Situational Leadership
Leadership Model Rapid Intro
One of the things that has been fascinating me during this course of study into Organizational Leadership is the amount of definitions and models of leadership available. The core text for my Leadership and Organizational Behavior course lists 14 approaches or models (Northouse, 2022).
And one that stood out to me right away is something called Situational Leadership, which, as the name suggests, posits that “effective leadership requires that people adapt their style to the demands of different situations” (Northouse, 109). For a moment, that can seem a little obvious. It isn’t new to see every situation (whatever that really is) as new and unique compared to the situation that already passed. Right away, this definition is at least believable but also somewhat stuck.
The unlock for me came after exploring more of the model from Blanchard, his SLII. In this approach, “situation” seems to be defined by the competence and commitment from a leader's team. It is a model that depends on thinking of others and a leader adapting to that situation to be the most effective.
The Grid
In this approach, a leader is sussing out whether to lead on a balance of being directive (x axis) or supportive (y axis). Across this balance, leaders can focus on four styles of leadership that prioritize one of these more than another, these four being: delegating, supporting, coaching, or directing.
From the lowest x and lowest y quadrant of the model, a leader who is low supportive, being that they do not actively try to communicate and show emotional and social support to a team, and a leader who is low directive, being that they do not communicate what is to be done and how and by who, is described as having a delegating style of leadership. In the grid, this quadrant is labeled S4, style 4. I’ll leave the rest for the grid to explain.
This, alone, I find to be pretty helpful in understanding leadership behaviors and styles; however, what is especially helpful and interesting about this model is that this leadership style model matches the development level of the team a leader leads. That S4 matches a parallel of Development, a function of a team’s competence and commitment
Thus, in the same case of a leader who uses a delegating style, that style is most appropriate for a team with high competence and high commitment. In this situation, a leader would shepherd the already-strong team in the right direction. To me, this assumes that roles are clear, but that is a question for a later time.
In this model, a leader, after assessing how their team is doing on task, will be able to understand where their team is and can then derive what style is best for that situation. Thus, the matching relationship between the S1 and the D1 and so on.
There are some questions as to the accuracy of this model, however. At present, it seems that a critique of the model concerns that team assessment. Does a leader adapt to some sort of middle ground of a team’s development level or to the highest? There are more, but I think it’s appropriate to realize it is only a model and as such will have gaps. That said, it is very popular, and paints a helpful way in how to act.
Northouse, P. (2022). Leadership: Theory & practice (9th ed.), Los Angeles, CA: SAGE
More soon,
Trevor
Now-reading affiliate links:
