Situational Leadership

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Feb 20, 2024

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Situational Leadership – Learning to Adjust I. Summary Businesses today are everchanging. To stay competitive, organizations need to be able to adjust to the ever-changing business environment. With an economy that is considered “global” and along with a very diverse workforce, the need for a situational leader is essential for the success of a company. In short, a situational leader adjusts his or her style to the employee or individual. A “one size fits all” approach to leadership is, quite frankly, outdated and obsolete. Gone are the days of democratic, autocratic, laissez-faire, or even transactional leadership styles alone. Today, you must incorporate your style of leadership to the individual. Models of leadership change from an experienced employee who has been with the organization for quite some time, to a new employee that is just starting out. For a seasonal and experienced employee, you have the ability to be more “hands off” as opposed to the new employees, who need a more “hands-on” approach. I will be dissecting the need for a situational leader, as well as the different types of “quadrants” situational leaders need to be in, per se, per the individual. Being more hands-on for new employees is essential for their growth of good “Building blocks” to put them on the path to success for a company. On the other hand, more freedom can be given to experienced employees to further aid in their growth. In order for a leader to be successful in a company, they need to grow the next generation of leaders for that company. This helps keep a company fresh and viable to stay competitive. A situational leadership model does exactly that. You adjust your style to the individual, not the individual to your particular style.

II. Leadership Concepts Involved Situational Leadership is considered an adaptive style (or a style that is ever changing) that takes into consideration current circumstances, or situation, or even a condition from a team or individual composition to determine the right way to lead. Instead of leading from a one- dimensional perspective, situational leaders effectively guide their people in their organizations by strategically deploying their leadership qualities . Therefore, they create better outcomes by modifying themselves to positively influence team members. The results of a Situational Leader can results result in an increased productivity and heightened levels of job satisfaction from individuals or teams. Thus, it is a proven method to be an in an effective leadership style to motivate employees in different kinds of segments. Effective leadership is not necessarily a one size fits all approach as people within an organization differ from one another. Some might need more support and direction while others may need the opposite. At several stages in a person’s career, or even in smaller situations, different types of leadership are needed. One of the co-founders of the situational leadership theory, Paul Hersey, described how people differ not only in their ability to do but also in their will to do, or contribute. Regardless of these differences, situational leaders serve in a way that gets everyone working towards a shared vision. Situational Leadership keeps all this in mind, teaching leaders how to adapt to their team’s needs on an individual level. Growing a cohesive, strong team that achieves your organizational vision and goals. Situational Leadership keeps all this in mind, teaching leaders how to adapt to their team’s needs on an individual level. The theory behind the Situational Leadership model originated in 1969. It puts the team members first as the leader will change their approach based on employees’ performance readiness standards to the company’s goals or desired outcomes. It incorporates four styles: Telling, Selling, Participating, and Delegating. It

is best used when an individual’s productivity or a team’s productivity need to be improved under a situation that is consistently changing and flexibility is required then. In quadrant one (the telling mode), the individual depicts the lowest level of performance readiness and thus requires the highest amount of attention. Leaders in this mode will go into great detail and best practices of how to get the job done successfully. Leaders will ask clarifying questions to the individual and explain where they can get help if needed. The next quadrant is the selling mode. Here the leader serves as an influential, supportive figure for those who show interest in learning on how to execute a job successfully. This style is used when providing motivation, growing buy-in, and building trust. In essence, a selling leader proves themselves as someone capable of leading their team members. In this quadrant the leader gives team members the chance to ask questions as part of the conversation to engage them in more of a two-way discussion over what must get done. In the next quadrant, the participating mode, the leader creates a cooperative, inspiring environment where input is welcome. While the employee at hand might be more experienced and capable than those requiring the telling or selling styles, they still need support. When practicing this style, hands-on leaders let the team member do the decision-making but help as needed. Leaders allow team members to make important decisions, especially from skills and abilities that the team member already excels at creating an environment where people feel comfortable taking risks and trying something new. The last quadrant, the delegating mode, the leader grants team members the highest level of autonomy because they’ve proven they can successfully direct themselves. With this type of person, business owners and managers can be more hands-off in decision making, yet still offer support if the person needs it. Here, leaders employ an overall vision for what the team should accomplish and monitors progress without delving into the daily tasks.

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III. Global and Domestic Implications Global leaders of today are continually faced with ever-changing and complex environments and need to continually adapt to the people and contexts in which they are operating and interacting. Because it is difficult to determine one definition of leadership to this environment, it is equally difficult to decide on one definition or model that would fit into global leadership demands. Global leadership is described as a process of influencing the thinking, attitudes, and behaviors of a global community to work together as a team towards a shared vision and common goals of an organization. The perception of multicultural leadership has been formulated along with the tendency of globalizing economies, internationalizing businesses and the birth of teams with people of various cultures and beliefs. Hence a significant need for situational leadership. In the age of global communications, employees from all areas or countries can come in contact with associates and clients from all around the world. One aspect everyone in the world has in common is we are all humans however we are very different regarding our languages, customs, traditions, the way in which we conduct daily life and business. The global leader must have the knowledge on other world cultures and what it means to know those whom he deals with, whether it is an employee, employer in another country. Global leadership success is determined by the way leaders can understand cultural difference adjust their leadership styles according to other countries. Again, the situation leader needs to adjust and adapt when needed for a successful team. With the ever-changing multi- cultural dynamics of today’s global workforce, a successful leader adjusts, adapts and

overcomes. This is especially important if a leader’s team encompasses a global team in virtual environments. IV. Application to Ethical and Socially Responsible Standards Ethical leadership establishes a high regard for values. The principles of ethical leadership include honesty, justice, respect, community and integrity. Ethical leadership is critical to the success of any business. Modeling employees to their levels of expertise is not only ethical, but the right thing to do to improve the employee to become a substantiable part of the diverse business needs. Ethical leadership is at the center of appropriate conduct through the respect of ethics, values, and the dignity of others. Here the perceptions of honesty, integrity and trust are critical in the mind of a situational leader as they practice sound business ethics to all individuals and grow a team from different aspects of learning and expertise. Because the situational leader is ethical, they spend most of their time developing the next generation of leaders for a company as individuals move through the four quadrants. You wouldn’t need to spend more time with a delegating mode quadrant individual as you would with a telling quadrant mode individual. The first quadrant is reserved primarily for new associates that need to be developed and molded to become ethically essential to the business needs. The delegating quadrant associate already knows what path to integrate their taught values to encompass the widest range of success, motivating them even more so than before. Ethical leadership can then provide an even greater value by inspiring employees as they move from one quadrant to another, further increasing their value to their company. This results in greater satisfaction and lower employee turnover rates. These leaders demonstrate inspirational behavior in every façade and aids in the development of their employees. This sometime can be

negative, however, if the leader needs to unpleasantly terminate and employee for unethical behaviors against their company policies and procedures. In the end, the ethical leader’s situational leadership becomes even more successful. V. Conclusion Situational leadership is everything that encompasses a great leader. With the ever-growing and ever-changing global workforce, especially in a virtual environment, leaders simply need to learn to adjust. Adjust in their leadership methods and maintain their ethical behaviors. Diverse workforces are now the prevailing forces in today’s organizations. As stated in the opening thesis, leaders of today cannot incorporate a “cookie cutter” approach to leadership. Solid and ethical business practices need to be incorporated so that all employees can see their leader’s vision together as a cohesive whole. The ethical behaviors of a leader enforces and re- enforces good practice techniques that inspire, motivate and grow the employee. The old leadership models of yesteryear are now inadequate and obsolete. Yes, business has changed. When we first became an industrialized nation, it was primarily from within the United States. Free trade agreements between nations had yet to be realized or developed. Doing business globally was limited at best. The “one size fits all, cookie cutter” approach to leadership in business might have been better suited then, but not now. Today is a “brave new world” where diverse workforces join together (especially between different cultures) as business need to accept change and grow to stay ever competitive. More and more virtual and online platforms dictate the need for a leader to be a “situational leader” and not just one dimensional. Business today needs to adjust and overcome rapidly or they will be in the wrecked pile of on hit wonders.

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References: (Herrity, 2023) Baker, C. (2022). What Is Situational Leadership, and How Do You Practice It? Leaders. http://www.leaders.com The Importance of Situational Leadership . (2022). Duke Human Resouces. http://sites.duke.edu Similarities and Differences of Domestic and Global Leadership. (2020). UKEssays.com. http://www.ukessays.com Herrity, J. (2023). How To Improve Ethical Leadership Skills . Indeed. http://www.indeed.com

Situational Leadership

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