Week Three: Relationship vs Task Oriented Leadership

My team has a great balance of relationship vs task oriented leadership style. The leader of the team, and my boss, Patrick, tends to focus more on the task at hand whenever we have a meeting. He is organized, sticking to an agenda and trying to get through the material as quickly and efficiently as possible. However, he has definitely established strong and trusting relationships with everyone on the team, including me. Every time we meet one on one, he asks if I feel like I’m busy enough and getting enough out of the experience. I feel comfortable telling him when I want to do more or different things, and he is always very accommodating. The rest of my team is definitely relationship oriented – they enjoy small talk before and during meetings, and when speaking with them one on one or in smaller groups, it is very relaxed. While Patrick is certainly a friendly guy and has great relationships with each of the team members, I think he feels that as the boss, he has to keep everyone focused and ensure that the projects are getting done on time. I like this, as sometimes it can be frustrating to sit in a meeting for an hour and feel like nothing is getting done because people aren’t focused on the work. It is definitely nice to have the rest of the team balance it out though, as when we meet in smaller groups, we always get the work done but have a good time doing it.

As a whole, I feel that the company greatly values relationships. As interns, we are encouraged to set up meetings with anyone in the company that we want to talk to, and essentially network throughout the week. I have had ~20 of these calls within the first three weeks and everyone is extremely personable and values the relationships they have made/are making at the company. While meeting people in a virtual workplace would normally be difficult, everyone is very open to taking 30 minutes out of their day to chat and get to know you. A common theme that I have heard when asking people if they enjoy working at the company/what brought them here is the environment and the people. Obviously, it is expected that everyone is staying on task and getting their work done, but at the end of the day, it seems like relationships are truly valued at The Hartford.