subject: Task Oriented Leaders, Relationship Oriented Leaders, Or Each? [print this page] Task Oriented Leaders, Relationship Oriented Leaders, Or Each?
The importance of well-functioning teams is increasingly the norm in organizations. Whereas many factors determine a team's success, one important factor is that the leader's orientation to their team. Currently, there's a discussion raging regarding whether or not the most effective leaders are task oriented-focused on accomplishing tasks-or relationship oriented-involved with the team's members.
However this debate encompasses a third choice; the most effective leaders are both! The leader's facility using each orientations enhances his or her ability to create and maintain trust, stability, and effectiveness.
Task-oriented leaders are centered on accomplishments. Initial success depends upon the leader's ability to demonstrate competence and commitment to the team's members. Faced with an initial uphill challenge, a task-oriented leader will help the team perceive their challenge by providing a coherent series of steps that structure their initial meetings. These steps embody creating a persuasive challenge; making certain that the team has the right skill sets involved; developing a shared understanding of their interdependent relationships; and providing methods for obtaining started. Each step fosters a collaborative culture in that the team members trust every different and their leader, do fast wins, and start the pursuit of long-term work.
Relationship-oriented leaders specialise in the relationships among the team's members. This will be difficult because some team members can be suspicious of relationship-oriented leaders fearing manipulation and/or exploitation. To neutralize this concern, leaders create an atmosphere of trust and goodwill by emphasizing camaraderie, dignity, and respect. Time is taken to develop relationships with every member; simultaneously, the leader encourages the members to create constructive relationships with each alternative as well. They instill a culture targeted on team performance; thus, individual achievement is downplayed by being woven into the team's success. Solely the team can succeed; conversely, solely the team will fail.
The best leaders are skillful at each task completion and making effective team relationships. In the start, they acknowledge the team's want for structure and produce a foundation that is both firm and flexible. Once the task-oriented building blocks are in place and members begin to require risks by sharing data and speaking honestly about the task, the leader will shift to a relationship orientation. When this shift is successful, the leader strikes the right balance between leading and following the team's emerging leaders; knowing when to make selections and when to yield to the team; and ultimately inserting the emphasis on the team, not the leader. Consequently, the members' evolving competence and interpersonal commitments drive them to become more courageous and influential with each other and among the organization.
Task and relationship orientations are not a linear process. Rather the leader oscillates between the two. When the team plateaus, a frontrunner will come to the basics and maintain their specialize in achieving results. Otherwise the leader is helping the team use their individual and collective skills and talents to achieve their goals. Combining both orientations provides leaders with a method for launching the team from a firm foundation and subsequently encouraging every member to be innovative, collaborative, and effective.
Dr. Samuel James is a results-oriented organizational consultant and govt coach with over 30 years of experience. He may be a trusted advisor to senior executives and encompasses a demonstrated data for integrating strategic vision with solid leadership development and organizational change. He is recognized for developing exceptional and enduring partnerships with leaders; experience operating with complex strategy and systems; mapping the political terrain; and helping senior leaders to instruct, inspire and equip their groups to manage successfully through the challenges of uncertainty and change. As a psychologist certified in nationally recognized assessment tools, evidenced-primarily based knowledge is collected and used to accurately determine key objectives, establish measurements against progress, and achieve timely, vital results.
