LAS CRUCES, N.M. & NEW YORK - s4story -- Patrick Diogenia, a marketing and organizational leader and graduate student in Communication Studies at New Mexico State University, is developing Support, Standards, Systems: Leadership by Design, a program translating family communication and organizational behavior research into practical leadership tools.

The program begins with a premise often overlooked in leadership development: people first learn about authority, disagreement, support, and responsibility within the family. Those lessons can shape how they exercise power, respond to expectations, and navigate relationships at work.

"Despite decades of strong leadership research, issues like micromanagement, unclear accountability, and dysfunctional team dynamics still exist," Diogenia stated. "My concern is whether we enter the story too late, as people come to work with communication habits that have been forming since childhood."

The program examines whether family communication theories can deepen understanding of organizational relationships. It does not suggest that workplaces are families or that managers should act like parents.

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The first module, Lead the Person: Support + Standards, uses research on authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and disengaged parenting styles as a comparative lens. It translates responsiveness and demandingness into workplace practices that pair clear expectations with appropriate support and autonomy.

Participants practice clarifying standards, listening to employee perspectives, explaining decisions, and calibrating assistance. The aim is to develop judgment and capability while maintaining accountability. The approach treats support and accountability as complementary responsibilities, with autonomy increasing as employees develop sound judgment.

The second module, Design the System: Roles, Rules, Boundaries + Feedback, draws on family systems theory and organizational research on role ambiguity, psychological safety, and team reflexivity. Leaders examine whether unclear ownership, conflicting priorities, ineffective handoffs, or established feedback routines contribute to recurring performance problems.

"If a leader keeps coaching the same problem, eventually it becomes necessary to inspect the system," Diogenia said. "A capable employee can still struggle when ownership is ambiguous, or nobody knows who has authority to make the final decision."

Together, the modules address two common errors: attributing structural problems to individual shortcomings and invoking systemic explanations to avoid legitimate individual accountability.

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Tools include a Support × Standards Leadership Diagnostic, a structured conversation framework, and a Team Operating System Canvas. Designed for remote delivery, the program can be adapted for managers, project leaders, and cross-functional teams.

Planned evaluation emphasizes behavioral application: whether participants distinguish individual performance issues from systemic problems and make corresponding changes to leadership practices, role expectations, operating rules, or feedback routines.

Diogenia is developing the initial program through graduate study in family communication, with the goal of adapting it for organizational settings.

"Effective authority should increase capability," Diogenia said. "Effective systems should make that capability easier to use."

About Patrick Diogenia

Patrick Diogenia is a strategy, loyalty, and lifecycle marketing leader with more than two decades of experience across marketing, customer strategy, technology, and organizational leadership. He currently serves as Lead Director, Behavior Change Marketing at CVS Health and previously held senior roles at Comcast and led a boutique advertising agency and consultancy. He holds dual MBAs from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business and Alliance Manchester Business School and a summa cum laude bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a graduate student in Communication Studies at New Mexico State University, where his work examines leadership, organizational communication, customer strategy, and decision-making. This project reflects the author's analysis and does not imply endorsement by any university or employer.