Finding My Place on Blake and Mouton’s Grid

This summer, there were two main leadership theories that I applied to my work. In this blog, I will reflect on how I used Blake and Mouton’s Grid. This grid indicates various levels of task/relation oriented leadership and how they impact followers. Most of the time, my work was more relational oriented than task oriented, but rarely could I ever fully be at a (1,9). There were things that needed to happen, and if I led at a (1,9), I (maybe a different leader would be able to be a (1,9) and still get things done) would never get anything done and instead spend all my time having moments with my students. 

When kids sign up for Overland outdoor adventure trips, they do so for two main reasons: First, to see new places of the country and world and do challenging things, like hard hikes. The second reason is two make a new group of friends and grow. The goal is for students to return from these trips more confident, independent, and capable. While my job is to run outdoor trips well, my main job is to be a mentor to my students. They’ll remember the views and activities, sure, but they’ll remember the people they met and feelings they felt so much more. My primary goal as a leader is to connect with my students and foster positive group relations and personal growth. Therefore, I have to focus my leadership efforts on relations. However, I can’t let tasks go out the window. There are grocery runs that need to happen, backpack packing, hikes to get through, and times we need to be places. We have an itinerary! 

This summer, I worked with two co-leaders. We each had different strengths and found our own niche on the grid. My co-leader Lauren was a great example of what (5,5) should look like. My co-leader Zach was typically a (1,9), and I bounced around. At times, I felt like I was the only leader concerned about the tasks that needed to happen, and I felt like a (9,1). I hated that. So, I would bounce too far the other way and be a (1,9) for a bit. Two (1,9) leaders were unhealthy  for my group. I think that my final position was somewhere around (4,6). This isn’t exactly where I wanted it to be, but it was the style needed for my group with my co-leaders. It’s been really interesting to watch us find our place on the grid and to see how we interact with each other’s leadership styles. The Grid has been a nice visual representation of our leadership styles, but it isn’t a confining box in any way.