Week 4 – theories in action (contingency theories)

Given that I am at the halfway point for my internship, it is an interesting opportunity to look at a theory – specifically contingency theories of leadership to see both how my supervisor and the office has adapted to changing times and different leadership contexts, as well as how they have adapted as I have begun to fall in with the work they are doing more.

Throughout my internship, my supervisor has been very task focused which I think is more the result of being in a virtual situation where I’m working remotely. As a result, most, if not all, of our interactions are intentional, scheduled, and planned out such that when we meet or talk over the phone, it is very focused on the tasks at hand. I think a lot of this also has to do with the fast-pace in the office. But over time, it has been interesting to see how my supervisor’s leadership style has changed to meet my team’s own changes. Looking at Hersey and Blanchard’s situational leadership model, I can see how her leadership style had started in S2 (partially because of the inherent distance in working remotely), and has started to move more towards S3 and S4, as I get a better understanding of how to do work in the office and become more comfortable taking on additional responsibility on higher level projects. Furthermore, this past week both of my team members were out for part of the week which provided me further opportunity to take on more responsibilities, and for her to adapt her leadership style to meet the circumstances – for example, I even took on a constituent meeting on my own this week and did more work on specific policy recommendations, work I had not done at this level in the previous weeks.

Through all of this, I have been able to see my supervisor and other team member move from more of a directing, or coaching role, into one focused more on supporting my work and even to the point of delegation in some cases. Beyond this, the task structure for what I have been doing has also become more flexible, and unstructured in some cases as we begin to trust each other, and I gather a better understanding of what I am doing, such to the point where I can make more independent decisions on what a final product might look like.

Overall, it has been really interesting to look back on these last few weeks through the lens of contingency theories of leadership given the unique circumstances of my internship that make it such a foundational aspect of any leadership in this office and on my team — influencing factors beyond the usual personal traits and personal leadership styles that have influenced leadership in my experiences with the office include the fact that some of the office, including me is working remotely, the fast-paced nature of the Senate and the high stakes involved, as well as the constantly changing nature of work in politics that necessitates more delegation, flexibility, and adaptability — all of which comes out through situational leadership.