towards the regulations made and make the leader a reliable one in their eyes. Mutual respect is the difference between a healthy and unhealthy working environment.

Appreciate the Effort of The Workers

A leader who appropriates and recognizes the effort of the employees is a gift to the workplace. Recognition can motivate the workers to give their best. On the other hand, if only criticized, your team will start to feel unappreciated and lead to less productivity in the work. When to criticize, an autocratic leader has to make sure that it is constructive criticism. Furthermore, to improve the leadership, gifts and bonuses can be offered in huge success from the workers. This small step will make them feel welcome in their workplace.

Improve Delegation Skills

For an autocratic leader, delegation of the tasks is a real big deal. If the task is not allocated to the right worker for it, the results will not be impressive. For an effective delegation, the autocratic leader has to take certain factors into consideration, such as skills of the individual subordinates, their capacity to take workload, ability to work under pressure and expertise. Other than these, the desire to even want to do it can play a big role. Forced upon works can often fail to reach the expectation level. On the other hand, if the allocation process is discussed with the subordinates, it will make them feel important. Although taking every other individual into consideration may be troublesome for larger groups, a good autocratic leader will try to make an overall balance.

Bottom Line

Great success always comes with well-coordinated teamwork. To bind the whole team together, a leader plays the most important role; therefore, the leader must work to improve autocratic leadership. An autocratic leader has to believe in himself, but also has to acknowledge the shortcomings in his leadership. The small steps towards improvements will make a huge difference in the long term. All these tiny factors will help the workplace reach its ultimate goal.