What Is Organizational Leadership?

Organizational leadership ensures that an organization's daily operations align with its mission and goals as set by major stakeholders. Organizational leaders need the skills and experience necessary to manage, lead, and motivate teams toward organizational success. 

Learn why organizational leadership might make a good career path for you. Find out more about the concept of organizational leadership and why it's important, and discover the differences between seven types of organizational leadership styles. Then, find tips for developing leadership skills and explore various careers in the field.

Defining organizational leadership

To understand organizational leadership, it helps to differentiate it from management. While a manager might oversee a specific division of an organization, an organizational leader would oversee several division managers, or possibly all of them, depending on the company's size. This difference means organizational leaders are responsible for more employees than managers and typically have less direct employee contact.  

Why is organizational leadership important?

Employees look to their leaders for guidance, and organizational leadership can affect many areas of a company or business. These include:

• Company culture

• Employee confidence

• Employee morale

• Employee motivation

• Teamwork and employee collaboration

Leaders of organizations have a great responsibility, so they benefit from a particular skill set and certain organizational leadership traits. These include:

• A solid background in business management

• Good communication skills

• An ability to make decisions 

• Good problem-solving skills

• Clear vision

• Commitment

• Self-awareness

• Self-confidence

• Honesty

• Integrity

• Ability to manage change

7 types of organizational leadership styles

Organizational leadership style refers to the way leaders in an organization influence and motivate others, implement policy, delegate authority, direct projects, manage problems, and more. Being aware of your own leadership style can help:

• Boost your communication effectiveness

• Enhance the way you engage with others

• Improve your ability to collaborate and work with teams

Common styles of organizational leadership include the following:

1. Authoritative leadership

Authoritative leaders enjoy mentoring employees and will take the time to learn about individual strengths that might benefit the organization. This quality makes them good collaborators and team-builders. They also provide a clear vision, which helps motivate employees and keep them committed to attaining organizational goals. When it comes to decision-making, authoritative leaders usually give directions more than they ask for input from others. 

2. Bureaucratic leadership

Bureaucratic leaders take a more traditional approach to leading, following a chain of command. They set clear expectations and rules for performance and ensure employees respond accordingly. While bureaucratic leaders rarely seek employee input, this type of leadership works well in settings that rely on specific policies and procedures for safety, such as manufacturing plants, health care settings, or law enforcement agencies.    

3. Democratic leadership 

When it's time to make a decision, democratic leaders encourage employee participation. They often focus on quality over quantity regarding work output, so democratic leaders must know how to keep employees motivated and on task if needed. This type of leadership works well in settings that encourage the flow of ideas, like creative companies or schools. 

4. Laissez-faire leadership

When employees in an organization have high levels of skill and confidence, leaders sometimes take a laissez-faire approach. Derived from a French term meaning "let alone," this form of leadership allows employees to complete work without much interference. However, laissez-faire leaders should know how to set clear expectations when necessary. 

5. Servant leadership

Servant leaders care more about elevating and empowering employees than advancing their own agenda. They encourage ideas and involve others in decision-making, often resulting in high employee morale. Servant leadership typically works well in humanitarian settings like nonprofit organizations or local community service agencies.  

6. Transactional leadership

Transactional leaders motivate employees using rewards and consequences and focus on short-term rather than long-term objectives. This type of leadership works well in structured, results-driven environments like the military, first responders, or professional sports settings.  

7. Transformational leadership

Transformational leaders often inspire employees with energy, charisma, creative vision, and passion. They encourage workplace engagement and have a skill for getting employees to buy into the organization's mission and goals. Environments that might benefit from transformational leadership include creative settings, tech companies, or political campaigns.

How to develop leadership skills

You have several options for developing organizational leadership skills. Learning on your own, enrolling in a course or certification, and getting a bachelor's degree are three effective approaches to consider.

Learn on your own.

To develop leadership skills on your own, try reading books on leadership topics. Buying new or used books or checking them out from your local library offers a cost-effective way to enhance current leadership skills or build new ones. Look for books on leadership, self-development, communication, emotional intelligence, or management. You can explore leadership websites or use leadership training apps to develop your leadership skills further. 

Enroll in a course or certification.

A course or certification program in organizational leadership is a good option if you would like a more structured approach to developing your skills. You can take one course in a specific area of leadership like working with teams or communication, or you can take a series of courses to complete an organizational leadership certification. Depending on the program, completion of a course or certification can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few years, and many offer self-paced learning.

Get a bachelor's degree.

Getting a bachelor's or master's degree in organizational leadership can help you better understand your leadership style and get more out of your leadership skills. Topics you might study while you pursue this degree include:

• Management and organization principles

• Organizational design and strategies

• Team building concepts and practices

• Negotiation and persuasion

• Leadership research

• Ethics and diversity

• Conflict management

• Decision-making

• Group dynamics

You should prepare to commit three to four years to get a bachelor's degree. 

Who uses organizational leadership? 4 careers to consider

Understanding what kind of career you might have can help you decide if you want to pursue the field of organizational leadership. Four types of organizational leadership careers include: 

1. Human resources manager 

Average annual salary (US): $139,411.47 [1]

Human resources managers handle all aspects of employee administration, including hiring, evaluation, termination, benefits, and employee policy. 

2. Project management specialist

Average annual salary (US): $102,922.08 [2]

Project management specialists oversee the management and completion of projects, including goal setting, budget, timeline, review, modification, and other duties. According to Lightcast™, the average annual earnings for a project management specialist total 

3. Sales manager

Average annual salary (US): $145,962.37 [3]

Sales managers recruit, hire, train, and manage sales teams to ensure they meet an organization's sales goals and quotas.  

4. Training and development manager

Average annual salary (US): $130,953.77 [4]

Training and development managers oversee the training and development of employees by evaluating training needs, creating training budgets, and scheduling and conducting training programs. 

Getting started on  Coursera

Organizational leaders help ensure company success by overseeing, guiding, and motivating managers and their employees. You can use the skills of an organizational leader in various industries and roles and choose from multiple leadership styles to help support the company’s success.

Consider taking the Organizational Leadership Specialization on Coursera to learn more about organizational leadership and build your leadership skills. Offered by Northwestern University, this six-course series provides guidance for effective communication, persuasion, and negotiation on the job. You'll also learn basic marketing concepts, find out how to use data analytics to understand customer needs, explore ways to enhance your personal brand, and more. As part of the last course, you'll practice what you've learned while creating a capstone project.