423 Journal of Harbin Engineering University ISSN: 1006-7043 Vol 45 No. 3 March 2024 Effective Leadership Styles on Employee Performance Philomena Ify IGBOKWE, Moruf Ayodele BELLO, Bolanle Waliu SHIYANBADE ORCID ID: 0009-0009-0812-8731 ORCID ID: 0000-0003-1506-8860 ORCID ID: 0000-0002-4770-5484 Abstract Leadership is an infinite and tremendously complex term that cannot be captured comprehensively. Different leadership styles exist to correspond with various organisational conditions, and each of those styles only functions well where the leader has a vision of what has to be accomplished, is able to communicate such to the others, and develops strategies for achieving the goal. There is no known best leadership style, a style that can be said to be effective would have to combine other styles depending on the situation that has to be addressed. The best or most effective leadership style is one that produces desirable results for individual workers and the organisation. Leadership style determines how well employees perform, but there are other elements outside leadership style that may be contributory to employees’ performance. Managers, people in position of authority must comprehend the issues and develop strategies to motivate, retain and inspire people to put in more effort and go the extra mile, if it is to preserve growth and accomplish more goals. Keywords: Leadership, Styles, Performance, Organisation, Goals. Introduction Leadership simply defined, is the capacity of someone to lead others. It is an essential management talent that involves the potential to motivate a group of people toward a common objective. Being an influential activity, leadership is an essential part of human existence. The main drivers of organisations are human beings, thus leadership is a valuable resource for all organisations when it is exhibited by an individual or individuals with a broad scope of talent and qualities. Leaders of today, play different roles through different styles adopted, and their use of leadership techniques determines the success of any society, community, organisation and oneself. Therefore, human growth and efforts that result in achieving goals are not conceivable without management. It entails a process of interaction between leaders and followers where the leader tries to persuade followers to achieve a shared goal, hence, it focuses on the development of followers, their needs and building their capacity (Klein, Cooke & Wallis, 2018). The most fundamental action that must be taken to achieve thus is to maintain personnel and provide the employees with psychological fulfillment. Over the yeas, the term ‘leadership’ has been used by different scholars and has many different meanings; it is an infinite and tremendously complex term that cannot be captured comprehensively, it has been described in terms of characteristics, actions, impact, patterns of interaction, roles and relationships, as well as the occupation of an administrative position/managerial position. Over time, key dimensions of leadership have caught the attention of practitioners in the field of management science. Leadership involves inducement, persuasion, and motivation of subordinates to enable them to contribute willingly to the organisational goals based on the employee’s maximum capacity and capabilities. In organisations, it is a managerial action whose goal is to guide the workers under one direct chain of command toward achieving their assigned tasks. A person in an elected, appointed, or in other specified position of influence in a social system is said to act in various ways collectively referred to as “leading”. Therefore, acting in a leadership capacity is seen as appropriate, whether formally or informally, and people who respect the leader look up to the person for direction. To ensure the best possible use of human resources within organisation leaders must take