Situational Leadership – Deciding when to think outside of your box

This week, one of the subjects I read about was situational leadership. This style of leadership speaks to me because I have always believed that different situations call for different solutions …and styles.

Situational leadership teaches us that there are four main styles that are driven by low and high supportive and directive behaviors. Along the bell curve of the situational leadership model lies each of the four styles; directing (S1), coaching (S2), supporting (S3), and delegating (S4). The key is for a leader to possess advanced understanding each management style as well as the interpersonal skills to properly read their employee’s socioemotional needs.  Once these needs have been identified, an effective leader will employ the most appropriate management style accordingly.  Doesn’t this just make sense?  In my opinion, it just makes sense for a leader to have enough management savvy to customize their approach to each employee. Let’s discuss each of the four management styles.

Directing (S1). The directing management style lies within the lower right portion of the situational leadership model, within the quadrant defined as low supportive and high directive management behaviors. A leader exhibiting this style will focus almost solely on completing organizational tasks, and very little on the socioemotional needs of their staff.  This does not mean that a directing style leader is uncaring about staff needs; but their focus is on communicating organizational needs, defining what has to be accomplished, and closely monitoring progress until the goal is obtained.  This style of leadership would shine in a couple of situations. The first would be a crisis situation, where everyone’s focus must be one solving the crisis, and once the crisis has been removed, a leader can transition back into a role that is more employee-centric. The second would be in an environment with new staff where they have yet to develop an understanding of organizational needs, and thus need very direct guidance on what to do and even sometimes, how to do it.

Coaching (S2). The coaching management style lies within the upper right portion of the situational leadership model, within the quadrant defined as high supportive and high directive management behaviors. A leader exhibiting the coaching leadership style will place primary foci on both achieving the task at hand and developing staff and their socioemotional needs. A coaching leader will communicate the goals and tasks to their staff, solicit feedback on what the employee thinks is the best solution to the problem, but making a final decision falls upon the manager. Training or staff development is supported, but a coaching leader’s support of this could potentially be focused on task at hand.  This style seems to be where the most concessions would occur, and in my mind, would be the most difficult management style to sustain because this leadership style require a continuous juggling between organizational need and employee desires. The coaching leadership style would test the savviness of an effective leader, but it is a skill that one needs to develop and perfect in order to work within the situational leadership continuum.

Supporting (S3). The supporting management style lies within the upper left portion of the situational leadership model within the quadrant defined as high supportive and low directive management behaviors. A leader exhibiting a supportive management style will place a greater emphasis on developing their staff and their socioemotional needs than completing the task at hand.  This does not mean that the leader with this style does not have the task in mind, just that they believe that the best way to accomplish the task is through developing their employees. This is not a bad management style for a couple of reasons. Developing your staff yields immediate and future benefits to an organization, as the employee can use their newly acquired skills for both the current task at hand, as well as tasks that come down the road.  In addition, developing staff can boost an employee’s self-confidence and dedication to the organization. Granted, leaders that develop employees will potentially provide them with the skills needed to seek advancement opportunities, and that is ok. The benefits reaped from developing your employees far outweigh any concerns of them moving on.

Delegating (S4). The delegating management style falls at the bottom left portion of the situational model within the quadrant defined as low supportive and low directive management behaviors. The delegating style really has to do with a matter of a leader’s trust in their employees to be able to act autonomously in the
workplace.  A delegating leader would trust staff to make decisions regarding how the work gets done, and then watch them employ those decisions accordingly. This is a hands-off approach to management that would require a very, very special group of employees who have a true interest and investment in their jobs to want to go above and beyond the job description.  In the government arena, I would argue that this type of management does not occur on most levels, and would really only be successful on the director to manager level. At the manager to staff level there are many obstacles that prevent a delegating style, such as labor contracts and policies that limit what a line employee can do without being considered to be working out of their job classification.

So... which leader should you be? Depends on situation.

Have a great week, and go do great things!