Management | Is laissez-faire leadership the way forward?

When employees are empowered to make their own decisions, there is the argument that they make stronger, more creative and innovative choices that ultimately benefit the business.

This is a leadership style that Apple Founder, Steve Jobs, advocated. Jobs favoured telling employees what the business target was, advising them on what should be done and letting them get on with it.

With Apple’s continued success, which saw the firm verge on becoming the first American company with a value of £77billion ($1trillion) last year, it seems that Jobs’ hands-off leadership style set the foundations for a strong business and happy employees. Additionally, the firm currently boasts a four-star rating on Glassdoor with nearly 80% of reviewers pledging that they would recommend the company to a friend. So, it seems that the laissez-faire leadership style has done nothing but good for the firm. But what does this leadership style actually entail?

Laissez-faire – the French phrase for “leave alone” – advocates the idea of empowering employees to make decisions without interruption or micromanagement from senior leaders. While staff may relish at the opportunity to make their own decisions at work, does this hands-off approach pose as a benefit to the business or is it more of a hinderance than a help?