Situational Leadership

The Situational Leadership method from Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey holds that managers must use different leadership styles depending on the situation. The model allows you to analyze the needs of the situation you’re in, and then use the most appropriate leadership style. Depending on employees’ competences in their task areas and commitment to their tasks, your leadership style should vary from one person to another. You may even lead the same person one way sometimes, and another way at other times.

Blanchard and Hersey characterized leadership style in terms of the amount of direction and of support that the leader gives to his or her followers, and so created a simple matrix (figure).

Leadership Behavior of the Leader

• S1 – Telling / Directing – High task focus, low relationship focus – leaders define the roles and tasks of the ‘follower’, and supervise them closely. Decisions are made by the leader and announced, so communication is largely one-way. For people who lack competence but are enthusiastic and committed. They need direction and supervision to get them started.
• S2 – Selling / Coaching – High task focus, high relationship focus – leaders still define roles and tasks, but seeks ideas and suggestions from the follower. Decisions remain the leader’s prerogative, but communication is much more two-way. For people who have some competence but lack commitment. They need direction and supervision because they are still relatively inexperienced. They also need support and praise to build their self-esteem, and involvement in decision-making to restore their commitment.
• S3 – Participating / Supporting – Low task focus, high relationship focus – leaders pass day-to-day decisions, such as task allocation and processes, to the follower. The leader facilitates and takes part in decisions, but control is with the follower. For people who have competence, but lack confidence or motivation. They do not need much direction because of their skills, but support is necessary to bolster their confidence and motivation.
• S4 – Delegating – Low task focus, low relationship focus – leaders are still involved in decisions and problem-solving, but control is with the follower. The follower decides when and how the leader will be involved. For people who have both competence and commitment. They are able and willing to work on a project by themselves with little supervision or support.

Effective leaders are versatile in being able to move around the matrix according to the situation, so there is no style that is always right. However, we tend to have a preferred style, and in applying Situational Leadership you need to know which one that is for you.

Likewise, the competence and commitment of the follower can also be distinguished in 4 quadrants.

Development Level of the Follower

• D4 – High Competence, High Commitment – Experienced at the job, and comfortable with their own ability to do it well. May even be more skilled than the leader.
• D3 – High Competence, Variable Commitment – Experienced and capable, but may lack the confidence to go it alone, or the motivation to do it well / quickly.
• D2 – Some Competence, Low Commitment – May have some relevant skills, but won’t be able to do the job without help. The task or the situation may be new to them.
• D1 – Low Competence, High Commitment – Generally lacking the specific skills required for the job in hand, but has the confidence and / or motivation to tackle it.

Similar to the leadership styles, the development levels are also situational. A person could be skilled, confident and motivated for one part of his his job, but could be less competent for another part of the job.

Blanchard and Hersey said that the Leadership Style (S1 – S4) of the leader must correspond to the Development level (D1 – D4) of the follower – and it’s the leader who adapts. By adopting the right style to suit the follower’s development level, work gets done, relationships are built up, and most importantly, the follower’s development level will rise to D4, to everyone’s benefit.

Steps in Situational Leadership. Process

1. Make an overview per employee of his/her tasks
2. Assess the employee on each task (D1…D4)
3. Decide on the leadership (management) style per task (S1…S4)
4. Discuss the situation with the employee
5. Make a joint plan
6. Follow-up, check and correct

Strengths of the Situational Leadership model. Benefits

• Easy to understand
• Easy to use

Limitations of the Situational Leadership model. Disadvantages

• Model fails to distinguish between leadership and management. What is called leadership style is really management style.
• Leadership is not primarily about making decisions anyway – it is about inspiring people to change direction.
• Leaders may indeed vary the way they inspire people to change. But this is when they have already decided on the need to change. Hence leadership style does not reduce to decision making style.
• Focuses too exclusively on what the person in charge does.
• Of course both leaders and managers have to behave differently in different situations. But that is just a trivial fact of life, rather than anything profound in terms of our basic understanding of what it means to lead or manage.

Assumptions of Situational Leadership. Conditions

• Leaders should adapt their style to follower ‘maturity’, based on how ready and willing the follower is to perform required tasks (that is, their competence and motivation).
• There are four leadership styles that match the four combinations of high/low readiness and willingness.
• The four styles suggest that leaders should put greater or less focus on the task in question and/or the relationship between the leader and the follower.
• Presumes that leadership is about how the boss makes decisions.

Responsibility for Choices

Personal Leadership: If It's to Be, It's Up to Me

We may not choose to be victimized, but we choose whether or not to be a victim. Leaders take responsibility for their actions in response to circumstances for which he or she is not responsible

. Choice, more than chance, determines our circum

stance. I choose whether to see the world through optimistic or pessimistic glasses. Either choice becomes my re

ality.

Leading Others: From Victim to Victor

When faced with difficult changes or problems, we have three choices. We can be a Survivor and just hang in there waiting to see what happens. Or we can choose to be a Victim, using the situation as one more example of how crap like this is always happening to us. The third choice – the leadership choice – is to be a Navigator. Leaders take initiative and navigate their team through doing what needs to be done rather then waiting for "them" to do something.

The Leadership Focus and Context

Personal Leadership: The Core of My Being

We find what we focus upon. The centre of my being starts with where I look, what I believe, and why I exist. Three core questions set the focal points and the context or main filters of my life. They also establish my magnetic field and attract the positive or negative people, circumstances, and events that I am experiencing in my life. Changing what's being attracted to me starts with changing my personal magnetic field.

Leading Others: Points of Origin

Highly focused leaders paint clear pictures of what success looks like for a project, the team, or the organization as a whole. Strong leaders "emotionalize" that picture and bring it alive for people. Powerful leaders impart a sense of trust and credibility by leading true to a core set of values or guiding principles. People respond to this leadership because they can clearly see the principles from which it flows.

Video

Leadership Excellence Workshop

Defining Leadership Objectively

The direct approach is oriented toward a specific leadership behavior which is clearly and objectively defined. The elements of leadership behavior are isolated as specific learnings which are systematically programmed into a long-term developmental process.

The direct approach ensures that appropriate and sufficient time is given the development of leadership skills, to bring about the desired change in behavior and to achieve leadership competence.

The SECOND concept is that, rather than being some nebulous characteristic which one has to be born with, leadership can be defined as a set of competencies which can be learned. Some eighty aspects of knowledge, skills, and attitudes have been taken into account in our research which have been clustered into competencies. To sum it up. an understanding of the concepts described here has helped us to bring into focus that the acquisition of leadership competencies should occur by plan and design, rather than by accident. Although leaders may emerge - as they do today - as by-products of group processes, this is neither an economical nor an effective way of developing leadership. Based on the concepts described above, in our experimental program:

Specific competencies of leadership--relevant to Scouting--have been identified...

Situational leadership workshop, with Videocon leadership team, Maharastra Pune.

Leadership

Click the link for video.

Training Profile: Ecstasy Consultants

Profile: Ecstasy Consultants

Ecstasy is Group of Consultants and Trainers, offering its services to several corporate on OD and HR. Applying training processes like competency mapping, TNA, CVS, Training calendar, Content development, certification and validation of training faculty and content, rolling out training programs, training effectiveness.

Ecstasy has hands on experience in instruction design, training delivery, Leadership Development, Talent Development, Knowledge Management, Employee Engagement., Organization Development etc.

Ecstasy has highly experienced and qualified trainers on its board. The talent pool comes from large & medium organizations including Fortune 500 companies.

Training Experience to following industries:

· Tele communications · FMCG · Retail · Chemicals · BPO · University/Institutions

· Engineering · Project Management · Hospitality · Pharma · Automobile · Premier B-Schools

Ecstasy has trained and coached thousands of people from all hierarchies, such as CEOs, Directors, VP, G.M. and Top, middle & junior managers and front line employees.

Ecstasy has devised new concept on Competency Assessment Centre and score card for each employee.

Ecstasy also has pool of visiting faculties to for business schools and technical institutions and is associated with following institutions:

Ø Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, Gandhinagar.

Ø Nirma University

Ø DDU, Nadiad

Ø LD Engineering College

Ø IIPM, Ahmedabad

Ø AMA, Ahmedabad

Training expertise in:

· Sales · Customer care & Customer Service · Situational Leadership · Leadership Skills · Team Building · Communication · Attitude Awareness · Interpersonal Relationship · Stress Management · Anger Management · Motivation · Time Management · Managerial Effectiveness · People Management

· Performance Management · Negotiation Skills · Assessment & Development centre · Competency Mapping · Train The Trainer (TTT) · Grooming skills · Business etiquettes · Interview skills · Goal Setting · Lean Manufacturing · Six Sigma · Kaizen · 5 S · 7 Habits of highly effective people

Ecstasy is comfortable in imparting training, organizing workshops using various training methodologies like PPT, Case studies, Role plays, Management games, Experiential Learning, Participant’s presentations etc.

NEERAJ BHARDWAJ

Consultant, Trainer & Coach

+91 9725479188

Email: neerajnis@gmail.com

Employee engagement a top business priority

Learning and development can help foster higher levels of employee engagement and improved business performance, but it's essential that the executive suite knows this.

 

Most learning and development professionals are likely already aware that a significant number of their employees are underperforming because of poor engagement. Heightened workloads, decreased confidence in corporate direction and growing mistrust of leadership have raised employee negativity while threatening productivity. Desiring better opportunities, many top performers have updated their resumes and begun looking for new jobs. In fact, in recent research studies undertaken by consultancy Right Management, more than half of employees reported they were approached to discuss a job opportunity with another employer in the past six months. Consider the findings of the Right Management research team:

 

a) Seventy-nine percent report workloads have increased due to layoffs.

b) About 2 out of 3 employees failed to take their allotted vacation last year.

c) As many as 4 in 5 workers say they want to leave their job this year.

d) Nineteen percent of employees rarely trust their manager to make good decisions.

e) Seventy-five percent usually work more than 40 hours per week.

f) Less than half usually take a lunch break.

 

The response to all of this? Employers need to make employee engagement a top business priority.

 

Opportunities for learning and development can help foster higher levels of employee engagement and improved business performance, but it's essential that an organization's executive suite realize this and allocate resources accordingly. Here are five tips to help make engagement a core business priority:

 

1. Keep it simple.

Don't overly complicate engagement with HR and training jargon. Be specific, relevant and pragmatic - not conceptual. Don't talk process, but rather focus on business results. Use a business-based dialogue to tie the people-related results to the financials. For instance, know the top companies or competitors the firm benchmarks its performance against. What is their cost of unwanted turnover, and how does it compare to yours? What makes the difference between your company and theirs? How does learning and development stem the tide and influence higher levels of engagement?

 

2. Make your case.

Demonstrate the importance of engagement with business-related, practical examples. Understand the hot-button issues for each member of the executive team. For instance, talk about a high-performing business unit and how it accelerated the time to market for a new product. Then, outline how it did this by linking the leadership behaviors that enabled improved people processes, such as demonstrating employees are valued and given a meaningful role in creating solutions. Higher engagement levels most likely contributed to the success achieved. In this way, you are linking engagement to meaningful data. Have a collection on hand of useful statistics and facts that relate engagement to business efficiency and improved organizational performance.

 

3. Build alliances.

Build a stronger business relationship with the CFO and put effort into measuring the impact of training on engagement and performance at your firm. Get comfortable with the language of business and understand the financials that are most meaningful to your organization. This most likely includes: What are your organization's top profit drivers? What are the expectations of shareholders? And how will a talent initiative impact the bottom line and show tangible returns? For instance, why does the company need to have a retention strategy? Is it a competitive necessity? Are there profit implications? What are the cost factors?

 

4. Hold leaders accountable.

Leaders at all levels need to be held accountable for engagement, and this includes the C-suite. Tie key leadership behaviors that foster higher engagement to performance expectations. This way, leader behavior and the measurement of leaders' alignment with engagement becomes a mechanism for accountability. Key leadership behaviors that have the most influence on employee engagement include demonstrating employees are valued and inspiring confidence in their ability to drive organizational success and effectively implement the organization's strategy.

 

5. Gain CEO ownership.

Help your CEO to "own" engagement and be an active participant. For instance, take the pulse on engagement every 12 to 18 months. Review the factors that are foundational to engagement and help the CEO drive these throughout the organization with action, communication and initiatives.

 

Without high levels of employee engagement driven by learning and development, organization performance, productivity and profitability are jeopardized. CLOs are in a prime position to elevate engagement to other C-level executives and make it a top business priority. Who can afford not to pay attention?

 

 

[About the Author: Michael Haid is senior vice president of global solutions at Right Management.]

Regards!

Neeraj Bhardwaj          +919725479188         +919924711714

http://neeraj-sales.blogspot.com/  ‡‡ http://melnaks.blogspot.com/   ‡‡http://neerajnis.blogspot.com/  ‡‡ http://www.linkedin.com/in/neerajnis   ‡‡ http://www.scribd.com/NEERAJB

The 13 “P” Requisites for Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

The 13 "P" Requisites

for

Emotionally Intelligent Leadership

 

Michael Pryke, Managing Partner, EQ IMPACT

 

Standing at the fore-front of subservient workers, the leader of yesteryear inspired devotion, hard work and obedience to the corporate cause. As powerful and admirable as they may have been, these leaders would struggle to survive in the cut and thrust of today's business world. Characterised by virtuous intent and inspirational rhetoric, they would be out-witted, out-maneuvered and out-paced in a world of zealously driven and intellectually superior wealth seekers. This new breed of employee, bestowed with youth, mobility and technical prowess requires an adapted style of leadership – a leadership which draws heavily on 13 "P" requisites for emotionally intelligent leadership.

 

"There is such a strong correlation between leadership success and emotional intelligence that focusing leaders' efforts on the important aspects of EQ has delivered truly outstanding results," says Michael Pryke, former corporate MD who now coaches business executives and organisational leaders. He has distilled the 13 "P" requisites from the myriad of leadership "must haves" to help his clients focus on the essentials for leadership success

 

1.      The central core of this new leadership paradigm is Personal Awareness, the essential pre-requisite for emotional intelligence. Knowing one's self and being consciously aware of one's humanity is pivotal to the functioning of our knowing, thinking and feeling horizons. A deep awareness of our identity and beliefs plus an understanding of their impact on our perceptions is the primary driving force within every leader. It defines our very existence and purpose in life and adds meaning to our self-image and values. It provides the catalyst for the actualisation of our capabilities and competencies. An enhanced degree of self-awareness is one of the most significant determinants of leadership success.

2.      Radiating outwards from the central axis of Personal Awareness, like the supporting spokes of a wheel, are a further 12 "P" requisites which impact upon leadership competence in our business world of nano-second response and complexity. The new-age leader needs to be hugely People-oriented. Leaders who put strategy before people invariably fail. The cover article in Fortune magazine's June 1999 edition, entitled "Why CEO's Fail" highlights that successful CEO's are those who are people-oriented; they concentrate on trust-building behaviour, effective communication, and people acumen. This includes social skills such as assertiveness, conflict management and building strong relationships. Their emphasis on empathy, inspiration and motivation of their people, ahead of traditional bottom-line drivers ensures their longevity as leaders as well as the success of their organisations.

3.      Leaders who fail to seek constant improvement soon become extinct. They must be Progressive. As champions of change, today's leaders continuously inspire others to challenge the obvious by promoting initiative and "out-of-the-box" thinking. Innovation and experimentation are their credo. Being a change champion and challenging people to move out of their comfort zones requires emotional courage. Whilst many leaders might lack the flair of Sir Richard Branson, they share a common belief in the promotion of change as a necessity for renewal and sustainability. 

4.      New leaders are Persistent. They are resilient under pressure and quickly recover from setbacks. Unlike many who would see misfortune and mistakes as failure, they view them as powerful learning experiences. Indeed, they relish the challenge of trying again and again in the sure knowledge that they will ultimately be rewarded. This persistence is visible and becomes infectious within their teams who, in turn, are inspired to greater effort and energy. Aware of the folly in expecting different results from persisting with the same strategies, the persistent leader knows when to back off, re-evaluate and apply amended tactics as appropriate.

5.      They are Principled. Characterised by advanced levels of integrity, emotionally intelligent leaders are truthful and trustworthy. Ever respectful of others in every station of life, they acknowledge that principles are the building blocks of society. It is common for them to expect their people to uphold similar principles and uncompromising ethics in all their personal and business dealings. If absolute trust is their watchword, then surely the acronym Tolerance, Respect, Unselfishness, Sincerity and Time has equal significance.

6.      Being emotionally intelligent does not negate the leader's need for planning and strategy. However, what sets emotionally intelligent leaders apart from ordinary strategists is their ability to combine the influences of their emotional wisdom with their contemplative and cognitive competencies. Hence, they are highly Perspicacious. They are insightful and allow emotional clues to add meaning and depth to their thinking and planning. Furthermore, they are ever mindful of the human aspects of their plans, knowing that their plans will have an impact on the behaviour and performance of their people and therefore their willingness to implement the strategies.

7.      No true leaders lead from behind – they know the value of leading by example - of being Participative. A leader's willingness to share the load and participate in activities with the team demonstrates that they are not above getting their hands dirty. It keeps them in touch with the realities of the challenges in the workplace and allows their humility to shine as a beacon of hope when times are tough. A participative leader embodies all that is positive in the principle of catching people doing things right.

8.      Emotionally intelligent leadership demands Presence. Notwithstanding the impact of physical presence, new leaders are required to be "present" in every sense, including mentally, spiritually and emotionally. Truly authentic in their intentions, these leaders are engaging and attentive listeners. They display active patience when others are talking and encourage contribution with their genuine show of interest. They are attentive and acknowledge the input from their team members. The emphasis of this powerful leadership trait is undivided "one-ness" when engaging with their people.

9.      Never before has the need for human development been more relevant. Today's leaders embody a Passion for Growth. They are fiercely keen to develop both themselves and their people. Furthermore, they become actively involved in sharing their leadership talent by taking on the role of mentor to emerging leaders within the organisation. The growing and mentoring of team members has become recognised as one of the hallmarks of outstanding leadership.

10.  Seeing beyond the immediately visible in order to detect the real feelings of others requires that leaders become Perceptive. They need to use all their senses to uncover that which may be unspoken. They enquire at a deeper level to ensure an intimate understanding of the real motives behind people's actions and behaviour. Whether one-on-one or in a group environment they detect the true sentiments so that they are better equipped to respond to people with heightened sensitivity and interpersonal awareness. 

11.  Being a powerful and compelling communicator turns every message into a memorable performance. This helps people in organisations understand and retain important information. The role of the new leader as a Presenter is another essential competency for leadership success and healthy organisational dynamics. The presenter ensures that team and organisational strategies are understood, bought into and implemented by all participants.

12.  New leaders are Positive and recognise the enormous power of optimism. In his international best-seller "Learned Optimism", Dr Martin Seligmann provides conclusive evidence that optimistic expectations lead to significantly enhanced performance and outcomes. Having a positive outlook has provided a statistically measurable improvement in the results for both individuals and teams. The language used by positive leaders, as analysed from American Presidential speeches, has even had positive impact on the mindset of an entire nation.

13.  Finally, emotionally intelligent leaders have Purpose. Their visionary outlook ensures that they and their people find meaning in their individual and combined efforts. Viktor Frankl, the Austrian psychologist incarcerated at Auschwitz with his fellow Jews recounts in his book, "Man's Search for Meaning", that those who survived had something significant yet to achieve – they had purpose. Today's leaders not only have a clear sense of their purpose but they also cascade this purpose into every niche of the organisation.      They create a common foundation for success within the mind of each individual with whom they have contact; in the spirit of truly emotionally intelligent leadership this means they touch the lives of every single person on whom their leadership impacts.           

 

Ongoing research into EQ continues to reinforce its enormous importance in all aspects of human success. The correlation between EQ and leadership is now focusing increasing attention on to those factors which produce emotionally intelligent leaders. The 13 "P" requisites for emotionally intelligent leadership provide leaders with an essential route map to guide them along this courageous journey.                                                                                                                                         

Regards!

Neeraj Bhardwaj          +919725479188         +919924711714

http://neeraj-sales.blogspot.com/  ‡‡ http://melnaks.blogspot.com/   ‡‡http://neerajnis.blogspot.com/  ‡‡ http://www.linkedin.com/in/neerajnis   ‡‡ http://www.scribd.com/NEERAJB

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