Actions speak louder than words. I think one of the most important ways to evaluate a leader is through their actions. According to the style approach, there are two types of behaviors in leadership: task behaviors and relationship behaviors. Task behaviors are focused on the accomplishment of goals and relationship behaviors are focused on the followers. Leaders who exemplify high levels of both types of behaviors are the most successful leaders (Hamel, 2021).
In my past job experiences, I’ve worked under leaders who only focused on task behaviors and another who focused on both. I worked in a meat department in a grocery store as my first job. My work environment consisted of dangerous machinery, sharp knives, wet floors, and heavy meat boxes. As someone who never worked before, working there was really scary. To make things worse, my department manager only focused on the tasks. In addition, he made me throw out the trash at the end of the day since I was the new guy. To note, each bag easily weighed over 40 pounds and I had to throw out an entire crate worth of trash bags. I told him about how I was having a hard time throwing out the trash and how my back hurt from doing it. He listened but never did anything about.
When I was working as a waiter at a KBBQ restaurant, my manager focused on task behaviors and relationship behaviors. Unlike my first boss, he cared about how each of the waiter felt and formed really strong bonds with us. He took a situational approach to leadership in that he adjusted his leadership according to the situation. Under situational approach, leaders change their style according to the situation. Situational leadership is composed of directive and a supportive dimensions. With these dimensions, there are four leadership styles: directing (high directive;low support), coaching (high directive;high support), supporting (low directive;high support), and delegating (low directive;low support) (Hamel, 2021).
When I first started working, it was pretty challenging for me as 1.) I’ve never worked as waiter before 2.) I had to cook for the customers and I’m a TERRIBLE cook and 3.) I was a shy person. However, my manager took note of these things and tried his best to make me feel at ease. To address my terrible cooking skills, he taught me how to cook every type of KBBQ on the menu. Then, he told me some tips on how to be a better waiter and how to strike a conversation with the customers. When work was slow, he took time to get to know everyone and asked what was going on in my life and he told what was going on in his. In this situation, his style can be best described as coaching. As I got used to working as a waiter and developed my cooking and interpersonal skills, he changed his leadership to a supporting style. He didn’t tell me what to do and he motivated us when things got really busy. Overall, I think behaviors are one of the most important aspects of leadership. When promoting or hiring people for leadership positions, organizations should carefully look at how they act during leadership situations.
Reference:
Hamel, R.P. (2021). Lesson 5: Style and Situational Approaches