Many people are now retiring from the trades. The trades are made up of mostly the baby boomer generation, so now they are at the age of retiring. Due to many of them retiring, it is important to pass on the skills to the younger generation that are coming into the trades. In order to pass on these skills, there are two main key parts, followership and the leader’s behaviors.
To start, followership is important to the learning of the trades. The followers need to be reciprocating to the teaching methods of the elder tradesmen. As stated in lecture followership is how followers influence leader attitudes, behaviors, and outcomes” (PSU WC, 2022, L. 2 p.2). In the trades everyone learns differently, and the best style of teaching varies from each intern. The way an inter learns the trade effects how the current trade tech chooses to teach. The followers attuite towards learning also affects the leader which in this case is the seasoned tech. Many of these older generation techs have certain ways that they stick to and do not want to deviate from, which can be hard for new techs coming in because in their schooling they may have learned different techniques. While many older tech do not want to accept the new ways in the ever-changing trade world, it is still important that the intern respects the ways taught by the seasoned tech. While a lot of incoming techs think they know it all in the trade world there is still a lot to learned from their elder techs and their actions in followership effects how the older techs leach and lead them.
While followership is important on how the information is received, the leader’s behavior also affects the communication and reciprocation of the information from leader to follower. There are four different types of leader behavior, directive leadership, supportive leadership, participative leadership, and achievement-oriented leadership (PSU WC, 2022, L. 6 p.12). These are four different leadership styles that approach followers in separate ways. When teaching, it is important to have different methods to approach and handle the situation. Everyone learns in a different way so to be an effective leader a person has to be able to guide them in a way that they understand. A person can use multiple of the methods listed above, there is no one right way. Leader behavior is an important part of teaching in the trades field.
