Final answer:
In the path-goal leadership model, successful leaders assist followers by setting clear goals, offering guidance and support, providing meaningful rewards, and delegating tasks in a way that suits individuals' needs for growth, autonomy, and structure to maintain a positive leader-follower relationship.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the path-goal leadership model, the successful leader assists followers in several significant ways. First, a leader can help by setting clear goals for followers, providing direction and reducing ambiguity, which aligns with the leader’s instrumental function of achieving tasks. Second, they offer guidance and support, especially to those who exhibit a strong need for growth or require a well-structured environment to feel comfortable and perform efficiently. This support fosters followers’ development and contributes to a positive leader-follower relationship.
Leaders can also provide meaningful rewards for goal accomplishment, increasing the incentives for followers to remain loyal and motivated. This goes hand in hand with the strategy of raising the costs of defection and rewards for fidelity, making followers more likely to stay the course and commit to the organization’s objectives. Lastly, delegating tasks to followers can enhance their sense of autonomy and responsibility, which is preferred by those who are more autonomous and may not require constant direction.
Overall, successful path-goal leaders adapt their style and strategies to the needs and preferences of their followers, whether it involves being more authoritative, democratic, or laissez-faire, with the ultimate aim of boosting team performance and achieving organizational goals.