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Leadership Competencies
Charles Jacobson
Organizational Leadership, Siena Heights University
LDR601
Dr. John Fick
February 5, 2023
Competent leadership is the backbone of any entity whether it is a business, school, non-profit, or any other entity where a group of people is working together towards a common goal. This paper will focus on two separate types of leadership competencies. Task-oriented and relationship-oriented. Both of these categories of leadership are important to being successful in completing a task in an effective manner. While competency in either can result in success competency in both can give the group the best chance to successfully reach their goal.
Definitions
Leadership
Leadership can be defined as the ability to make planned, desirable changes in an entity (Thorn, 2012). The leader is the person who is responsible for heading the group and focusing on working towards a common goal for the future. Leadership can be divided into two different competencies, task-related and relationship-oriented. Task-related refers to leading in a manner that focuses on completing the task at hand and not the relationships between the leader and followers. Relationship-oriented refers to the way the leader leads in regard to their relationships with their followers (DuBrin, 2015).
Competency
Competency is the measurement of success. If a person is competent they are successful at whatever task they are being measured. A competent person is deemed to be able to do the task requested of them in a proper manner. Determining competency can be complicated. Darlene Russ-Eft (1995) gives us suggestions on how we can define competency. She writes that there are four considerations when determining competency. Competency should be identified by the people closest to the observation of the competency, and it should be defined by people at all levels to get a clear understanding of the competency. It should be re-evaluated periodically due to changing circumstances and the delineation of superstars from average competency performances should only be undertaken after the full range of competencies is defined (Russ-Eft, 1995). The important thing to note here is that task-related competency is objective, it can be judged by results. If a goal was set and accomplished then the task-related competencies would be deemed competent. However, relationship-oriented competencies, by their nature, are subjective as different people will have different opinions as to the competency of the leader.
Leadership Competencies
Task-Related Competencies
Task-Related competencies are identified by their focus on completing the task at hand. DuBrin (2015) includes adaptation to the situation, direction setting, high-performance standards, concentrating on the strength of group members, risk-taking and execution of plans, and hands-on guidance and feedback as task-related competencies. These are all aspects of getting a job done. These refer to the “work” of the group. This is the foundation of what it takes for a group to accomplish its goals.
Relationship-Oriented Competencies
Relationship-oriented relationships refer to the way leaders and followers interact with each other. These are the interpersonal relationship actions that define the way the group interacts. DuBrin (2015) defines relationship-oriented competencies by including the categories of aligning people, having an openness to worker opinions, creating inspiration and visibility, satisfying higher-level needs, giving emotional support and encouragement, promoting principles and values, and being a servant leader. The relationship-oriented competencies focus on the people doing the task and how the leaders interact with the followers.
Conclusion
The task-oriented leadership competencies really form the foundation of how a group focuses on reaching a common goal. The goal can be reached just by focusing on completing the task using these competencies. However, there is much research showing that a leader that uses relationship competencies as part of their leadership plan can increase the quality and efficiency of their work. Cloud (2009) writes about how Michael Dell has a toy bulldozer on his desk to help him remember to include others in the decision-making process and not ram things through. A leader can improve the effectiveness of the team by focusing on relationship competencies as they affect employee well-being in a positive way which in turn increases worker productivity (Rajaratnam et al., 2014).
References
Cloud, H. (2009). Integrity: The Courage to Meet the Demands of Reality (Reprint).
Harper Business.
DuBrin, A. J. (2015). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills - Standalone
Book (8th ed.). Cengage Learning.
Rajaratnam, A. S., Sears, L. E., Shi, Y., Coberley, C. R., & Pope, J. E. (2014).
Well-being, health, and productivity improvement after an employee well-being
Intervention in large retail distribution centers. Journal of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine, 56(12), 1291-1296.
https://doi.org/10.1097/JOM.0000000000000349
Russ-Eft, D. (1995). Defining competencies: A critique. Human Resource Development
Quarterly, 6(4), 329.
https://sienaheights.idm.oclc.org/login?url=.?url=https://www.proquest.com/
scholarly-journals/defining-competencies-critique/docview/234903103/se-2
Thorn, I. M. (2012). Leadership in international organizations: Global leadership
competencies. The Psychologist-Manager Journal, 15(3), 158-163.
https://doi.org/10.1080/10887156.2012.701130