Laissez-faire management: pros and cons.
As with any leadership style, there are pros and cons to a laissez-faire approach. It can work very well in some situations and not at all in others.
Pros of laissez-faire management.
- Encourages innovation. A laissez-faire approach to management gives employees the freedom to use their initiative and imagination to complete tasks to the highest possible standard.
- Facilitates personal growth. When employees are more hands-on with how tasks are completed, their personal growth and development is typically going to be stronger.
- Faster decisions. If only one person has the authority to make decisions, processes can be slowed while waiting for those outcomes. When each individual employee is empowered to make the decisions that affect their work, those decisions can be made on the spot.
- More knowledge and skills utilised. When an entire team has input into a project, a wider pool of skills and knowledge is utilised, meaning more ideas on the table.
Cons of laissez-faire management.
- Lack of respect. Leaders who use the laissez-faire management style as an excuse not to be involved in the day-to-day work may find they receive less respect from their team.
- Passivity. It can be easy for an unmotivated laissez-faire leader to become passive or even to avoid doing anything to motivate employees or be involved.
- Unclear roles. Some employees working under a laissez-faire leader may not fully understand what their role is, and may not feel able to approach their manager for clarification as they are so hands-off.
- Low accountability. While laissez-faire leaders should be ultimately accountable for all work undertaken by their team, some may try to pass the blame when things go wrong as they were not directly involved.
Most of the cons of laissez-faire leadership happen when the leader is not fully versed in what this style of leadership truly means, or when it’s implemented under the wrong circumstances. For instance, with an untrained team who need more hands-on managerial support.
Examples of laissez-faire management in action.
A laissez-faire leadership style works best in industries where employees need to be a little creative, and already have the skills and experience required to perform their roles without active supervision. These may include art and design, fashion, or advertising.
It can also be effective in industries where the knowledge of the team on the ground may surpass that of management. This can include:
- Healthcare, where nurses and doctors have the in-depth medical knowledge that administration do not.
- Human resources, where knowing how the team works on the ground is essential.
- Technology, where management may have business acumen but not the technical know-how.
Laissez-faire leaders.
Notable business leaders who have adopted a laissez-faire leadership style include:
- Steve Jobs. The former CEO of Apple adopted a mixture of laissez-faire leadership and micromanaging from the earliest days of the business. The creative team was granted the freedom to innovate, yet Jobs often did micromanage in areas he felt needed more oversight.
- Warren Buffet. Renowned for placing great trust in all his managers for a wide variety of companies under the Berkshire Hathaway umbrella, Warren Buffet is a prime example of a laissez-faire leader who has seen a lot of success.
- Queen Victoria. Outside of the traditional corporate sphere, Queen Victoria is also widely recognised for her laissez-faire style of ruling and leadership as monarch. She selected trusted advisors to carry out key projects and initiatives, and encouraged Individualism among her people, which in turn supported her wider ambitions to improve their quality of life.
When to avoid a laissez-faire leadership style.
Laissez-faire leadership is not suitable for all work situations. Though, in some areas, it can be successfully combined with other styles of leadership to construct a winning formula.
With self-managed teams working in creative projects, this may be the only form of leadership required, particularly in the brainstorming phase of the creative process. However, it may often be useful to add a more hands-on approach to leadership with more oversight and direction once the design is complete and the project is ready for production.
Areas where laissez-faire management may not be suitable at all include:
- Crisis situations
- Projects that require high productivity and efficiency
- Teams or individuals that are not good at managing their own time or meeting deadlines
- Teams or individuals with little or no experience or training
- Situations or projects that require a precise attention to detail.
