Situational Leadership - Application
Situational Leadership Theories are well known and frequently used for training leaders within organizations. Practical application is how to choose the right leadership approach for the situation. The theory emphasizes leader flexibility and advises leaders to flex their style based on the followers' needs. Leaders must adapt their leadership style to fit the prescribed task, understanding given situation/maturity of followers.
How does this Approach Works?
The situational approach is constructed around the idea that different employees are at different level of development or maturity stages which represents the relative competence and commitment of subordinates for a given task. For leaders to be effective in such situations, it is essential that they determine where subordinates are on the maturity levels and adapt their leadership styles so that their style matches with the style of the development level and the followers can be benefited by the time and energy spent by the leader on it. In a way this approach is mutually beneficial to both follower and the leader as leader can also save his time and energy by understanding the maturity levels of the follower.
It is designed to increase the frequency and quality of conversations about performance and development between managers and the people they work with so that competence is developed, commitment is gained, and talented individuals are retained. Highlighted below are the key learning objectives from this theory:
- Develop an understanding of Interaction Styles and how this model can assist in gaining a greater understanding of yourself and others
- Understand how your preferences can influence you and others
- Understand the importance of adapting own interaction style to increase effectiveness
- Be able to diagnose others’ development levels and choose the appropriate leadership style
- Know why there is no best leadership or coaching style
- Learn to use a common language for coaching and developing others
- Understand the negative impact of over supervision and under supervision on others’ performance and morale
Steps to Apply Situational Leadership Model:
1. Determine the nature of the situation.
2. Understand the nature and complexity of the task at hand
3. Evaluate the skills and the desire of the subordinates to do the task being asked to perform.
4. Identify correctly the specific developmental level at which their subordinates are functioning.
5. Adapt his or her style to the prescribed leadership style represented in the table given in the previous article.
Practical Applications of the Situational Approach:
- This theory is well known and frequently used for training leaders within organizations.
- Perceived by organizations as an effective model for training people to become effective leaders and use the skills in workplace to solve common workplace conflicts.
- Highly practical, easy to understand, sensible theory that can be applied in a variety of settings and situations.
- Provide leaders with a valuable set of guidelines that can facilitate and enhance leadership.
- Emphasizes leader flexibility and recognizes that employees act differently with different tasks and leaders need to flex their style based on the situational or followers need.
- It is an encompassing model with a wide range of applications.
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