Leadership · Proving to Growing

Situational leadership

You give everyone the leadership they need for this task.

25 min

Worth reading first: Digging deeper

Does this sound familiar?

You explain something, and it still comes back different from what you wanted.
You often think: I'll just do it myself.
A strong member of staff goes quiet or leaves, even though all you wanted was to help.
A new starter gets 'just figure it out', gets stuck, and then you step in.
Your best salesperson takes on an extra task, and that's exactly where he gets stuck.

Who it's for, and when

For founders and managers who hand work over. It starts when you hire your first people for work you used to do yourself, and it stays relevant for as long as new people and new tasks come along.

The model

There's no single best way to lead. What works depends on who's in front of you and on the task in question.

You look at two things. How much direction you give: what needs doing, how and when. And how much support: listening, encouraging, asking for their ideas. Those two give you four styles. Which one fits depends on how far the other person has got with this task: can they do it, and do they want to? The same person can be self-reliant in one area and still a beginner in another.

The aim is for the other person to grow, so you need to direct less and less. You ease off the direction as soon as someone's ready for it. And if someone slips back, because of a new role, a setback or something at home, you give more direction again for a while.

This lesson is about one person and one task. Who owns a piece of work is covered in the lesson Who's got the monkey?; which decisions belong to a role in Who decides what; leading through your managers in Mission command; and who carries your team in The A-player matrix.

Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard, 1969. Blanchard later developed it into SLII, the version most widely used today.

Enthusiastic beginner → Directing

Can't do it yet, but is keen. Give lots of direction: what, how and when, with an example, and check in often. Encouragement isn't what they're missing right now. They need explanation.

Disillusioned learner → Coaching

Can do some of it, and is now finding out how hard it is. Motivation drops. Keep directing, and add support: explain why, ask what they think, and still make the call yourself.

Capable but cautious → Supporting

Can do it, but has doubts or doesn't dare make the call alone. Direct little and support a lot: ask what they'd do, listen, and let them decide. Explaining how would tell them you don't trust them.

Self-reliant → Delegating

Can do it and wants to. Agree the result, the boundaries and when you'll see it, and leave the how to them. If you direct here anyway, they lose their drive: they hand the decisions back to you, or they leave.

Pitfalls

Seagull management

'Just figure it out' feels like trust, but a beginner gets stuck. Blanchard calls it seagull management: you only show up when something goes wrong, make a lot of noise and fly off again.

Your own style for everyone

Everyone has a style that comes most naturally to them. A founder who can do everything themselves often directs too much or lets go too early. Look at the other person and the task, not at what comes easily to you.

Mixing up the letter and the level

Your best people, the A's in the A-player matrix, are self-reliant in the work they know. On a new task they're beginners too. If you let your A-player figure everything out because he's an A, you'll watch him get stuck. The matrix is about the person; this model is about the task.

Watch and read

EPM201810 minutesEnglish

The whole model in ten minutes, sketched out: the four styles, the four levels, which goes with which, and an example.

Watch on YouTube

Toolshero NL20183 minutesDutch

In Dutch, in three minutes, with tips you can use tomorrow.

Watch on YouTube

Read

Leadership and the One Minute Manager

Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi en Drea Zigarmi · 2013 · ISBN 9780062309440

This is where the model comes from. A slim book, written as a story, that you'll finish in an afternoon. The Dutch translation is Situationeel leiderschap II en de One Minute Manager.

View the book

Apply it

1
Pick the task, not the person
'How's Mark doing?' is the wrong question. 'How far has Mark got with writing quotes?' is the right one. Look at what he's done with this task before, not at how long he's been with you or how good he is at something else.
2
Make your grid
List your people down the side, and next to each one the three to five tasks that matter most for them. In every box, write two things: how far they've got (D1 to D4) and which style you're giving now (S1 to S4). A box where the two don't match, D1 with S4 or D4 with S1, is your first conversation. An empty box means you don't know; ask them.
3
Say it out loud
'For the next month I'll check your quotes before they go out. After that, it's yours.' Then the other person knows why you're directing, and that it's temporary.
4
Look at the grid again every quarter
If a box moves up a level, ease off your direction and say so. When a new task comes along, add a column. Even your best person often starts at D1 there.

Examples

A completed grid: Mark, account manager

Client meetings: D4, you delegate. Writing quotes: D2, you coach. He's partly there and two clients were critical. Annual planning for his clients: D1, you direct. The same Mark, three styles.

A completed grid: Fatima, planner, two weeks in

Daily planning in the system: D1, you direct and check in every day. Calling clients about a date that's moved: D3. She did it for ten years at her last employer and is only unsure how things are done here. You ask what she'd say.

A new starter writes their first quote

Directing. Give an example, the structure and the pricing rules, and check it before it's sent. If you don't, you'll be fixing the quote later, and smoothing things over with the client.

Your best salesperson does an annual budget for the first time

In sales he's self-reliant, in budgeting a beginner. For the budget you direct; in sales you leave him to it.

An experienced service engineer has been doubting himself since a mistake at a client's

Supporting. He can do it. Ask what he'd do, listen, and let him decide.

Do this in your own business

Everything up to here is free. What you fill in for your own business, you keep in Boldcaster.

You look back on a situation from your own work. Only you can read what you write.
You set a date with yourself, and on that day the app asks how it went.
You assign the lesson to your team and see who has done it.
The quiz counts towards your progress, and you see which lesson comes next.

Start free with this lesson

Four weeks free. You'll land straight in this lesson.

Quiz

6 situations. You need 5 of 6 right. You can try again at any time.

1.Lisa joined two weeks ago as a planner and she's really keen. She's never made a schedule in your system. Which style fits?
2.Mark has been writing quotes for six months. He can partly do it, got criticism from two clients and says: 'maybe this isn't for me'. Which style fits?
3.Your best salesperson knows the job, but after two lost deals he asks for your sign-off on the price for every quote. What do you do?
4.Your experienced account manager has handled his client meetings well for years. Since you started going through every meeting with him beforehand, he says less and asks for your sign-off on everything. What's probably going on?
5.Your finance manager does the month-end close without a mistake. Now she has to write an investment proposal for the bank for the first time. How do you lead her on this one?
6.You've directed a new team member for three months and she's doing well now. What's the next step?

Nothing is saved here. In the app, the quiz counts towards your progress.