BOLT - Situational_Leadership

Situational Leadership
BOLT, a bite-sized learning
DRAFT 01
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Advantages of Situational Leadership
• Keep an acute awareness of their leadership-­‐related strengths and areas for development, which is a
cri8cal skill set when dealing with high-­‐performing organiza8ons.
• Start highly effec8ve coaching conversa8ons by determining when the best 8me to use a par8cular
leadership approach is.
• Know when to be consistent and flexible to influence up, down and across the organiza8on.
• Speed up development by crea8ng produc8ve teams that are mostly new to their task.
• Develop engaged and commiCed staff or followers by recognizing and addressing performance dynamics.
• Drive behavior change and results effec8vely by communica8ng through a common and prac8cal
leadership language.
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Situational Leadership Model
Development level change over time and are subject to task specific
Leadership Styles
• S1 Direc8ng
• Autocra8c leaders
• Subordinates are not consulted for decisions
• S2 Coaching
• Welcome inputs
• Feedbacks from subordinates and sell ideas/
plans to the team to obtain coopera8on
• S3 Suppor8ng
• Par8cipate in decision making for most
decision made by the team
• ONen appear to be quiet, as commonly lead
by example
• S4 Delega8ng
• Provided minimum direc8on and guidance
• More concerned with vision/ long term than
day-­‐to-­‐day)
Level of Employee Development
• D1 The enthusias8c beginner
• Low competence but high commitment
• D2 The disillusioned learner
• Some competence but low commitment
• D3 The capable but cau8ous performer
• High competence but variable
commitment
• D4 The self-­‐reliant achiever
• High competence and high commitment
Legends:
• X axis – the degree of direc1ve behavior
• The higher the x-­‐axis, the less able the team to make decision
• Y axis – the degree of suppor1ve behavior
• The higher the y-­‐axis, the more the leader support the team to make decision
• D1 (the lowest) to D4 (the highest) represents the level of development of people within your team
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Situational Leadership Model
Mapping Development Level to Leadership Style
Development Level
D1 – Low Development
D2 – Medium Development
D3 – Medium Development
D4 – High Development
Leadership Level
S1 – Direc8ng
S2 – Coaching
S3 – Suppor8ng
S4 -­‐ Delega8ng
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Situational Leadership Model
Example in practice 1
• You are appointed to manage a new team working on a new project
• You categorize the team’s development level as D1 = Direc8ve leadership style (ini8ally)
• Along the way, the team is skilled but unfamiliar with the type of the project
• Then the team’s development level changed to D3 = Suppor8ng leadership style
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Points to consider
1. There’s no one best style of leadership
2. The best style will depend on the situa8on: the task to be performed and the team performing it
3. The best leaders weigh these different variables affec8ng their situa8on then select their leadership style
4. Situa8onal leadership forces the leader to evaluate the maturity and exper8se of each direct report to
understand which leadership approach should be used.
5. It is only as strong as the experiences of the leader. If a situa8onal leader has not grown up in an environment
with diversity, then a diverse demographic in their team will put them at a disadvantage.
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EOD
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