Geher Blog 2 – Leader/Follower Relationships

After my second week at the Dutchess County Department of Behavioral and Community Health, I have gotten to see the dynamics of the leader/follower relationships here more closely and understand them on a more complex level. In terms of how work is structured within the organization, there are many departments within the Dutchess County government, such as the Environmental Department, Department of Community and Family Services, and the Department of Aging, to name a few. Within these departments, there are multiple divisions which the departments are comprised of. For example, the division that I work in is Communicable Disease, which deals with many different diseases which need to be reported, such as COVID-19, Lyme Disease, etc. As for how work is directed within this particular division, employees are pretty autonomous and self-directed and usually on a day by day basis do not have to follow any strict standardized procedures. For events such as vaccine clinics, there are some standardized procedures that must be followed for the employees working, but on a daily basis at the office employees have the ability to prioritize their work however they see best fit and to decide what to work on for the day. Those who are not in formal leadership roles do have influence over others in the organization; many of my colleagues who hold similar positions to myself have seniority and thus have a lot more knowledge in what should be prioritized and how everything works. One specific facet of this that I have noticed is the influence which the younger employees have on the more senior employees in terms of things like technology, media, etc. The level of trust between leaders and members of the organization seems to be pretty high as everyone here has similar goals and motivations, as I explained in another blog. The leaders and supervisors certainly have authority but also listen to the other members of the organization and ask for feedback frequently. Additionally, they are there if anyone needs help or has questions, but are not overbearing or strict and allow for workers to be relatively autonomous. This creates a healthy relationship between employees and the organization’s leaders, as there is open communication, trust from both parties, and not a significant amount of pressure coming from either end.