The Practice of Professional Consulting



The Project Leader Style Needed for Team Building

Research on team effectiveness shows clearly that the best leadership style to use in a business setting (especially with professional knowledge workers like consultants) is a democratic style—one that fosters full participation, involvement, open debate, and consensus decision making (Francis & Young, 1979; Knowles, 1972; Kouzes & Posner, 2012; Kreitner, 2009; Schermerhorn, Hunt, et al., 2010). Autocratic micro-managers may get a greater volume of work accomplished, but this is often at the expense of fulfilling people’s need for strong socioemotional support and team cohesion. Autocratic, coercive leadership tends to make group members operate ...