CHAPTER FOUR ATTENDING TO TASKS AND RELATIONSHIPS

INTRODUCTION

Most people would agree that good doctors are experts at treating disease and, at the same time, care about their patients. Similarly, good teachers are informed about the subject matter and, at the same time, are sensitive to the personal lives of their students. In leadership, the same is true. Good leaders understand the work that needs to be done and, at the same time, can relate to the people who help them do the job.

When we look at what leaders do—that is, at their behaviors—we see that they do two major things: (1) They attend to tasks, and (2) they attend to their relationships with people. The degree to which leaders are successful is determined by how these two behaviors are exhibited. Situations may differ, but every leadership situation needs a degree of both task and relationship behaviors.

Through the years, many articles and books have been written on how leaders behave (Blake & McCanse, 1991; Kahn, 1956; Misumi, 1985; Stogdill, 1974). A review of these writings underscores the topic of this chapter: The essence of leadership behavior has two dimensions—task behaviors and relationship behaviors. Certain circumstances may call for strong task behavior, and other situations may demand strong relationship behavior, but some degree of each is required in every situation. Because these dimensions are inextricably tied together, it is the leader’s challenge to integrate and optimize the task and relationship dimensions in his or her leadership role.

One way to explore our own task and relationship perspectives on leadership is to explore our personal styles in these two areas. All of us have developed unique habits regarding work and play that have been ingrained over many years, probably beginning as far back as elementary school. Rooted in the past, these habits regarding work and play form a very real part of who we are as people and of how we function. Many of these early habits stay with us over the years and influence our current styles.

In considering your personal style, it is helpful to describe in more detail your task-oriented and relationship-oriented behaviors. What is your inclination toward tasks and relationships? Are you more work oriented or people oriented in your personal life? Do you find more rewards in the process of “getting things done” or in the process of relating to people? We all have personal styles that incorporate some combination of work and play. Completing the Task and Relationship Questionnaire on pages 94–96 can help you identify your personal style. Although these descriptions imply that individuals have either one style or the other, it is important to remember that each of us exhibits both behaviors to some degree.

TASK AND RELATIONSHIP STYLES EXPLAINED

Task Style

Task-oriented people are goal oriented. They want to achieve. Their work is meaningful, and they like things such as to-do lists, calendars, and daily planners. Accomplishing things and doing things is the raison d’être for this type of person. That is, these people’s reason for being comes from doing. Their in-box is never empty. On vacations, they try to see and do as much as they possibly can. In all avenues of their lives, they find meaning in doing.

In his book titled Work and Love: The Crucial Balance (1980), psychiatrist Jay Rohrlich showed how work can help people organize, routinize, and structure their lives. Doing tasks gives people a sense of control and self-mastery. Achievement sharpens our self-image and helps us define ourselves. Reaching a goal, like running a race or completing a project, makes people feel good because it is a positive expression of who they are.

Some clear examples of task-oriented people include those who use color codes in their daily planners, who have sticky notes in every room of their house, or who, by 10:00 on Saturday morning, have washed the car, done the laundry, and cleaned the apartment. Task-oriented people also are likely to make a list for everything, from grocery shopping to the series of repetitions in their weight-lifting workouts. Common to all of these people is their interest in achieving the goal and accomplishing the work.

Relationship Style

Relationship-oriented people differ from task-oriented people because they are not as goal directed. The relationship-oriented person finds meaning in being rather than in doing. Instead of seeking out tasks, relationship-oriented people want to connect with others. They like to celebrate relationships and the pleasures relationships bring.

Furthermore, relationship-oriented people often have a strong orientation in the present. They find meaning in the moment rather than in some future objective to be accomplished. In a group situation, sensing and feeling the company of others is appealing to these people. They have been described by some as “relationship junkies.” They are the people who are the last to turn off their cell phones as the airplane takes off and the first to turn the phones back on when the airplane lands. Basically, they are into connectedness.

In a work setting, the relationship-oriented person wants to connect or attach with others. For example, the relationship-oriented person would not be afraid to interrupt someone who was working hard on a task to talk about the weather, sports, or just about anything. When working out a problem, relationship-oriented people like to talk to and be associated with others in addressing the problem. They receive satisfaction from being connected to other people. They value the trust that develops in a group when relationships are strong.

A task-oriented friend described a relationship-oriented person perfectly when he said, “He is the kind of person who stands and talks to you, coffee mug in hand, when you’re supposed to be doing something like mowing the lawn or covering the boat.” A relationship-oriented person doesn’t find meaning in “doing,” but instead derives meaning from “relating” or “being.”

Leadership SnapshotAi-jen Poo, Director, National Domestic Workers Alliance

Everett Collection Inc/Alamy Stock Photo

Ai-jen Poo is the director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA) and codirector of Caring Across Generations. She came to this work after observing the challenges of caregiving for her grandfather, who had suffered a stroke and was placed in a nursing home, sharing a room with six ailing, older people. “The place smelled like mold and death,” she wrote in her book, The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America (Poo, 2015, p. 2). Her grandfather died three months later. After graduating from Columbia University in 1996, Poo began organizing domestic workers.

As a thought leader and social innovator, Poo sees the future effects of demographic trends such as a burgeoning elder population that will need care in the future. With the population of U.S. residents over the age of 85 expected to double in the next 20 years, more caregiving will be required. Poo sees how interconnected innovative family care solutions are with how we structure our future workplaces, and how the government will resource and regulate elder care.

“Over and over again, at key turning points, we have invested in the infrastructure needed to thrive as a nation and to lead the safe, productive, and fulfilling lives that as individual Americans we expect to live,” Poo wrote. “And over and over again, these big ideas, and the momentum behind them, not only transformed our lives but also transformed our economy. In fact, in many cases, these investments were our economy, and most certainly saved our economy. An infrastructure for care may seem different from an infrastructure for railroads, highways, electricity, or the Internet. There are no trees to clear or wires to lay. Yet care is among the fundamental building blocks of society. For any of us, thinking about our most basic needs, care always comes first. There’s no need for the Internet, or even electricity, if there’s no way to feed, bathe, or clothe yourself” (Poo, 2015, p. 143).

In her career, Poo demonstrates both relationship leadership and task leadership. To learn more about the needs of domestic workers, “she spent countless hours in parks, buses, and other gathering places for domestic workers, creating opportunities for these largely isolated women to share their experiences, guiding mistreated workers to appropriate legal channels, articulating the vital economic role of domestic workers, and developing with workers a framework of legal standards for the industry” (MacArthur Foundation, 2019). By listening to and caring about their experiences, Poo shows respect for domestic workers and acknowledges that their work has inherent dignity.

“There are more than 2.5 million women in the United States who make it possible for us to do what we do every day, knowing that our loved ones and homes are in good hands. They are the nannies that take care of our children, the housekeepers that bring sanity and order to our homes, and the home-care workers that care for our parents and support the independence of our disabled family members,” said Poo (Fessler, 2018).

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