Motivating Followers - Can you do it?

Motivation
The dictionary defines motivation as “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way”. As a manager in the workplace, it is often quite difficult to identify these reasons. Sometimes, the employee may not even know what motivates him or her. In my Leadership course this week, we explored the Path-Goal theory which contends that followers motivation is believed to be dependent upon the leadership style and behaviors of their manager.

I want to discuss this theory a little more in detail. This theory suggests that motivation plays a major part of employee performance. It also suggests that the leader’s behaviors plays a major part in employee motivation. The Path-Goal theory defines four leadership behaviors that impact the productivity of employees or followers. The behaviors are directive, supportive, participative, and
achievement oriented. I believe wholeheartedly in this theory and believe that I have been able to switch between these styles in different situations in my current role. To help readers of this blog to understand and identify the differences of each leadership behavior or style, I will share examples of how I have exhibited each behavior in different scenarios that occurred in my workplace.

Directive Leadership
This leadership style gives clear instructions to followers and includes exactly what is expected of them.

Example: In my role as a senior leader, I have five middle level managers that report directly to me.
They have been reporting to me that there are issues with hiring staff to fill the currently vacant positions for hours that are needed on the weekends. The example I would like to share of how I demonstrated directive leadership is that I advised the manager of the direct care staff to develop new staffing patterns that would consist of schedule changes to cover the hours that are currently vacant. This could mean developing 10, 12, or 16-hour shifts on the weekends with fewer hours during the week. This could also mean that she conduct a series of group interviews directly instead of waiting for Human Resources to do them as a way to expedite the hiring of new staff. The decision and method of solving this problem was left completely up to the manager. I advised that I would be available to help problem solve if she needed me and gave her 30 days to come up with a solution to this issue.

Supportive Leadership
This leadership style ensures that the follower’s well-being and human needs are taken into consideration. Managers are friendly and approachable when exhibiting this style of leadership.

Example: I manager Case Managers who are responsible for conducting admission meetings with new youth being placed in our programs. The admissions process usually takes about three hours to complete. As a child caring institution, we are expected to accept admissions 24 hours a day. The Case Managers conduct meetings and meet with youth daily and throughout each day. When an emergency admission occurs, I make sure that I am supportive of the Case Manager in the best way that I can. Sometimes, I will conduct the admission for them. I might also just assist them with the paperwork or intake process. Other times, I have adjusted their upcoming deadlines to accommodate for them having to conduct a last minute and unplanned admission. When an admission must occur after hours, I make sure that I stay as late as they do so that it does not feel that they are left there
while the rest of the office is gone home. I adjust my duties and become an assistant to them during the admissions process, while allowing them to still take the lead on the admission but also showing them that I am there and that we are a team.

Participative Leadership
This leadership style allows followers to have input toward important decisions.

Example: Last week, I met with the Program Coordinator and discussed the need for staffing
assignments to be changed. One of our program has youth who are housed in three separate cottages. Each shift has one supervisor assigned to oversee the operations of all three cottages. This method of operating has presented many challenges over the last few years. One of the suggestions I made was to hire a third supervisor and assign one supervisor to each cottage. The supervisor would work a split shift so that first and second shifts have supervisory oversight. Before making this change, we sat and had open discussions with the two current supervisors to hear their thoughts about the suggested change. They provided their input and suggestions of how to implement such changes and
ensure that the plan was successful. We took their ideas and suggestions into consideration and made final decisions based on their feedback of where they felt staff should be assigned and how the new way of operating should flow.

Achievement Oriented Leadership
This leadership style challenges staff or followers to work to their full abilities. This style sets high
expectations and then motivates staff to meet them.

Example: Case Managers are responsible for caseloads of twelve youth. Each youth must remain current on their medical and dental appointments. They must attend school daily. The case manager is responsible for ensuring that appointments are met and that the youth attend school every day. They must also conduct two face to face meeting with the youth and hold a monthly meeting for each youth that includes all parties involved in the youth’s case. This is a lot of work! I have set expectations that there must be 100% compliance in each of these areas, since  these are areas where the state of Georgia also expects there to be 100% compliance. To assist them with meeting these goals, I meet weekly with them during supervision meetings and check in with the progress for the month. I often try to give them suggestions on how to increase productivity so that they are sure to meet these monthly goals.

I believe that the use of these four leadership behaviors are surely to motivate youth. The theory
states that the style used may work for one situation but not necessarily all situations. A leader must know which style to employ and when to apply it.