Of all the leadership theories, It seems to me that 'Path-Goal' leadership is the most practical. Not that I'm knocking the other theories, It just seems to be the easiest to grasp and implement in practical situations in my opinion. In path-goal leadership, the leader's behavior is contingent to the satisfaction and motivation of his or her followers.
In order for a person to be a good path-goal leader, they need to be able to effectively remove 'obstacles' and solve problems that are making it difficult for their followers to reach the ultimate goal(s). The leader must define the goals, clarify the path, remove obstacles as well as provide support to the followers. to sum it all up, the main goal of path-goal leadership is to enhance employee/ followers performance and satisfaction by focusing on employee motivation. Here is a picture to help illustrate the idea.
It is easy to see how the path-goal leadership theory could be considered the most practical leadership theory. It seems like many of us have had to be a leader at some point for certain situations and path-goal leadership was probably used to help lead. I know I have used this several times in my life. It seems to be the natural way for me to lead. How about you?
