Do you feel that you’re an effective leader? It has often been said that a good leader has the power to both motivate and influence others. To do this, a great leader always starts with building a good relationship with his team-mates.

Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/485262928575459519/

So, what are some attributes of a good leader?

A leader is:

• Someone with a sense of responsibility.
• Charismatic.
• Able to influence others.
• Consistent.
• Creative.
• A good follower.

Although these traits are common to good leaders in general, many leaders still fail to succeed in their missions. On the road to achieving your goals, there are many challenges that will crop up and that you may have to face along the way. This means that you will need to be flexible enough to adapt to different situations.

What follows is a discussion (including excerpts from various sources) on situational leadership and what is typically involved. The aim here is to give you more insight on leadership techniques that you could adopt in situations that you may be working through at the moment or at least equip you to deal with those that you may eventually encounter in the future.

What is Situational Leadership?

Situational Leadership was developed by management experts Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey. This leadership style dictates that the success of a leader will depend on how well he/she is able to adapt his leadership style based on the particular situation at hand.

Situational leadership refers to when the leader or manager of an organization must adjust his style to fit the development level of the followers he is trying to influence. With situational leadership, it is up to the leader to change his style, not the follower to adapt to the leader’s style. In situational leadership, the style may change continually to meet the needs of others in the organization based on the situation.

Excerpt from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/define-situational-leadership-2976.html

Situational leadership is a theory of leadership that is part of a group of theories known as contingency theories of leadership. Generally speaking, contingency theories of leadership hold that a leader’s effectiveness is related to the leader’s traits or behaviours in relation to differing situational factors. According to situational leadership theory, a leader’s effectiveness is contingent on his ability to modify his management behaviour to the level of his subordinates’ maturity or sophistication.

Excerpt from http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-situational-leadership-theories-styles-definition.html

Situational Leadership Styles

Source: https://managementlessons.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/leadership_situational_styles_6x4.png

There are four styles of situational leadership and they are as follows:

Coaching

Coaching is a type of situational leadership style that involves a great deal of “hands-on” involvement in an employee’s work process.

This style is also called “Telling”. In this style, the leader defines the duties of a certain employee or a group and provides them instructions on how to do the task.

Directing

The directing leadership style typically involves taking over a challenging situation and applying specific knowledge and experience to right the ship. For example, if your business is struggling to establish its brand, a skilled marketing manager can be brought in to develop a marketing strategy to create brand awareness. A directing-type manager will establish clear goals and objectives for his work area as well as his staff, although staff members have some latitude as to the process used to meet the goals.

Delegating

The delegating style places more of the responsibility on the shoulders of the workers as opposed to the managers. The manager is able to provide guidance, but only when needed or requested by the employees, and serves in more of a consultant capacity. This style is most effective with experienced staff that can work independently. It also allows for maximum creativity in how employees choose to go about accomplishing a task.

Supporting Style

In the supporting style, the leader plays more of a motivational role. His/her main function is to attempt to instill confidence in the workers so they eventually become more self-sufficient and productive. This method is often referred to as a “selling” style because the manager attempts to persuade the employees that they have the ability to perform the job. This style typically involves the assigning of tasks by the manager while providing support as needed.

Read more at http://smallbusiness.chron.com/four-basic-leadership-styles-used-situational-managers-2982.html

Situational Awareness

Situational awareness is vital for all leaders. As a good leader, you must be able to anticipate problems that could arise and act immediately as and when needed to mitigate them.

Vision is core to the success of a business and as a leader, you need to be able to clearly set and communicate the company’s vision as well as align staff to the vision. Many leaders struggle with this.

“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. It’s got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion. You can’t blow a weak trumpet.”

— Theodore Hesburgh, President, Nortre Dame University, Time, May 1987

A leader must know the following three C’s of situational awareness:

1. Context
2. Circumstance
3. Consequence

Let’s look at these 3 C’s in a little more detail:

Context

A leader must know what he or she is up against—that is, what forces are shaping your world and your decisions. Who or what is pushing for a decision? Is it a competitor? Is it your boss? Is it your community or is it a genuine need? Determining the factors pushing for the decision is vital to making the decision. For example, if you are challenged to reduce costs, you need to consider what to cut and why. Is overhead the problem? Or are you overstaffed? And if you are overstaffed, whom can you cut without reducing productivity? At the same time, do you have the right people in the right jobs? Are they properly trained?

Circumstance

It is vital to consider the unfolding situation. Life is not static; it is fluid, and therefore whatever a leader does must be framed within variables. Ask yourself: What is changing now and what could change in the future?

For example, when you decide to introduce a new product, that product—unless it is totally revolutionary—will face “me-too” competition. What’s more, it could face circumstances related to economic and market conditions. Projecting launch dates in the future is good from an engineering standpoint, but no one knows what the market will be like six to 12 to 24 months into the future. Circumstances may be very different.

Consequence

Decisions have outcomes. Those outcomes will dictate what a leader does. Also keep in mind that failure to decide is a consequence. Good leaders who push decision making to the front line are those leaders who want their people to be accountable as well as responsible for outcomes.

For example, in customer service, it is front-liners who maintain and monitor the pulse of the customer. Who better to consider what’s best for the customer? Organizations put dollar limits on decision making, yes, but it is the person who faces the customer who makes the first call. Other decisions, such as capital spending, organizational transformation and product development, involve higher stakes because the consequences are greater. Those decisions are for people paid to make them—the senior leadership team.

Source: John Baldoni http://www.cio.com/article/2437930/leadership-management/situational-awareness-101.html

At some point in your career, you are going to find yourself in a very tough and complicated situation that will require well honed decision making skills. Utilising the  the thought process above (the three C’s) will help. For additional perspective, I’ve always been a strong proponent for having a stong, well experienced mentor (or multiple mentors in various disciplines). You don’t know everything – others will have had different experiences and you’ll find that most great minds are actually willing to share knowledge. You need to give them a reason to though. As the saying goes, “two heads are better than one.” Tough decisions can do with the benefit of multiple perspectives if time affords it.

Situational Leadership Scenarios

OK, scenario time. Let’s go through a few corporate examples – they may help rationalise some concepts we’ve discussed above.

Scenario 1

John has just been hired by a marketing firm that specializes in producing ads for corporate clients which are placed in Sunday papers.  John just graduated from college and has no experience related to producing print ads.  He’s been tasked with creating an ad layout for the toy department for a large retail client to be placed in this week’s ad.  He’s very eager to learn and contribute anyway he can. 

A). Take a moment and identify the level of development John is at.

B). What leadership style (quadrant in the model) is appropriate to apply for this individual? Why?

C). What tools/techniques could be utilized to put the model in action?

Scenario 2

 Marco has over 25 years of experience in creating and designing web pages. He’s just been tasked with creating a new home page for his department.  He has no problem working independently and gets started right away.  

A). Take a moment and identify the level of development Marco is at.

B). What leadership style (quadrant in the model) is appropriate to apply for this individual? Why?

C). What tools/techniques could be utilized to put the model in action?

Scenario 3

Kelly is a new employee in the research department at Victory pharmaceuticals. She’s been given an assignment to document the pathology associated with the flu virus.  Kelly isn’t sure where to begin but has conducted some limited research on viruses before.      

A). Take a moment and identify the level of development Kelly is at.

B). What leadership style (quadrant in the model) is appropriate to apply for this individual? Why?

C). What tools/techniques could be utilized to put the Kelly in action?

Scenario 4

Lisa has been working in the drafting department of an architectural firm for a number of years.   She’s constantly asked to share her knowledge but is often reserved.  She’s just been tasked with designing a manual for new hires.  She begins to work on the manual sparingly but often needs encouragement to continue. 

A). Take a moment and identify the level of development Lisa is at.

B). What leadership style (quadrant in the model) is appropriate to apply for this individual? Why?

C). What tools/techniques could be utilized to put the model in action?

Scenarios – Let’s get some answers!

Scenario  1

   A). D1 (Enthusiastic Beginner) – John is at the lowest level of development in our model, he’s eager to begin the task but isn’t necessarily competent yet.

   B). Leadership Style (S1 Directing) – Based on his current development level the most appropriate leadership style is the directing style.

 C). In order to effectively apply the directing style of leadership the leader needs to closely supervise the individual and provide guidance to complete the task. 

Scenario 2

   A). D4 (Self Reliant Achiever) – Marco is at the highest level of development stage in the model.  

   B).  Leadership Style (Delegating) – The most appropriate leadership style is delegating.

   C).  This individual (Marco) may already have a rapport with his manager and here the biggest thing is just recognizing that he’s at the highest level of development; so from a leadership standpoint he will only require high level support and does not need much direction.

Scenario 3

   A). D2 (Disillusioned Learner) – Kelly is at an intermediate level of development; while she’s new to the company she’s not necessarily new to conducting research. So she’s at the D2 level.

   B).  Leadership Style (Coaching) – Based on her level of development the model indicates that the appropriate leadership style would be coaching.  Since she’s not sure where to start and may lack confidence, encouragement from leadership would assist with making her effective.

   C).  Kelly’s lack of experience/competence is implied based on her hesitance to begin the task.  Here you would likely provide ideas on where to start the task and provide direction through task completion.  In addition you would provide encouragement.

Scenario 4

   A). D3 (Capable But Cautious Performer) – Lisa is at level 3 of the development stage.  She has significant experience but is not interested in the task.

   B).  Leadership Style (Supporting) – The most appropriate leadership style in this case would be the supporting approach.

   C).  In this case Lisa already has the knowledge needed to do the task.  The component she doesn’t have is the motivation/ commitment to get the task done. This individual needs “cheerleading” and recognition.

Read more at http://blog.keepyourselfrelevant.com/2011/07/situational-leadership-ii-applying.html

Interesting Videos About Leadership

The following video from the Alanis Business Academy goes through how situational leadership works.

The video below is from Bret Simmons. He uses a scene from the movie “We Were Soldiers” as an example of how leadership is done right.

Wrapping it up!

On an executive level, you as a leader must be ready at all times – watching, planning and manoeuvring. You must develop a keen sense of situational awareness to make sure you’re able to approach decision situations in the right way and combat operational problems effectively.

When faced with a problem or decision that requires leadership input, always start by asking yourself – “What’s the best leadership style should I use for this situation”.

What are you’re thought’s on Situational Leadership? What other styles do you feel comfortable with? Let me know in the comments below!