Abstract
First-time leaders face the imperative of adjusting to their new role while immediately acting as a primary source of support to those they lead. Enacting support is complicated by the variety in recipients’ perceived need for support and constraints that limit a leader’s awareness and ability to meet employee needs in an appropriate manner. This chapter builds upon early and current conceptualizations of leader supportiveness, summarizes factors associated with “effective” and “ineffective” support, and offers research-based suggestions for first-time leaders’ enacting support to workgroup members. Leaders are encouraged to enhance their ability as support providers by learning to assess the support situation, the recipient’s need for support, and the match between need and resource.
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Shank, S.E., Miller, V.D. (2023). New Leadership and the Communication of Social Support. In: Pfeffermann, N., Schaller, M. (eds) New Leadership Communication—Inspire Your Horizon. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34314-8_15
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