Ch. 3: Different Style (1 of 2)

Our last question for Chapter 3 asks about teachers and/or supervisors I have had that fit a supportive, directive, participative, and achievement-oriented style according to the path-goal theory.

According to the text the path-goal theory is a contingency leadership theory based on the style of the leader, followers, and situation, and the rewards to meet the followers needs (Daft, 2018). The four styles are detailed in the above diagram.

SUPPORTIVE STYLE

A supportive leader is considerate of others, shows concern for their well-being and needs, and often treats individuals as equals (Daft, 2018). In thinking back on my life, one particular teacher stands out to me. My FFA/Ag. Business teacher, Mr. Cantrell. I grew up in a small community in Oklahoma and FFA is very big around there, unfortunately not so much where I am currently. I should also point out that I wasn't particularly the agriculture type. I didn't live on a farm or ranch and I didn't grow up in a family that knew a lot about this topic. Yet in high school my friends were interested in it, therefore I became interested as well. 

This particular teacher was able to push me outside of my comfort zone in many areas. He gently pushed me to show a pig, and I even won some competitions with it. He told me after saying my first ever FFA creed that I would be good at public speaking and got me into doing Parli. Pro (Parliamentary Procedure) Competitions. I couldn't quite push myself to do speeches like he wanted me to, but now years later I find that I do quite a bit more public speaking than I ever thought I would. He was even patient when teaching me to weld, where I ended up having the best T weld joint bead in the class after blind judging. I was Secretary for the last two years of high school in FFA. Much of my leadership style is attributed to him today. He was like this with all his students. He ended up retiring after my Junior year and went into politics, where I am certain he was a great advocate for many things. He is now a preacher some 20+ years later. 

DIRECTIVE STYLE

To me the military loves to utilize this approach. The directive style of leadership is the no reading between the lines approach that many who want things done a certain way. They tell you exactly what they expect you to do. Other behaviors of this approach include creating schedules, setting performance goals, and all other types of planning (Daft, 2018). 

When I was 18 I was in the Navy for a short time before an undiagnosed health issue derailed that plan. Thinking back on that time, it's not hard to see that the majority of leadership utilized this style. I remember being told "pay attention to detail and do exactly what I say". They wanted you to do things the exact way you were directed. Reading between the lines and adding anything extra was prohibited. For some who love this type of direction, it might be what's best. Perhaps it would be better without the yelling aspect. But, I will say for the majority of things it was effective at producing the desired results. However, it also built up a lot of resentment at times as well. And yes, there were those who rebelled against it. It didn't go over well, but they did try. 

PARTICIPATIVE STYLE

I thought this video was a good example of what participative style could look like. And it uses Grey's Anatomy!

Thinking of the leaders in my life that fit this style, one comes to mind from recent years. Our recently retired preacher, Dr. Joe Jones. His approach was almost always collaborative. I was on the Leadership Committee for three years with him and got to see all aspects of how he worked. He never made a decision in the church that wasn't discussed with others first. He also implemented the team approach where decisions and workloads were broken down into small team efforts. The incoming preacher continues to utilize a lot of the same structures put into place by Dr. Jones, but his approach is still a bit more directive. It's not extreme at all, but if I had my choice of styles I would definitely prefer the participative. 

ACHIEVEMENT-ORIENTED STYLE

Slide 21 Contingency of Leadership/LinkedIn (Endire, 2014)

This style seems similar to directive leadership with the exception that achievement-oriented leaders show confidence in their employees and assist them in learning to achieve their goals (Daft, 2018). I suppose that is an important difference. I played roller derby from 2007-2011. We had a good, laid back coach named Captain Jay Sparrow. Unique names were a staple of the sport. Mine was Blazen Glory. Although he was laid back, he aspired to see great achievement from his team and often pushed up past our comfort zone to get us both in peak physical form and to develop our agility, speed, and skills. The beginning of each season was torture, but we respected him enough to push through it. We knew our goals were to improve and hopefully to win bouts. We did both a great deal of the time. But we of course lost some as well. He was great at helping us identify the areas we needed to improve upon. We respected him a great deal. I forgot to add, he was very young, much younger than most of the women on the team. But it was clear he respected us, therefore we reciprocated and aimed to achieve the best we could for him and ourselves. 

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