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How Exclusive Leadership Deteriorates the Essence of a Growing Company?

Companies grow when every member of the company owns it. They grow when employees feel welcomed and their efforts are acknowledged, when they have leaders that make them feel like they belong. Exclusive leaders do the complete opposite. They have characteristics that deteriorate the essence of a growing company and prevent its growth. 

There is a diverse range of leadership styles. In earlier times, during the colonization period and before the Industrial Revolution, Exclusive leadership was the rule of the land. It was practiced by everyone: kings, queens, tribal and community leaders. Everyone believed that by maintaining control and authority they could sustain their power. 

As times changed, the world realized the potential of other forms of leadership. The world started transitioning to inclusive, more transformational styles. However, there is still a wide range of companies that are headed by exclusive leaders. Here is how that is detrimental to the progress of the company. 

What Is Exclusive Leadership?

Exclusive leadership resembles autocratic leadership. It involves leaders taking sole responsibility for decision-making. Although some exclusive leaders allow others to express their opinion, they usually do not take criticism from their team members. Moreover, exclusive leaders tend to accept full accountability for their actions. 

Why Is Exclusive Leadership Disadvantageous for Corporations

Exclusive leadership may help save your time or energy. However, in its essence, exclusive leadership offers more harm than pros. Here is why exclusive leadership is disadvantageous for corporations. 

1. Exclusive Leaders Focus On Maintaining Control

It is a truth universally acknowledged that the more insecure a person is, the more they would want to maintain control. Exclusive leaders are insecure about their position and their title, and go out of their way to exert their dominance over others. 

This could look like a leader saying something like ‘I am the boss, so you will do what I say’ or ‘The boss is always right’ or something similar along the lines. Phrases like these are used by leaders to demonstrate that they are in charge at all times. 

2. Can Create an Environment of Fear and Intimidation

Focus On Maintaining Authority

Most leaders want to build trust in leadership. They want their associates and their team members to respect them and follow them because they want to, not because they have to. However, exclusive leaders function differently. They deliberately create an environment of fear and intimidation. 

These leaders want unconditional loyalty and support from their followers. They use strict verbal and non-verbal cues to intimidate others. This could include speaking in a louder voice, shouting at others, standing with arms closed, or avoiding smiling. 

3. Focus On Maintaining Authority

Participative and democratic leadership does not see the relationship between leader and follower in black and white. Most other forms of leadership will require leaders to only maintain an adequate amount of authority: the amount that prevents chaos. 

However, exclusive leaders work best when leaders have absolute control and say over all matters. These leaders usually maintain control by making all the decisions in isolation, without welcoming any significant input from their team members or associates. 

4. Seek to Homogenize Their Teams

Exclusive leaders detest diversity. They realize that the more diverse the office becomes, the more concessions the leaders will have to make to ensure everyone is happy. Diversity brings in many unique challenges, and exclusive leaders do not consider it an important component of workplace progress. 

Most exclusive leaders would therefore seek to homogenize their teams. We have seen this happening under the leadership of Donald Trump. Whether unconsciously, or consciously, his team comprised people belonging to a particular group. 

5. Less Responsive to the Needs of Teams

Your team is not just a body that will help you make progress. It consists of a group of people: living and breathing individuals who are all unique and bring their skills to the job. Exclusive leaders tend to consider their team as a unilateral body that can not have internal conflicts. This utopia idea fails miserably in the office. 

When leaders do not acknowledge the internal struggles of the team members and refuse to make concessions for the warring parties, they make governance hard for themselves. These leaders ignore small issues and only tackle them once these issues become big. 

6. Create Less Room for Innovation

In the presence of an exclusive leader, the team can not expect much innovation. Every innovation in the world has come up when discourse and debate have been generated. Exclusive leaders take decisions in isolation and do not welcome others to share their input. This often leads to stagnancy in the office. 

On the other hand, inclusive and participative leaders welcome diverse opinions and suggestions and ensure that all team members can contribute to workplace progress. This is why companies thrive when they are under the right leadership. 

7. Employees feel less loyalty to the company

The relationship between the leaders and the team members is one of reciprocity. Leaders who do not treat their team members properly can not expect the team to develop any undying loyalty for the leader or the company. This poses two significant problems. 

Firstly, team members who do not feel loyalty towards the company do not give in their all and lack the right motivation to do something big. Secondly, these employees tend to leave their jobs as soon as a better opportunity arises. This limits the potential of the entire company. 

8. Leaders Are Not Willing to Share Credit

Exclusive leaders take most decisions single-handedly. This makes them overconfident, and they start believing that any progress the company makes is because of their efforts. In reality, any progress is attributed or should be attributed to the entire team. 

Since exclusive leaders are not willing to share the credit with their team, they also feel hesitant while acknowledging the efforts of their team members. This reduces motivation in the employees. 

Are There Any Advantages to Exclusive Leadership?

Are There Any Advantages to Exclusive Leadership?

1. Make Quick Decisions in Times of Crisis

One of the biggest advantages of exclusive leaders is that they can save time and energy. Since they have to take decisions in isolation and not care about what other people think, they do not have to carry out multiple meetings or indulge in extensive debate. They can simply decide to the best of their ability and then leave it to fate. This allows them to spend their extra time initiating new plans. 

2. Maintain a Proper Hierarchy 

Most forms of exclusive leadership offer a proper hierarchy. When the lines between leadership and team members get blurred, the latter can often gain a lot of power and try to dominate upper management. This creates problems for the organizational structure of the organization. In the presence of an exclusive leader, strict fragmentation is observed and helps maintain structure. 

3. Exhibit More Control Over Subordinates

In organizations and companies where maintaining control is more important than anything else, exclusive leadership comes in handy. Imagine a prison or a hospital or even a university or school where order is essential for the proper functioning of the system. Now imagine the organization having no proper hierarchy and different individuals having too much control. Needless to say, it will be a huge chaos. 

What Are the 3 Best Alternatives to Exclusive Leadership?

1) Inclusive Leadership

Inclusive leaders are unaware of their own biases and make a conscious effort to consider differing perspectives. They are also welcoming of a diverse group of people: people of different colors, races, gender, and ethnicity. They acknowledge the protected attributes of people and do not hold them against individuals. Additionally, inclusive leaders collaborate more effectively with others. 

2) Democratic Leadership

Democratic leadership, also known as participative leadership, is about allowing a diverse range of people, across multiple hierarchies, to indulge in the decision-making process. These people not only participate in the process, but also comment and disagree with the leaders to reach a final decision. They also get acknowledgment for their efforts and are regarded as important parts of the organization. 

3) Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is when leaders try to change the status quo for the better. These leaders tend to find issues with the current system. They envision a better tomorrow and then work towards that better future. Moreover, transformational leaders are inclusive and generally possess a high moral and ethical standards. Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln are good examples of transformational leaders. 

How to Develop More Inclusive Leaders?

Every organization should actively strive to develop more inclusive leaders. Here are a number of mechanisms that help introduce and empower more inclusive leaders. 

  • Create an environment that celebrates individuals and not judges them based on their protected attributes like race, gender and religion. 
  • Empower the Human Resource department so that they can create equitable policies for all. 
  • Ensure leaders are inclusive in their approach and not prejudiced against any community or race. 
  • At a societal level, create awards and recognition certificates for organizations that offer good diversity.

Learn to Be an Inclusive Leader With the Best Diplomats

Learn to Be an Inclusive Leader With the Best Diplomats

Through extensive research and market assessment, the organizers at Best Diplomats have concluded that inclusive leadership is the key to a great tomorrow. Leaders can adopt a variety of styles, but all these styles should propagate diversity and inclusion. 

If you want to prevent being an exclusive and unpopular leader, you can sign up with Best Diplomats and join the best training programs in the world. Through these short conferences, you will learn what it means to be a powerful, yet people-friendly leader. You will learn confidence and enhance your communication skills in no time. 

Moreover, Best Diplomats allows you to meet people from all walks of life; people who are different from you, but people who all share the same goal as you. You get to make lifelong bonds with individuals who want to bring change within their respective societies. All in all, the experience transforms your life for the better. 

Conclusion

Although Exclusive leadership has some minute advantages like it saves time and energy, it is generally considered counterintuitive to the progress of a company or an organization. It requires leaders to hold absolute power and maintain unnecessary control over everything. 

In the bid to do this, leaders often forget their goal and tend to lose their sense of right and wrong. Moreover, exclusive leaders make for unpopular leaders and are often dethroned. You can avoid this by getting the right training. 

FAQs

What Is Exclusive vs Inclusive Leadership?

Inclusive leaders bring people together and hold no prejudice against anyone. On the other hand, exclusive leaders focus on maintaining control and complete hegemonic control. Inclusive leaders often indulge in a participatory form of decision-making, whereas exclusive leaders take decisions in isolation. 

What Is the Best Form of Leadership?

A good form of leadership does both the leader and the organization good. However, the best form of leadership is one that caters to the needs of societies as well. Leaders who care about society and also do societal good tend to create ripples within society. Inclusive, participative, and transformational leadership styles fall under this category. 

What Is an Example of Exclusive Leadership?

History is full of exclusive leaders. From Adolf Hitler to Fidel Castro, these leaders were not only autocratic, but also did not involve their team members or associates in the decision-making process. Currently, we see leaders like Kim Jung-Yun of North Korea or Vladimir Putin of Russia. These leaders believe that the only way to maintain control is through exclusive leadership. 

What Is the Role of a Good Leader?

Leaders who possess exemplary traits of leadership tend to prove good for society. They not only generate a lot of revenue for the company, but also transform society for the better. Additionally, good leaders tend to be inclusive of race, ethnicity, gender, and religion. They involve others in the leadership process and make decisions that do not come at the cost of their ethics or morals. 

Oleksandra Mamchii

Working as a academic lead at Best Diplomats.

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