Are You Task- or Relationship-Motivated?
Understanding the leadership contributions of Fred Fiedler.
The late Fred Fiedler was a pioneer in leadership research. He believed that leaders had a primary motivation that was either task-related or relationship-related (building off of the behaviorist’s two types). He argued that task-motivated leaders did better in some situations, and relationship-motivated leaders excelled in other situations. He also argued that these motivations were deeply embedded in us, and very difficult to change. Here are descriptions of the two primary leader motivations:
Task-Motivated Leaders. These leaders are motivated by getting things done. They “get off” on accomplishing things, and their behaviors are primarily focused on the job. As a result, they emit a lot of behaviors that serve to get the task done. They provide direction, set deadlines, focus on results.
Relationship-Motivated Leaders enjoy the process of working in a team. They make sure that the team members are getting along and that there is good chemistry in the work team. They spend time listening to employees’ concerns, resolving interpersonal conflicts, and focusing on the quality of the team relationships. They are more rewarded by having a smooth-performing team than they are by any particular tasks or accomplishments.
Why is this important?
Fiedler’s research shows that task-motivated leaders do best in extreme situations — situations that are very difficult (from the leader’s perspective) or extremely positive for the leader. Why would task-motivated leader do better in “bad” situations? They have nothing to lose. Try to get something accomplished, and the situation might improve. Relationship-motivated leaders perform poorly in those bad situations because they try to focus on feelings and relationships, but nothing is getting done. Task-motivated leaders also do well in very good situations, because the team is already humming along, and accomplishing more in terms of productivity makes everyone happy. Relationship-motivated leaders perform best in those “middle-ground” situations that are neither highly unfavourable nor highly favourable (from the leader’s perspective).
For Development: Reflect on your own leader motivation. What do you really value, getting things done, or working with a great team? Here is a link to take the Fiedler LPC test and determine your true motivational profile:
