Welcome to leadership part two….An opportunity to discover your preferred leadership “style” and in turn areas to focus on to become even better at getting the best out of others. It’s fair to say, being a manager / leader is seriously hard work at times. Just think of your team and the characters that make up that team…it's not always an easy role….Just like in day to day life you adapt the way in which you engage with people…so it’s the same with your team members…you need to adapt your leadership approach and style of leadership to get the best out of each person…The good news…that’s exactly what we’re about to do, identify YOUR preferred leadership style…The model we’ll use was created by Hershey and Blanchard and its called “situational leadership”.

What’s great about this model is its used extensively within the corporate world so if ever you find yourself being a part of any future management and leadership programme you’ll be able to blow everyone away with your depth of knowledge having explored this theme here already! What I'll do is talk through the model and bring it to life, then you can take time out…complete a brief multiple choice questionnaire (I’ve shared the link below)…and this’ll enable you to discover your leadership preferences. …..You can see from the image below there’s four approaches - Directive, Supporting, Coaching and Delegating…Think about it now. If you HAD to choose one…which of the four styles do you feel the most comfortable using in the work place? There’s no right or wrong about answer, we’ve all got our preferences and play to our stengths….and that’s not to say you’re not more than capable of tapping into all four approaches, absolutely you are, you’re just likely to have a prefered style, as your go to.

I’ll try to bring this to life with an example that’s relatable…imagine you’ve a new starter joining your team and for the purposes of bringing this model to life, imagine it's their first few days with you as their manager…. So we’ll start at the bottom left of the model - “directing”….Now directing is language that doesn’t always sit well in terms of operating in the business world, it conjures up mental images of leaders on power trips, being authoritarian and dictatorial, but actually within the workspace, there’s a time and a place to be directive. Think about it from your own perspective, when you’ve joined a new organisation or found yourself in unfamiliar territory within the workplace….having someone of responsibility be directive with you in regards to “this is what needs to be done and when” can be reassuring, there’s no ambiguity, things are black and white, you’re not second guessing yourself as to whether you’re getting things right or wrong…

Now, as your new starters confidence grows so you become less directive and ‘tell’ and switch to being more “supporting”. In simple terms, you're letting out the reins a little, allowing somebody to make their own mistakes, while balancing that with any risks and training required…for example that may be you simply saying my door's always open should you need me….Or, if you need to ask any questions here's the best time to call me or email me….It’s about providing the reassurance that when needed you’re there for them – as their confidence continues to build, so it becomes less about the supporting and more about the coaching. Empowering the individual to make their own choices and decisions so when they come and ask for guidance, rather than just giving them the answers you shift into coaching mode, asking them questions to challenge their thinking, enabling them to search for answers themselves and in turn become less dependent upon you and your time! As their expertise continues to grow so it’s your responsibility as manager to support them in their on-going development, which means looking for opportunities to delegate tasks with a view to stretching them, build skill sets and offer greater responsibility.

So in simple terms that’s what situational leadership is all about…you adapting your leadership style to suit the varying situations you’ll experience. It’s probably worth highlighting, I’ve made a slight change to the model…the “support” and the “coaching” are normally around the opposite way…The reason I’ve presented it in this fashion is because having delivered this theme many hundreds of times using the example I just shared simply helps the message to land more effectively…..the principle remains the same however - Adapt your approach to suit the situation when it comes to leading others.

So what about you and your team currently? Do you engage with everyone in the exact same way? How flexible are you in your approach? Does that come naturally or is it a struggle? If so what are you doing to develop yourself to become the leader you were always meant to be?

Below is guidance as to where you can access the situational leadership questionnaire on google…..Take your time in completing it but don’t over-think your answers……Its probably best to go with your first thought, it tends to produce the most accurate results.

Welcome back. Now what you’ll have is a score for each of the 4 areas , directive, supportive, coaching and delegating. Ideally what you’re looking for is a balance of scores, similar numbers evenly spread…which would indicate you’re very comfortable in adapting your style. If that’s not the case, that’s fine too, you’ve now got visibility on a development opportunity to improve your leadership skills….How about your self-awareness? Did you accurately predict your preferred style?

So what are you going to do with this new found knowledge? How are you going to change where necessary your leadership approach to get the best out of your team members? Oh and by the way…if you scored low on delegating, you’re among friends, so don’t beat yourself up….I’ve lost count how many times I’ve done this questionnaire with people and more often than not the score is a 0 or a 1. So if you scored higher, give yourself a pat on the back!…Ok so we’ve done the leadership models and you’ve gained insight into those areas for personal development – For part three we’ll explore motivation, and how to tap into it to get the best out of others…