5.6 Supportive and directive team leadership behaviours
A team leader has a choice when seeking to encourage team behaviours that enhance team performance in a give situation. They can be directive or supportive.
Directive behaviour is more downward communication. It is about planning, controlling and supervising what people do, how they do it, where they do it, when they do it.
Supportive behaviour is more two-way interpersonal communication. It is about vreating meaning, building purpose and commitment, listening to people, providing support and rewarding effort. It is about participative problem-solving and decision-making.
Directive behaviour would include when a leader:
- Sets goals or objectives
- Makes clear the role each person will play in the accomplishment of the task
- Plans work in advance to be accomplished by the follower
- Organises resources
- Communicates job priorities
- Sets timelines for future work
- Determines methods of evaluation for follower performance
- Shows or tells a follower how to do a specific task
- Checks to see if work is done properly and on time
Supportive Behaviour would be when a leader:
- Asks for suggestions or input on task accomplishment
- Facilitates follower problem-solving in task accomplishment
- Listens to the problems of the follower (job-related or non-job related)
- Encourages or reassures a follower that he/she can do the task
- Communicates information about the total organisation's operation
- Discloses information about self (job-related or non-job-related)
- Praises the follower for task accomplishment (Blanchard, et al, 1985:12).
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