Over the past four years, I have witnessed moments in professional workplaces that lead me to ask, “Does leadership have to change?” This is a peculiar question that does not have a simple answer. As Warren Bennis introduced, all leaders have “a concern with a guiding purpose, an overarching vision.” (Bennis, Managing the Dream). Throughout this post, I will introduce you to ideas and theories that will help support my argument. There are core concepts that have remained consistently successful throughout the past century, which is the path goal theory. Effective leaders know the strengths and weaknesses of their followers and hold those followers to different standards based upon the followers’ experiences, skills, etc. Effective leaders have been doing this all along and their success is not a coincidence
I have witnessed leaders attempt to adapt and change a functional strategy because there seems to be a popular trend over the past few years that extends that leaders should change for a new generation of employee. However, through my experience in playing collegiate athletics, working in higher education, and now working in the turf industry at a golf course, I have seen some of these attempts fail, others work, but it seems that the deliberate effort to “modernize” traditional leadership has fallen flat overall. I am not stating that one form of leadership is better than another but I am sharing my experiences coupled with evidence that demonstrate that the basic core values of leadership have not changed in recent years and are still effective.
The Path-Goal Theory is a Contingency Theory, which means that the leadership styles within the Path-Goal Theory are based upon and can differ from one another depending on the situation at hand. Path-Goal Theory is “designed to explain how leaders can help followers along the path to their goals by selecting specific behaviors that are best suited to followers’ needs and to the situation in which followers are working.” (Northouse, 2016). The Path-Goal Theory directly applies to this argument because effective leadership is able to both adapt and fit into a given situation.
According to Shawn Doyle, effective leaders since the turn of the 20th century have been attempting to develop, believe in, and help subordinates mine their talent (Doyle, Leadership). This article brings up the exact themes that are introduced in Table 6.2 How Path Goal Theory Works in the Short Form (Williams, Lesson 6). Between these two sources, the evidence is clear that effective leaders have been using Path Goal Theory, even if it was not termed as such in 1900.
In my experience playing college football at Notre Dame, we had a tremendous amount of success as a team. As a member of the defensive unit, we were the number one ranked defense in the country in 2012, this does not happen by coincidence. We all had different roles within the unit but we were able to commit to reaching our goals as a team. The coaching and leadership was tough but the leadership that I witnessed firsthand was genuine, relatable, and enabling because the leadership on the team was able to build confidence amongst the players, which allowed us to execute and succeed (Williams, 2018). Contrary to recent trends such as the idea that “millennials” tend to push back against policy that seems extraordinarily difficult or challenging to personal beliefs (Fries, Forbes), I believe that if it were not for leadership pushing us out of our comfort zones, we would not have been successful. Coach Elston at Notre Dame challenged us everyday in practice and in workouts. We had a simple chart and the players with the highest overall grades from practice and the games were the ones who played. This created a fair arena for competition. Growth, amongst leaders and followers, coaches and players does not come from being comfortable with a certain climate. Without competition and goals, success would be difficult to attain.
While teaching full-time and earning my masters of education, the high school where I was teaching implemented a new effort to streamline lesson planning. Long story short, all of the teachers had to re-do their lesson plans using a template that seemed somewhat outdated. However, the new format for the lesson plans challenged me to think and better concentrate my lessons toward their desired goals (Doyle, Leadership). Principal Reyes lead this new strategy, which challenged me to better adjust my lessons so that they could be as impactful as possible. The leadership in the diocese attempted to developmentally challenge the educators in order for them to better introduce and teach using their classes.
Two years ago, I changed my career path from education to turfgrass management. With that change, there were inherent challenges. The days were structured differently, the management style was new, and I had no previous experience in the job field. After expressing my goals and aspirations in turf and golf, I have been challenged, believed in, and trusted to carry out tasks and jobs. Matt, the superintendent, has challenged me from bunker construction to helping in the building process of new ranges and greens. This has been extremely rewarding but at times it can also be somewhat mundane. But like a golf swing, with a slow and rhythmatic backswing followed by a powerful and fluid downswing, building the experience I have in turfgrass has enabled me to be challenged by new obstacles in the field (Pearlman, Links). Repetition is the key to gaining responsibility and confidence in a new field. The leadership at the golf course has challenged me to learn how to be a leader for myself and that is one of the reasons why I have a growing passion for my profession.
As you can see by the above examples, I believe that leadership does not have to be greatly modified or adapted for the twenty first century. Instead, there are core values that apply to all generations. Great and influential leaders challenge their followers to rise to the challenge that they present to them, this is the core of the path goal theory. Effective leaders do not water down their demands or strategies but they call upon their subordinates or team to meet various goals within each employee’s range of skills and experience.
-Tony
References:
- Bennis, Warren. “Managing the Dream: Leadership in the 21st Century”
- Doyle, Shawn. (2018). Entrepreneur. “The Leadership ‘Secret That Smart Leaders Have Known for a Century.”
- Fries, Kimberly. (2018). Forbes. “7 Ways That Millenials Are Changing Traditional Leadership”
- Northouse, Peter. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice. Los Angeles: Sage Publications.
- Pearlman, Ken. (2012). Forbes. “The ‘Links” Between Golf and Leadership”
- Williams, Jason. (2018). Pennsylvania State University. Psychology 485. Lesson 6 Contingency and Path Theories.