Sunday, June 17, 2012

Style as per the situation: Situational Leadership

Once you identified the style of learning or performing of your tem members, the real challenge is to tune your (leadership) style with their style.

Sometime you may decide just to instruct and direct the person, however sometimes you may be supportive. You guide him; support him so that he would take the right decision. Key factors are how you are directive or how you are supportive in your leadership style. Most of the times, manager use the same style with all employees and they fail to motivate all.

Directive style (low support and high direction):
As mentioned in the table, you may use the directive style if the person has low competence and high commitment.  Showing and telling the person what to do, how to do it and when they need to be finished by. The leader provides as many explanations as are needed, but there is no discussion/debate on what must be done. Problem-solving and decision-making are initiated by the leader. The team member needs this type of direction to get them started.

Coaching Style (high direction and high support):
This can be used for the person who has some or low competence and low commitment. This person needs motivation.  The leader gives a high degree of direction and is still the centre of the universe for the team, and the individual. He leads with his own ideas, however he is also explaining why things need to be done the way requested and seeking much more input from the team members. Two-way communication and support is increased, but control over decision-making remains with the leader.

He can do it by selling an idea, testing or consulting the idea.

Joining Style (for reluctant contributor):
This style is useful when the person has the competence and he doesn’t need direction, but needs support and motivation.  The focus of day-to-day decision-making and problem solving shifts from the leader to the team member. The leader is operating more as a resource and facilitator.
At this time the leader and the team member discuss and jointly decide.

Delegating (for perk performer: - high competence and high motivation):
Here person has competence and enough motivated to perform the task. Such types of people are high performers in the organization. These employees need new challenges, freedom to work and want involve in decision making process.

Here all tasks are handled with little input from the leader. The team member directs their own behavior and decides how tasks should be accomplished and how often to involve the leader. The team member is willing – even wants – to work by him or herself with little support or supervision. The leader is focused on strategic issues and works with the team to rapidly implement changes that enable the team to remain competitive in the marketplace.

Once you have chosen the appropriate style to use with this person, in this situation, you then monitor performance. Making decisions to shift your style as the person either grows beyond the style you had chosen, or lacks suitable progress and requires you to maybe step back a level.

You can use the following tool to assess and willingness of your team and decide your leadership style.

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