Week 5: Theories in Action-Situational Theory

After working with a few people on projects at the VADCR, I’ve noticed that Situational Leadership theory applies to some of the situations I’ve been in. SL theory states that leaders that display high relational low task behavior are in the S3 group, and that S3 is the leader you would want if you wanted the leader’s primary goal helping followers develop leadership skills themselves.  My boss and a few of the colleagues I’ve worked with have displayed high relational low task behaviors. While we are always working on some sort of task, we also take the time to talk and connect with each other, even if we end up going off on a tangent. A lot of times those tangents are relevant for me, because it’ll be about their career experiences or advice to getting into the field. They are very much S3 leaders, and now I know it’s a kind that I work really well with. I think that kind is pretty prevalent in the environmental field, because everyone in the field that I’ve talked to so far have wanted to give me those skills. It makes me wonder what kind of leaders are prevalent in other industries, and why that leadership style is beneficial. I’ve had the S3 experiences more doing in-person work than remote, which makes me wonder if I would have noticed if I had been fully remote. It could also just be luck that I work so well with these particular people and they are the leaders present.