Management 101: Situational Leadership

Becoming an effective manager can be accomplished in three simple steps. Step one was discussed in a previous article (Management 101: How to Manage Employees). Step two is to understand situational leadership.

Why Situational Leadership
Trying to treat every employee the same is mistake.

Your goal as a manager should be to treat everyone "fairly" not according to some predetermined idea of "sameness." Situational leadership involves changing your leadership style to suit the person you are leading.

Why can't you treat everyone the same?
Obviously, everyone is not the same, so you can't treat everyone the same. This is a "simple" concept but actually requires much more effort on the manager's part (simple does not equal "easy"). As a manager you need consider the unique characteristics of each person you are managing. For example, a group of new recruits will be managed differently than a group of experienced employees.

Ken Blanchard (of "One Minute Manager" fame) and Paul Hersey's model of "situational leadership" provides a framework that allows a manager to analyze a situation and then choose the correct leadership style. The situational leadership "model" itself is not as important as understanding the concept.

Situational Leadership Concepts
By definition "leading" requires "followers." Followers have different skill levels and motivation that, when combined, determine "readiness level." It is always the responsibility of the leader to determine the followers "readiness level."

Follower readiness consists of two factors: competence and commitment. Competence consists of specific skills required to perform the task at hand (i.e. do they know "how" to do the job). Commitment refers to the followers desire to perform the task (i.e. do they "want" to do the job). Competence and commitment can be high, low, or variable. The follower's competence and commitment levels determine the best way to "manage" them.

As a manager you must first constantly evaluate how much your people know, and how motivated they are to do the job.

Scenario:
You are in charge of the "help desk" at your company. A new hire should be "managed" differently that the person who has been there a year. In the first case (the new hire) you will need to provide close supervision until they "learn the ropes" and prove that they can do the job (competence was low, commitment was uncertain). In the second case (the seasoned employee) you may be able to "get out of the way" and let the employee do the job with minimal supervision (if competence and commitment are both high).

If you were to reverse the leadership styles (letting the new hire go unsupervised and micro-managing the experienced employee) then neither employee will be optimally productive.

Remember that "time on the job" doesn't always equal "high competence." It is possible that the person with one year on the job will need the same "close supervision" that a new hire requires (but that probably means that their commitment level is "low" and makes them a candidate for "downsizing").

More information on Situational Leadership
This explanation of situational leadership concepts is not identical to the Blanchard/Hersey model. This is a very abbreviated version that (I hope) explains the basic concept.

Understanding the concepts behind situational leadership will make you a better leader but your leadership skills will never be "complete" (after all situations and people tend to change). There is much more to "situational leadership" than has been touched on in this article. Ken Blanchard's "Leadership and the One Minute Manager" is a good place to start if you want more information.

The Final Step
The final "simple" step in becoming an effective manager (communication) is the most important. Indeed, it has been said that "Management IS communication."

Be sure to read step 3. Communication