Week 6 – Theories in Action
Since my last theories in action post, I have been able to examine the leadership style at Lucas Systems even more. As I mentioned in my last blog post, I noted that Lucas follows a system of shared leadership. I still believe this to be true and this style of leadership has been working extremely well in the organization culture here, however, I felt the need to truly analyze the leadership methods of our actual team leader and my supervisor, Andrew Southgate. Over the past few weeks, I have come to really admire Andrew as a leader and his leadership methods which seem to relate closely to task-oriented v relationship-oriented leadership. Andrew seems to be a mixture of both task and relationship-oriented leadership, making him an ideal leader.
In terms of task-oriented leadership, Andrew definitely embodies this type of leadership. A task-oriented leader is a leader who focuses on the task or series of tasks at hand, as well as all procedures necessary to achieve the task. This is seen especially when Andrew assigns me work. Once the task is assigned, he expects it to be done, no questions asked. One day he emailed me a 27-page document stating that he needed it edited and fixed up by the end of the day. It was stressful, but it pushed me to work as hard as I could on the assignment in order to get it done. He also expects the work to be done in a quality way. Therefore, when I send him drafts of certain assignments he comes back with advice on how to make it better such as asking me to include more material and numbers or editing the format, the grammar, etc. For example, when writing parts our RFP I think I submitted over 10 documents to him before he accepted the final version. Although this can be frustrating and stressful at times, I like that he is highly task-oriented as it not only encourages employees to get work done but also make sure our work is done well and accurate.
Although Andrew is highly task-oriented, he is also very relationship-oriented. A relationship-oriented leader is a leader who understands the importance of tasks but also places a tremendous amount of time meeting the needs of everyone involved in the assignment. I have noticed Andrew also embodied this type of leadership. He is always walking around the office and checking in on individuals, not only about their work but also about their life. He keeps the office focused, but also fun and light-hearted by making jokes and telling funny stories. Andrew also is constantly encouraging and inspiring the office by telling us how we did a great job on our assignments and work. He is constantly working to remain as close as possible with those in the office. This ultimately helps the organizational culture and allows us to feel comfortable and therefore makes us work harder. It is clear that he focuses heavily on getting the task done, but understands how important it is to create relationships with your employees.
Over the past 6 weeks, I have really admired Andrew as a leader. Due to his leadership style along with the instances of shared leadership, the Lucas Systems UK branch has been growing and achieving goals. It is this perfect combination of task-oriented and relationship-oriented leadership that truly allows a company to succeed.
You’ve done a nice job providing specific examples that illustrate how Andrew displays both task and relationship orientated leadership. Seems he is fairly tuned into the people with which he works. I was thinking of Blanchard & Hersey’s situational leadership as I was reading your reflection. He seems to be cognizant of other’s competence and commitment; like yours. He seems to tailor his style to support you as you are learning about the nature of the work still.