Week 3- Theories in Action

For this post, I will be analyzing behavioral leadership theories at Guidehouse based on my observations. A way I feel that COVID-19 has changed this dynamic is a slight shift towards task-focused behaviors and lens. I make this observation because of the nature of remote work. Since team members may be sparsed crossed the nation, there are other considerations to make (especially in respecting individual’s time zones). For example, I am based in Eastern time but many people are in central or other zones. Thus, their workdays may not get started until 10 or 10:30AM EST. When I used to think of a traditional office and work environment, I envisioned groups gathering together in person in the mornings to catch up on weekends and converse casually. However, in a remote environment, I have found daily timelines to be more rigid. If there is a weekly team recap meeting for 30 minutes on a Monday morning, there can’t be more than five minutes for casual conversations. With this more rigid time-constricted nature, there is less flexibility thus the default will be “let’s prioritize our to-do list” rather than relationship behaviors such as “how do you feel?”.

I will say that I do think there is genuine care and respect amongst team members and colleagues. Thus, relationship-oriented behaviors are important and existent. This can be seen in the company’s efforts for practice and solution-wide all-hands calls and office virtual and in-person social events. However, there is a professional expectation to “manage up” which implies speaking up if you need additional support or work. If not, there is an assumption that things are smooth sailing. This environment has been a bit challenging for me but really great to push myself out of my comfort zone and practice critical thinking skills on my assignments. When I do schedule 1:1 meetings with supervisors, that is the time to exhibit and have conversations that are more relational which I appreciate.

Based of Blake and Mouton’s Leadership grid viewing concern for production and people, I would rank my supervisors as “Middle of the Road” management style. These leaders are leaders who are compromisers; have intermediate concern for task and interpersonal relationships; leader may avoid conflict while emphasizing moderate levels of production and interpersonal relationships. I hypothesize that being in the consulting industry influences this leadership style because the decisions being made are not for the benefit of Guidehouse but on account of the client. For example, there has not been as much progress in my team’s data analysis yet as the client’s data is heavily skewed and unorganized. This external factor is out of our control and we have to respectfully raise concerns and urgency while not ruining the relationship with the client.