Let’s Focus on Leader Behaviors
There are two general categories of leader behaviour.
You may have heard of the Behaviorist movement in Psychology — John Watson, B.F. Skinner, and others? This “school” of psychological thought emerged after World War II. Behaviorists argued that the best way to understand abstract psychological constructs (like personality or leadership) was to record and study behavioral patterns. This movement fueled two leadership research programs — one at Ohio State University, and the other at the University of Michigan.
By observing and recording the behaviors emitted by successful leaders, both programs, independently, arrived at the same conclusion: There are two categories of leader behaviors associated with leadership success.
1. Task-oriented (or Initiating Structure) Behaviors. This is where the leader focuses on the task — giving direction, instructing, setting goals and deadlines — all behaviors that help to get the team to complete the task.
2. Relationship-oriented (or Showing Consideration) Behaviors. These are behaviors that work to build the leader-follower relationship. Asking employees “how they are doing,” dealing with interpersonal conflicts, showing concern for employees’ well-being, and the like.
The researchers at the University of Michigan argued that the very best leaders tended to display lots of both categories of behavior. What does this tell us? Effective leaders have to do two things to succeed: They have to focus on getting the task done, but they also have to build good relationships with team members. Also, this research on leader behaviors became the foundation for many leadership theories popular in the 1960s and 1970s.
For Development: Reflect on your own patterns of daily leadership behaviors. How much do you focus on the task and getting things done? What proportion of time do you spend fostering good relationships with your team members? Both are needed (obviously, the circumstances matter in terms or which behaviors are appropriate). Do you focus too much on one or the other?
