Leader Impact: Comparing an Autocratic Leader to the Leaders in Peak Performers

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Leader Impact: Comparing an Autocratic Leader to the Leaders in Peak Performers

It is vital to note that the success of any organization significantly depends on its leadership or management. Leadership refers to a well-focused management approach which simultaneously works towards accomplishing organizational objectives and individual needs.  As such, every organization always seeks to employ leaders who work efficiently and effectively to attain the established goals. Leaders need to possess excellent qualities as well as leadership and management styles which motivate and inspire the workers to deliver or produce at their peak performance. The work of a leader is to get things done correctly through leading others, especially the employees, to success. Moreover, it is imperative for leaders to develop leadership styles which suit various situations to positively impact the functioning of an organization. Leaders, therefore, have the responsibility to have a greater worldview, strengths, ethics, and communication styles. This paper aims at comparing and contrasting an autocratic leader to the leaders found in peak performers.

 The characteristics of leaders found in Peak Performers includes new frontier thinking. They believe their trajectory is limited by their willingness to try new skills, move in a new direction,  or venture into a new area they have no prior knowledge. Secondly, these leaders have courageous conversations. They are always prepared to challenge themselves. They explore both the unusual and usual and define ways they can attain organizational goals by letting go of old ideas for new opportunities or notions. They never accept being stagnant or average. Thirdly, the leaders found in peak performers are committed to relationships, especially with the followers. They include employees in decision-making process. They also love to be challenged. They always thrive to compete and do their best. They look outside the box to get new areas to incorporate into the business. On the other hand, an autocratic leader is courageous, goal-oriented, authoritative, and  transformative. The autocratic leader pushes employees hard to achieve organizational goals.

It is important to note that the success of organizational leaders is fundamentally dependent on their capacity or prowess to not only lead, but also connect with the persons whom they lead. Sethuraman and Suresh (2014) opines that this can be established through the development and existence of effective interpersonal relationship amongst the leaders and the rest of the workforces. The autocratic or authoritarian leader is one who is the sole controller of all the decisions in the organization. He or she also controls any inputs, efforts, or contributions which arise from the rest of the employees or group members (Schoel et al., 2011). The decisions which are made by the autocratic leader are based on his or her own ideas and judgments, which may be encyclopedic or otherwise. A momentous feature of an autocratic leader is that he or she never or rarely accepts advice or contributions from the followers.

On the other hand, leaders found in peak formers are skilled at understanding and comprehending their effect and the skills of the employees or team members. They bring real-world experience to the current models to meet the never-ending and many challenges of leaders (Garfield, 1984). Besides, they improve the efficiency and effectiveness of internal communication resulting in better decision-making process as well as increased understanding. Unlike, autocratic leaders, leaders found in peak performers are collaborative. They take employees input, opinions, contributions, and views into account during the process of decision-making. This plays an integral role in obtaining an all-inclusive decision free from any form of resistance. In the same vein, leaders found in peak performers are motivating, charismatic, and visionary. They reflect on personal abilities and necessary changes they need to make or bring in an organization. A significant feature of leaders found in peak performer is that they accepts and evaluates their followers’ contributions in decision-making process.

An autocratic leader dictates the work, methods, and processes. No worker is allowed to make a unilateral decision that does not implicate the consent of the leader. It is only the leader who has the responsibility to make decisions which relate to the works which the followers will. Furthermore, the methods and processes that would be deployed in the accomplishment of the objectives of the group are also set and determined by the leader. An advantage which arises out of this form of leadership is that there is a clear demarcation or distinction of responsibilities and duties as every employee because every worker is assigned a specific role and job designation. As a result, this ensures accountability as well as efficacy. Nevertheless, Voon et al. (2011) posits that the challenge which comes with this style of leadership is that there is little or no work that goes on in case of the absence of the leader, as there is no delegation of duties. In addition, the leader is treated like a king who has to be consulted on every aspect. It is important to note that this works against the organizational cohesion as the followers have a feeling of worthlessness.

On the contrary, the leaders found in peak performers encourage engagement of members or followers in work, processes, and methods.  Their style of leadership is more inclusive and buoys up the workers to participate in core business. This is done through providing each of the employees their roles that they ought to play in any activity of the organization. As such, Voon et al. (2011) states that each member feels appreciated that his or her input is of great importance to the organization. Workers are, therefore, free to share their opinions and thoughts resulting in an advantage that there is always a wide array of options from where the leaders choose the best. Additionally, the style of leadership practiced by the leaders from peak performers ensures that there is democracy within an organization as the opinion of the majority of the members is given a greater consideration (Garfield, 1984). However, in spite of the advantages it is hard to make decisions in this style of leadership as each of the employees’ thoughts and views have to be considered. In other words, the decision-making process is long compared to autocracy which encompasses only one decision-maker.

One of the similarities between an autocratic leader and leaders found in peak performance is that both seek to drive innovation and encourage their followers or workers to think creatively and strategically to accomplish organizational goals. The leadership styles are aimed at attaining organizational goals through efficiency and effectiveness (Sethuraman & Suresh, 2014). The employees are driven using several ways such as motivation (used among the peak performance leaders) to ensure maximum productivity using the smallest cost possible. The leadership styles also allow employees to think critically during the work process. The leaders dearly hold the best interest of their followers and, therefore, want the employees to reach high potentials. As such, they challenge as well as elevate the followers. Finally, the leaders from the two sets are significantly interested in positive outcomes.

In conclusion, leaders are primarily tasked with the delivery of the set goals of an organization, and they can only deliver the goals through the employees that they lead. As such, the ability or prowess of the organizational leaders to connect with the individuals they lead is significant for the success of any organization. Founding good interpersonal relationship between the leaders and their followers proves important in maintaining confidence as well as trust arising out of satisfaction. Autocratic leaders and leaders from peak performance have wide-ranging levels of efficiency, control as well as speed in decision-making. They use different forms of leadership to ensure effective and efficient productivity. Leaders should, however, involve their followers in decision as practiced by leaders found in peak performers.