Leadership Roles and Styles

Subject name – Group Process in OT

Subject code – BOT16405
Faculty – Sulbha G Dessai (Assistant Professor)
• The success of any therapy group depends largely on the
effectiveness of the leader.
• When running a group we aim to create a positive
environment in which people can grow and learn. To this
end, we need to set the pace, level and content of the
activities, and to guide members' participation.
• The first step to becoming an effective leader is to
appreciate the impact our behaviour can have on a group
and in turn, the effect the group can have on ourselves as
leader.
• role of the leader
• leadership style
• co-leadership
 THE LEADER ROLE
Role functions
The task functions are activities carried out by a leader in
order to enable a task to be achieved. Towards this goal
the leader may act as
a) a teacher who is either didactic or simply a
knowledgeable guide
b) someone who supplies equipment and resources
c) the person who plans the activity and structures the
environment accordingly
d) someone who gives feedback to members on their
performance.
• The social-emotional functions of a leader involve
supporting members as needed. The leader will try to
a) give support and meet the needs of group members
b) enable communication and group interaction
c) encourage self expression in the group members
d) motivate the members
e) facilitate group spirit and cohesion
 Leader roles - activity groups
• In a parallel group, the therapist is very active as
individuals at this level are unable to play many group
membership roles.
• The therapist selects basic level activities, helps to carry
them out, and in addition, meets members' needs for
safety, love, acceptance and esteem.
• The leader will also reinforce desired behaviour in
members such as engaging in the task, answering a
question and recognizing another member.
• The leader will shape members' behaviour by giving
praise and ignoring inappropriate behaviour
• The leader of a group operating at the project level helps
members to begin to select activities which are short-
term and require some interaction.
• The leader continues to take responsibility for planning
the activity and meeting members' needs.
• At this level the therapist reinforces behaviour when two
or more members work together or interact.
• For the ego-centric cooperative group, the therapist
takes on much less of a director role and acts more as a
role model, trying to allow the group to function more
independently.
• The therapist will reinforce any behaviours which are
helpful for longer term tasks.
• Group members are more responsible for organizing their
activities though the therapist may make suggestions and
give assistance.
• The therapist helps members to meet each other's needs
for recognition and esteem, whilst continuing to meet
their love and safety needs.
• The therapist in a cooperative group will usually act as
either an advisor or participant. As an advisor, the
therapist may initially set up the group and then withdraw,
being available for consultation and support when
necessary.
• As a participant, the therapist and group members have a
mutual responsibility for the group activities and
reinforcing behaviour.
• The leader of a mature group acts as a group member as
much as possible. The therapist will only take on those
group membership roles which are necessary at a
particular time.
• The leader will ensure the members give each other
opportunity to experiment safely with roles.
 Leader roles - support groups
• Yalom (1975) identifies three fundamental tasks for a
leader in a psychotherapy group:
a) the creation and maintenance of the group
b) culture building
c) activation and process illumination
d) handling transference
Creation and maintenance of the group
• Yalom asserts that the leader is solely responsible for
creating and convening the group.
• As the group starts, the leader assumes a gate-keeping
function, encouraging members to stay or adding
members as necessary.
• The therapist seeks to deter any forces which threaten the
cohesion of the group such as scapegoating, sub-
grouping or member absences.
• Finally, as members only know each other initially
through the leader, he or she is the group's primary
unifying force and assumes the role of 'transitional
object'.
 Culture building
• The therapist then shapes the group into a therapeutic
social system, guiding the formation of norms and group
interaction.
• The therapist acts as both a technical expert (motivating
encourage) and as a model participant, who sets norms by
example (such as being non-judgemental or taking the
risk to confront others).
• Yalom tresses that a leader is always communicating
something which will impact on the group culture. As an
example of this, he describes a therapist who ignores late-
comers and so gives a non-welcoming message, thereby
promoting a non-caring culture.
 Activation and process illumination
• The most complex role played by a psychotherapeutic
group leader involves moving the group into the 'here-
and-now' to highlight inter-group relationships and
processes.
• The leader is centrally involved in offering a 'process
commentary' to guide self-reflection. Here, the leader has
to first recognize underlying group dynamics and not
simply respond directly to comments made.
• Second, the leader invites members to be aware of their
own processes, and search for methods to facilitate self-
knowledge rather than impose interpretations.
 Dealing with transference
• It is an unconscious process where a person responds to
another in a manner similar to the way he or she
responded to a significant person in the past.
• Feelings for another are transferred - often onto the
therapist. As Yalom summarizes, 'feelings transferred are
"false connections", new editions of old impulses'.
• For instance, a group member may become dependent on
a therapist, translating his or her need for a nurturing
mother onto the therapist.
• Another member may respond to the group leader with
hostility, perceiving the leader as an authority figure and
transferring angry feelings normally felt towards his or
her father.
• Few are conflict-free in their attitudes toward such issues
as parental authority, dependency, God, autonomy and
rebellion all of which often come to be personified in the
person of the therapist.
Our therapist role in handling transference is threefold:
1. recognize the possibility of transference
2. It helps to be aware of our own responses to clients and
any counter-transference in action.
3. help members work through the process
a) consensual validation (testing the reality of a feeling,
attitude or behaviour against other member reactions)
b) therapist transparency, where the therapist reveals more
of him or herself, which allows members to confirm or
change their impressions.
 Leader responsibilities
• The leader's responsibility to the group involves working
to the best of his or her ability for the benefit of group
members. Within the group, the leader has responsibility
to be clear about its aims, methods and processes and to
behave accordingly. The leader is not solely responsible
for the group, but carries more responsibility than the
members.
• Benson (1987) suggests a leader has a responsibility to
communicate what he calls 'the three C's':
a) Competency- the leader should know what he or she is
doing. This does not preclude feeling anxious or
uncertain, it just means not being overwhelmed by these
feelings.
b) Compassion - the leader should demonstrate
consideration, care and compassion, showing members he
or she wants to understand and be involved.
c) Commitment - the leader needs to believe in the efficacy
of the group and its methods.
The issue of power
• We have a responsibility not to abuse our power as a
leader. When we lead a group, we are in a position to
influence and control it.
• When we set out to 'facilitate', 'shape' or 'change'
behaviour, we are exercising power by manipulating
others. Power issues are complicated and can be difficult
to handle, so it is important that we are clear about our
attitudes and position concerning our power.
• Firstly we are in a position to influence decisions about
members treatment and future. At a more immediate
level, we can control who attends the group and who
should be excluded.
• Secondly, power is invested in us as leaders, by group
members. Persons in groups not infrequently assume that
a leader has more or different powers than he actually
has, and develop fantasies about the destructive or
magically helpful ways.
• In which he might or could use his power.' These
expectations are important as members behave
accordingly. For instance, if members believe a leader
will cure them, then they are likely to passively wait for
the leader to act.
• Thirdly, there are real limits to our power. We cannot
force people to feel or behave in certain ways or to
conform to our expectations of how the group ought to
work.
• We cannot 'cure' our patients or force them to benefit
from our group. In a different way, we may lack control
as a group leader, when outside agents hold the power.
• Different examples of this are: the patient who is
discharged without our agreement; the group member
who is called away from the group to have another
treatment; the parents who refuse to bring their child in
for treatment
 LEADEARSHIP STYLES
• Lewin's styles Authoritarian, democratic and laissez-
faire.
• One group was led by a leader who adopted an
authoritarian style and issued orders; the second by a
democratic leader discuss what they wanted to do and
how to achieve their objectives; the final group worked
with a laissez-faire leader who was present but did not
initiate any action.
• Authoritarian style - The experiment demonstrated
that the authoritarian group produced more work over
a shorter period, but the children were resentful and
dissatisfied. Some became aggressive, others retreated
into apathy.
• The democratically led group became more productive
as they learned how to cooperate with each other and use
the resources well. Motivation and satisfaction remained
high and participants enjoyed the group.
• The laissez-faire group was neither productive or
satisfied. They spent a disproportionate amount of time
discussing their task which led to frustration and some
aggression.
• The main conclusions of this classic study are that
leadership style will dramatically affect a group and that a
leader can be trained to adopt a relevant style.
• Fiedler (1968) offers a more interactionist perspective.
He developed a model of leadership effectiveness which
suggests that a leader's performance is contingent on the
'fit' between psychological and situational variables.
• The psychological variables affecting performance
include:
a) style, such as being more directive and controlling or
permissive and accepting;
b) personal attributes, such as the ability to make
judgements.
The situational variables consider:
a) the quality of leader and member relationships, which
includes degree of mutual liking and respect
b) the task, such as its degree of structure and complexity
c) the power position of the leader, which includes the
extent to which the leader can reward or punish members
and the authority invested in the leader by the members.
• Lewin's and Fiedler's work present contrasting
arguments. Firstly, Lewin considers leadership style
can be adopted, whereas Fiedler sees style as
involving stable personality characteristics.
• Secondly, unlike Lewin, Fiedler stresses the
importance of the social context.
• Thirdly, Lewin maintains that leaders can be trained to
lead, whilst Fiedler argues that leaders should be
selected to fit a particular situation.
• Thus, theories of leadership are relevant as each
perspective carries different practical implications.
 Directive versus non-directive leadership
• The directive style is most often adopted for activity
groups where the leader instructs members on how to
carry out a work or social activity.
• This style can be seen along an authoritarian-democratic
continuum. At one end, the group leader controls and
dictates each step of the group activity. At the other end,
the leader guides and encourages members to participate
in a certain direction.
• The non-directive style is tied to a basic philosophy of
human potential which stresses the capacity within each
individual to be self-directed. The approach is most
closely associated with counselling and psychotherapy
groups, where members choose their own level of social
and emotional participation.
• The laissez-faire leader tends to be non-directive and lets
the group members set their own agenda. The democratic
leader might set the scene but then let the group members
make their own decisions about what and how much to
share.
• For Kaplan, the term directive refers to the active way a leader
structures the environment and activity to ensure maximum
member participation.
• The Directive Group can be summarized with reference to
four components:
a) structure- six to ten patients attend with two co-leaders who
provide role models for action, support and collaborative
interaction.
• The group meets daily at a routine time and place for 45
minutes. Most patients attend for at least a week. A
predictable sequence of events (orientation, introduction,
warm-up activities, selected activities, wrap up) helps
minimize patient problems of confusion.
b) Theoretical framework- the group is based on the model of
human occupation which helps to conceptualize patients'
functioning level.
c) Goals - group and individual goals are presented. Four
group goals encourage cohesion by emphasizing
participation and interaction. Ten more are compatible
individual patient goals (such as 'make one comment on
own per group').
d) Activities- the group's activities include the wide range of
games, crafts, movement and communication exercises
adapted for the basic skill level of the patients.
• A more non-directive style is adopted when group
members are able to use their own resources, and in
effect, take on their own leadership roles. The leader is
responsible for monitoring and using what is happening in
the group and follows the group's lead.
• The leader responds to the group at their level of
understanding and avoids interpretation. This allows
members to come to their own conclusions and
understanding.
• Note that the non-directive leader is active, rather than
passive, indeed the non-directive group might be better
termed 'self-directed'
 CO-LEADERSHIP
• The partners need to be able to work together, support each
other and negotiate their differences. Their relationship then
has an impact on the group and subsequent dynamics.
• The decision to co-lead - decision of whether or not to
work with a co-leader should be a positive one, based on a
judgement about group needs and the effectiveness of the
partnership.
• Group needs - In larger activity groups, where work may
take place in sub-groups, several leaders can be helpful
providing members do not feel de-powered or intimidated
(by feeling constantly observed). As a general rule fewer
staff leaders are needed where the patients and clients can
take on leadership roles themselves
• In support groups - Having two leaders, or at least one
leader and another person who acts as 'support staff',
offers a safety net for the group, in that one leader can
hold the group together whilst the other is freed to work
with individuals as needed.
• Two or more leaders allows for better evaluation of the
group as one leader can be freed to monitor overall
processes if another is caught up with emotions of the
moment.
 Effectiveness of the partnership
• The success or failure of a group can be determined by
how well the co-leaders inter-relate and combine as a
partnership.
Generally, four conditions need to be met for a partnership
to work:
i) one leader's skills and personality should not simply
duplicate that of the other
ii) beliefs, values or theoretical stances of the leaders
should be complementary
iii) the leaders need to like and feel comfortable with each
other in a working relationship
iv) the leaders must respect each other's contributions.
 Advantages Disadvantages
• Effectiveness of a group • Demands of time and
• Mutual support and resources
encouragement to the • Create problems for the
leaders group
• To develop each other's • Conflicting leadership
professional skills styles
• Contradictory theoretical
orientations.
 Selecting a co-leader
Values
• It is essential for co-leaders to believe in the group and
what they are doing as a partnership. The leaders need to
share similar views about their aims, expectations and
approach to the group and its members.
Professional status
• The status of the leaders (including their position,
background and experience) needs to be taken into account
as inequalities in the relationship can create problems.
Gender
• Practical level, some groups may require a malefemale
combination
• Emotional level
 Making co-leadership work
• Leaders need to spend time together to get to know and
feel comfortable with each other before deciding to co-
lead a group.
• Setting up the co-leader relationship is only the first step.
The leaders will only work together effectively if they
can communicate regularly and openly.
• They need to share their ideas and feelings, and give each
other feedback and support.
• Further, they will need to be able to examine any
problems which arise, for instance, honestly exploring
how members are being allowed to undermine or split the
leader relationship.
THANK YOU