| Families are brilliant groups of humanity. They | | | | commonly used in the home. |
| represent the love and warmth that we all desire | | | | The benefits of democratic leadership include: |
| from life, and can help us grow as individuals in so | | | | 1. Higher levels of confidence in children as they |
| many ways during our lives. | | | | learn how to make good decisions, and |
| Lets face it, families can also be very hard to | | | | experience the fruits of the risks they take. |
| cope with and hold together at times. A strong | | | | 2. Be able to draw on the knowledge and |
| family always has a strong ethic or strong leader | | | | experience of everybody in the family to make |
| that holds it together. This article will be quickly | | | | the best decision. |
| running through the different leadership styles that | | | | 3. A split in responsibility helps take weight off the |
| you can use to keep your family living | | | | shoulders of the 'head of the house', and ease |
| harmoniously and happily ever after - in theory. | | | | stress levels. |
| Autocratic Leadership | | | | Drawbacks include: |
| An autocratic leader is someone who has the | | | | 1. Increased chances of arguments, as differences |
| power to make decisions without consultation or | | | | of opinion on simple day-to-day decisions can |
| agreement from anybody else. In a family, this | | | | wear down those involved and run patience thin. |
| would be the parent who makes important | | | | 2. Spending too much time sat discussing, planning |
| choices autonomously - you'll know who this is in | | | | & arguing about family events for instance, |
| your family! The benefits of having an autocratic | | | | and less time actually doing them. There are |
| leader are: | | | | some activities that children, if given the full |
| 1. Decisions are generally made more quickly | | | | choice, will simply not choose to do. Such activities |
| 2. Less time is spent talking and more time is | | | | could include arranging complicated events or |
| spent doing | | | | scary things such as speaking in front of a crowd. |
| 3. Clear who has responsibility for decisions | | | | Sometimes you can try to put your point across |
| However there are also drawbacks associated | | | | as to how much the child will enjoy the task but |
| with such an extreme leadership style: | | | | they simply won't believe you. They need the |
| 1. Making decisions autocratically is a sign of lack | | | | push, and this is when autocratic leadership starts |
| of trust of other family members, and will result | | | | to become more useful. |
| in them feeling under valued. | | | | So you can see that as a family leader, in times |
| 2. Ignoring other family members expertise will | | | | of crisis, or simply during day-to-day life; different |
| result in poorer decision making. | | | | leadership styles are appropriate. It may be |
| 3. It can be lonely at the top, so to speak. | | | | autocratic, may be democratic, but most of the |
| Democratic Leadership | | | | time you'll find that acting somewhere between |
| Democratic family leaders attempt to reach out | | | | the two is the most satisfying and efficient way |
| to their spouses and children as often as possible | | | | to lead your family. |
| when making decisions. Democracy is certainly the | | | | I wish you the best of luck in exploring your own |
| flavour of western politics, but it's not so | | | | leadership style. |