Path-Goal Theory A Favorite

One of my favorite leadership theories that I've learned about is the path-goal theory. I came across this leadership model in the text Leadership Theory And Practice by Peter G. Northouse. I prefer this model because this is designed for leaders to define goals, clarify a path, remove obstacles, and provide support (Northouse, 2007, p.128). Looking at this model I see a few things that I believe management should stand for.

The first is to define goals. Too many times do team members lose focus of why they are completing tasks. People want to know what the departmental and organizational goals are at all times. This first step takes discipline by leaders to maintain consistency because whether it is admitted or not leaders at times can lose focus as well, or they can become too results oriented forgetting the importance of the path of a task in getting to the end.

The last three components of this model, clarifying a path, removing obstacles, and providing support all define a leader that thrives in the area of development. The act of blaming others for errors is thrown out and replaced with themes of motivation and coaching. Developing talent, motivating people to strive for their best, and allowing for others to complete tasks defines the path-goal theory and one of the reasons to become involved with leadership.

Development Key as a Leader

There is one disturbing trend that I see as a leader and that is not enough time is spent in developing people. In my opinion an employee enters the organization and is trained, once that process is complete development is minimal or non existent. Development is pushed aside for production. It seems to me that the only way for development to occur is if an employee is started on a formal disciplinary process, and beginning a development program at this point is way too late.

Leaders need to develop their talented employees daily. Informally a brief discussion about their day or previous work day can provide much needed insight as to how the employee will perform during the current work day. Some other ideas to develop employees can include,

• scheduling the employee in a continuing education class
• side by side coaching
• developing a career path program
• establish specific goals around that career path program
• schedule formal departmental training for the employee

Many times development is neglected for production. If employees aren't continuously developed won't production stagnate? Continuous development programs will help take production to another level. What do you think?