by Ryan May
Created by professor and author Dr.
Paul Hersey and author Ken Blanchard, the Situational Leadership Model is a
theory of business leadership that promotes the benefits of combining a range
of managerial styles to cater to different people within the same organization.
This is opposed to the more traditional view of the executive manager who may
employ the same leadership tactics across an entire organization, more than
likely passing directives down through subordinates and other intermediaries.
But by employing the strategies put
forth in the Situational Leadership Model, a manager would potentially have the
capabilities to deal with a wide range of people and thereby create a more
employee-centric and innovative organization through the level of direct
contact he or she has with members at all levels. Further, the leader would be
free to place more or less emphasis on a particular task as well as more or
less emphasis on relationships with employees – enabling them to focus on the
component most needed to get the task accomplished successfully.
One
Size Doesn’t Fit All
The core foundation of the
Situational Leadership Model is the belief that there is no single “best”
approach to leadership. Instead, effective leadership is viewed as
task-relevant. Therefore, the most successful leaders are the ones who are able
to adapt their leadership styles across a broad range of varying maturity
levels readily present within the average organization. Also factoring into the
choice for leadership style are the individual employees’ willingness and
ability to take responsibility for the task as well as their applicable
education and experience.
Given the wide level of variance in
these factors, choices surrounding leadership are highly subjective in regard
to the person or work group that is being influenced as well as the specific
job or function that has been assigned – a situation some say lends itself
perfectly to the Situational Leadership Model.
The
Four Styles of Situational Leadership
Though it’s meant to provide extreme
adaptability, there are four basic styles when it comes to the Situational
Leadership Model, each custom tailored to elicit the highest productivity from
each employee or group.
As you’ll see, there is a clear
distinction between productivity and employee-development, with the first two
styles (telling and selling) focused on accomplishing the task while styles
three and four (participating and delegating) are more concerned with the
personal development of team members.
- Telling – Within this style, a leader will specifically instruct subordinates what to do and how to do it. This style is used at length within the law enforcement and military communities as well as on manufacturing assembly lines, providing a means of managing a diverse group of people that span a wide range of experience and maturity levels.
- Selling – Information and direction will still be provided by the manger in this style of leadership but there’s also more two-way communication with subordinates. Within this role, leaders “sell” their message to get employees on board, persuading them to work toward the common goal. A perfect example of this type of leadership is often found in an internship situation, with the success of this approach dependent upon whether the student or apprentice learner is excited and self-motivated to be on the job.
- Participating – With participation, leaders can focus more on relationships and less on direction. In doing so, the Situational Leadership manager works closely with the team and shares decision-making responsibilities. This style is often used by corporate leaders who are attempting to influence a board of directors toward developing a new policy for which there is no proven history or established practice.
- Delegating – Although the leader will still monitor task- and organizational-progress, he or she will pass much of the responsibility for the execution and completion of the established goals onto the individual subordinates or dedicated work groups. By delegating, the leader is usually less involved with decisions and is therefore able to focus on the work and achievements of subordinates, as seen commonly in the freedom given to tenured professors who are allowed to teach in the manner they believe is most effective while being monitored by a dean or department head.
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