IDCCA Week 3: Behavioral Theory in Action

Having now completed three weeks with the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association, I feel I’ve acquired more information regarding leadership of the organization, specifically their behaviors as they relate to leadership. Thus far, I’ve communicated with the IDCCA Executive Director and internship supervisor, Dan Kovats, on a number of matters — from work-related questions to scheduling and logistics, as well as in a group setting on our weekly conference calls and intern check-in meetings.

Reflecting on those conversations and applying them to the Ohio State behavioral studies, I can see that Dan is much more focused on task-oriented leadership (“initiating structure”) than on relational-oriented leadership (“consideration”). He’s a very no-nonsense type of guy who prefers to keep things moving as efficiently as possible; although friendly and approachable, he does not spend much time on small talk at the starts of these conversations, preferring to jump right into the meat and potatoes of the conversation. For example, our weekly check-in meetings take place over Zoom each Monday at 10:00. Dan opens the Zoom room promptly at 10, quickly mentions he hopes we had a nice weekend, and then gets to the business of the meeting (asking us to update the group on our projects and outlining the schedule for the week). The same held true when I emailed him to communicate my availability for a few dates later in the summer — I sent him an email with a few questions/concerns. He called me to answer those questions, without making much small talk at the beginning. Based on this experience so far, I’d place him at about (8, 2) on the Blake Mouton grid, showing a strong preference for task-oriented leadership.

Granted, I am working as a remote intern in a team that is otherwise mostly in-person. Because of this, I don’t see Dan during down time, or lunch breaks, or any of those other moments in the office when small talk might be more natural. I will be going into the office for three days during August to help with our County Chairs’ Brunch, and it will be interesting to look back on this post and see whether the in-person experience brings about a change in Dan’s leadership style — or, for that matter, whether he will focus more on relational leadership as the internship progresses remotely. For the time being, however, Dan’s leadership style is almost entirely task-oriented.