They consider their obligations to others. As a result, they experience more anxiety and try to avoid situations where they could lose.
Now that I have talked about the two focuses and how they affect people, I want to look at the idea that the way leaders behave or their style of leading, can affect the focus that followers adopt in a specific situation.
In talking about leadership, we often mention transformational leaders and transactional leaders.
Transformational leaders when interacting with their followers focus on their development.
In their words and actions transformational leaders highlight change.
Their speech is passionate and conveys a definitive vision. All of these things can encourage followers to think about what could be.
In other words, they inspire a promotion focus in their followers.
In contrast, transactional leaders focus on developing clear structures that tell their followers exactly what is expected of them.
While they do explain the rewards people will get for following orders, they emphasise more how a follower will be punished or that a follower won't get rewarded if his or her behaviour doesn't change.
In short, they emphasise the consequences of making a mistake. This emphasis will clearly lead followers to focus on avoiding punishment and problems. This is clearly a prevention focus.