Leaders can improve employee performance in a number of ways including identifying potentially successful candidates for training, redesigning jobs, and acquiring and allocating needed resources (Wofford & Liska, 1993).  
Among leadership styles, supportive leadership was used most throughout the literature and reportedly led to a greater likelihood of employees to stay at their current job (Asamani, Naab, & Ofei, 2016; Dixon and Hart, 2010; Stinson & Johnson, 2005; Wofford & Liska, 1993).

As an occupational therapist, whether in a leadership role or working with clients, the ability to utilize and intertwine different leadership styles is necessary.  Depending on the client's person factors, environment, and setting (inpatient, outpatient, home health etc.) the leadership style will change. 
The "path" can be viewed as the occupational performance of a client and the OT needs to analyze different occupations of the client and identify strengths and limitations when performing those tasks, just like an employer tries to identify motivational factors and increase satisfaction of employees.  The "tasks" of the employees relates to the occupations a client participates in or wants to engage in.  Thus, the OT can put all those factors together and choose a leadership style that best fits the client factors and environment to remove barriers and reach the particular goals set by the client and OT. (Dunbar & Winston, 2015)
Picture (Below): Identifies examples of when to use leadership styles.

Bickle, J. T. (2017). Developing remote training consultants as leaders: Dialogic/network application of path‐goal leadership theory in leadership development. Performance Improvement, 56(9), 32-39. doi:10.1002/pfi.21738

Dixon, M. L., & Hart, L. K. (2010). The impact of path-goal leadership styles on work group effectiveness and turnover intention. Journal of Managerial Issues, 22(1), 52-69.

Dunbar, S.B., & Winston, K. (2015).  An occupational perspective on leadership: 

Theoretical and practical dimensions (2^nd Ed). Thorofare, NJ: SLACK, Inc.

Famakin & Abisuga (2016) Effect of path-goal leadership styles on the commitment of employees on construction projects, International Journal of Construction Management, 16:1, 67-76,DOI: 10.1080/15623599.2015.1130601

House, R. J. (1971). A path goal theory of leader effectiveness. Administrative Science Quarterly, 16(3), 321–339. https://doi.org/10.2307/2391905 

Jacobs, K., & McCormick, G.L. (2011).  The occupational therapy manager (5^th Ed). 

Bethesda, MD: AOTA Press

Northouse, P. (2013). Leadership theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

Rahman, Aischa. “Path Goal Theory.” YouTube, YouTube, 23 May 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=94&v=1xFp085drIk

Stinson, J.E. & Johnson, T. W. (2005). The path-goal theory of leadership: A partial test and suggested refinement. Academy of Management Journal. 18: 242-252.

Vecchio, R. P., Justin, J. E., & Pearce, C. L. (2008). The utility of transactional and transformational leadership for predicting performance and satisfaction within a path-goal theory framework. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 81(1), 71–82. https://doi.org/10.1348/096317907X202482

Wofford, J. C., & Liska, L. Z. (1993). Path-Goal Theories of Leadership: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Management, 19(4), 857–876. https://doi.org/10.1177/014920639301900407

All images from Google Images 

The Theory of Motivation is a foundation of path-goal leadership which states that an individual selects a behavior to engage in based on the valences perceived to be associated with the outcomes of the behavior, and the chances that the behavior will result in the outcomes (House, 1971). 

Barriers: Barriers are obstacles in the work environment that can limit an individual from reaching their ultimate goal (Dunbar & Winston, 2015). Path-goal leaders help to remove these barriers to improve performance and clear the path to accomplish tasks.
Consideration: Consideration is the degree to which the leader produces a supportive environment by exhibiting relationship behaviors such as being friendly, approachable, looking out for the personal welfare of the group, and giving notice of change in advance. The directive leadership style is based on consideration (House, 1971).
Initiating Structure: The term initiating structure is the degree to which the leader creates psychological structure for subordinates by performing task behaviors such as planning, organizing, directing, and controlling. The supportive, participative, and achievement leadership styles are based on initiating structure (House, 1971).
Directive Behavior: Guidelines are set, expectations are clarified, and specific guidance is provided on how tasks should be accomplished (Dunbar & Winston, 2015)
Supportive Behavior:
Concern and respect for the followers needs is displayed, and a friendly and and supportive environment is created (Dunbar & Winston, 2015)
Participative Behavior: The leader and followers collaborate to make decisions (Dunbar & Winston, 2015)
Achievement Behavior: Challenging and realistic goals are set to motivate individuals to excel and have the confidence they need to reach their goals. (Dunbar & Winston, 2015) 

The purpose of this study by Famakin & Abisuga (2016) was to examine the effect of path-goal leadership styles on employees commitment to construction projects. Data was collected through questionnaires to construction managers of projects that had been completed within the last 5 years prior to the study being conducted. Results of the study indicated a supportive leadership style impacts the affective commitment of project employees, and that continuous commitment of employees to the projects are influenced by supportive and achievement oriented leadership styles.