Democratic Leadership Style

The Democratic Leadership Style was first described by Lewin, Lippitt, and White in 1938, along with the autocratic leadership and the laissez-faire leadership styles. The democratic style was also acknowledged by Daniel Goleman in 2002, as one of his six leadership styles.

The democratic leader gives followers a vote in nearly every decision the team makes.  Being a democratic leader is very time consuming because decisions are nearly always made as a team.

The democratic leadership style is able to quickly build flexibility and responsibility, and can help identify new ways to do traditional jobs.  This leadership style is best used when the followers are knowledgeable about the organization's process and change is needed.  For example, this style is used when the leader needs to introduce fresh ideas into the organization to help with an old process.

Lewin, Lippitt, and White were one of the first researchers to categorize leadership styles in terms of behavioral characteristics.  Prior to their work, leadership traits were the focus of leadership studies.