Situational Leadership Model

Those of you who haven’t taken the course and aren’t familiar, please let me know and I’d be glad to give additional comments, or answer questions.

Basically…. (most of this explanation is taken from Wikipedia)

Leadership styles are characterized into four behavior types S1 to S4:

• S1: Directing/Telling 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.

• S2: Coaching/Selling Leaders still define roles and tasks, but seek ideas and suggestions from the follower. Decisions remain the leader’s prerogative, but communication is much more two-way.

• S3: Supporting/Participating 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.

• S4: Delegating 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.

Of these, no one style is considered optimal or desired for all leaders to possess. Effective leaders need to be flexible, and must adapt themselves according to the situation. However, each leader tends to have a natural style, and in applying Situational Leadership he must know his intrinsic style.

Development levels

The right leadership style will depend on the person being led – the follower. Blanchard and Hersey extended their model to include the Development Level of the follower. They stated that the leader’s chosen style should be based on the competence and commitment of her followers. They categorized the possible development of followers into four levels, which they named D1 to D4:

• D1: Low Competence, High Commitment – They generally lack the specific skills required for the job in hand. However, they are eager to learn and willing to take direction.

• D2: Some Competence, Low Commitment – They 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.

• D3: High Competence, Variable Commitment – They are experienced and capable, but may lack the confidence to go it alone, or the motivation to do it well or quickly.

• D4: High Competence, High Commitment – They are experienced at the job, and comfortable with their own ability to do it well. They may even be more skilled than the leader.

Development Levels are also situational. I might be generally skilled, confident and motivated in my job, but would still drop into Level D1 when faced, say, with a task requiring skills I don’t possess. For example, many managers are D4 when dealing with the day-to-day running of their department, but move to D1 or D2 when dealing with a sensitive employee “issue”

The development level is now called the performance readiness level (Hersey, Blanchard, & Johnson, 2008). It is based on the Development levels and adapted from Hersey’s Situational Selling and Ron Campbell of the Center for Leadership Studies has expanded the continuum of follower performance to include behavioral indicators of each readiness level.

• R1: Unable and Insecure or Unwilling – Follower is unable and insecure and lacks confidence or the follower lacks commitment and motivation to complete tasks.

• R2: Unable but Confident or Willing – Follower is unable to complete tasks but has the confidence as long as the leader provides guidance or the follower lacks the ability but is motivated and making an effort.

• R3: Able but Insecure or Unwilling – Follower has the ability to complete tasks but is apprehensive about doing it alone or the follower is not willing to use that ability.

• R4: Able and Confident and Willing – Follower has the ability to perform and is confident about doing so and is committed.

Filed under: Business, Feedback, Life, Management Lesson, Management Training, Motivation, training , Management Lessons, Managing People, Situational Leadership, Situational Leadership Model

Video – The Importance of Teamwork – Fun and Makes a Great Point

 

You’ve heard

There’s no “I” in Team…

No Man is an Island…..

No one of us is smarter than the whole…

Listen as they bring these points to life, with a bit of comedy.

Filed under: Business, Management Lesson, Management Training, Motivation, teamwork, training, video , comedy, Inspiration, team dynamics, teamwork, video

Henry Kissinger Leadership Quote of the Day…Getting from A to B

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

— Henry Kissinger

Where is your team right now?  Can you draw a map that details these things:

• Where are you right now?
• Where do you want to go? (The goal)
• Are there more important or more logical “stops along the way”

Now discover how you get there.  Determining these “stops along the way” is critical.  A journey is almost never a non stop flight from A to B; it has points A1, A2, A3… all along the way.  And B itself should never be the end, it is a stop along the way to C, and to D, and to E…

Ask everyone on your team to take 5 minutes a map this same exercise.  It’s interesting to have the group decide point A and point B, but then let them be original and determine the path between the two on their own.  Share the differences between each scenario and determine, as a group, the best way to get there.  Use something from everyone’s idea.

Happy travels!

 

Filed under: Business, Inspiration, Life, Management Lesson, Management Training, Motivation, training , Business, Business News, henry kissinger, leadership, Management Lesson, Map your course, quote of the day

Situational Leadership’s Big Mistake (Don’t make it)

Those of you who follow situational leadership will no doubt know one of the biggest and most often made mistakes is to consider someones commitment and directional level in one situation to be the same across all situations.  I made this mistake recently.  And I made it with myself.  My commitment to managing my time and my skill set managing my time are both exceptional.  I require little direction and I have a great enthusiasm. 

However, I don’t have the same level of skill or commitment to managing others’ time.

I discovered I wasn’t committed, I wasn’t enthusiastic, and I didn’t have the skill set I thought I did.  I had made the mistake of assuming I was great at managing others’ time since I was an excellent manager of my time.  I was wrong.  I immediately began seeking insight into my opportunity.  And a side product of being a learner (has anyone discovered that strength?), my side product was my increased excitement as I learned more. 

The lesson is to remember it’s “situational” leadership and “in every instance” leadership. (ha ha)

Filed under: Blogroll, Employee Accountability, Feedback, Management Lesson, Management Training, News, Situational Leadership, training

When failures are successes

Some people will not allow themselves to succeed 

It’s a very real situation.  Being a former high school teacher, I initially had the belief, “I can teach anyone!”  I would take even the most difficult students and I would find a way to turn them around.  I would find ways to reach even the most unreachable students.  Now, as a manager of people, I find myself feeling the same way.  I’ve said many times, “I can reach this manager, I can turn them around, and I can make the difference.”  This is not a realistic view.  You are not going to succeed in training everyone.  The simple truth is, not everyone will succeed.  Those who do not succeed will fail because they simply did not want to succeed. 

Realizing and accepting that some managers cannot be trained and will not succeed can be very difficult, especially if you’re a trainer first and a people manager second.  It can be very difficult to accept.  Knowing “when to say when” is the key.  Once you give a manager the tools, explain how to us them, and provide feedback and follow-up, you have done your part.  It is the manager’s responsibility to take these tools and use them.  At least ninety percent of a manager’s development is the responsibility of that manager.  As the trainer/developer you are only responsible for the initial five percent (the explanation of expectations and the tools) and the continued training accounting for approximately an additional five percent.  The development in-between is that manager’s responsibility.   

What do you do when someone is not succeeding?  Some of us go back and retrain, we rethink ourselves, and we do more work than we should trying to salvage what we can.  We believe we can take anyone and turn them into a success.  It is entirely possible if that person wants to succeed; they must be willing to do what needs to be done to succeed.  If they will not, they will not succeed.  And you can either continue to frustrate yourself and others within your organization, or you can realize their lack of commitment and focus your energies on other matters.  

 Discovering someone is not going to make it within an organization is not a failure.    It’s a success.  The moment you finally say to yourself, “I’ve done what I can,” can be a moment of relief.  Freeing yourself from the draining task of retraining individuals that were not committed in the beginning is a great success.  The simple fact that person did not succeed is not your failure.  It is your success to realize your energies are worth much more invested in those who will take you and your organization to the next level.

Filed under: Business, Life, Management Lesson, Management Training, Motivation, News, training

Feedback and Follow-Up Sessions

Feedback and follow-up need to go hand in hand, you should not ever give feedback to an employee without providing a subsequent follow-up session.  The opportunity area for many managers is remembering to have the follow-up and taking the steps necessary to ensure it is an effective conversation.  There are many ways to hold yourself to these follow-up sessions. First you need to identify why you are not having follow-up sessions.  Understanding why you are not successfully following-up with your employees will prove quite valuable.  Once you understand the “why” you can begin to formulate an action plan to ensure every time you give feedback, you’re also giving follow-up.  When properly utilized the feedback/follow-up model is one of the most important, if not THE most important tool we have as managers when dealing with our reports; it holds us and them accountable.  I’ve also found that by having a properly planned follow-up session I’ve minimized the time it takes to identify concerns, develop action plans, and strengthen opportunity areas. Some possible solutions for the “why” you aren’t having follow-up sessions:

• “I forgot.”  This is the easiest thing to do.  You give feedback to someone and you simply forget to follow-up with them.  This is not only unfair to your people, it’s unfair to you.  You’re basically telling yourself and your employee that this situation is concerning enough to me right now that I need to give you some feedback, but it’s not enough of a concern for me to follow-up with you.  It trains our people to react to particular situation and not necessarily correct a behavior since the manager will most likely forget to follow-up.  Learn to write your feedback down.  Many times feedback comes during an evaluation or walkthrough.  If so, write the feedback down and give the employee an expected date you will be following-up.  (Hold yourself accountable to this; put the date in your planner.)  If you don’t have the chance to write down the feedback and the follow-up date, do it as soon as possible.  I have one manager who calls and leaves herself a voicemail with vital information, then retrieves and records this information later the same day. 

 

• “I don’t have time.”  Solution:  Make the time; you will see a return on this investment even the most successful broker would envy.  Don’t assume follow-up sessions need to be lengthy or detailed.  Simply restate the feedback session and ask the manager for an update.  If nothing more, take the time to do this.  This less than two minutes exchange will train your employee to learn that you will follow-up on feedback.  If you have more time or if the situation warrants, dig into the details and determine if redirection or further feedback is needed. 

 Do you have a reason why feedback/follow-up isn’t happening?  Let me know and we’ll find an action plan that can help you.

Filed under: Business, Feedback, Follow-Up, Management Lesson, News, training

Motivation vs. Inspiration

An important topic of discussion within many organizations is the difference between motivation and inspiration.  For some, the two are synonymous.  For others there are significant differences.  If you can tap into the difference and learn to use the two to your advantage, they are powerful ways of getting your people to accomplish tasks.

To explain the difference I use an analogy of mowing your lawn.  Motivation is like using a push mower.  To motivate the lawnmower, you must get behind it and push.  If you stop pushing, the lawnmower stops going.  To get it to go again, you must push again.  At the end, the lawn is mown and looks great, but you are tired, sweating and putting off mowing again as long as you can.

Inspiration is like using a self propelled lawnmower.  The lawnmower knows its job and self propelled to finish it.  At the end, the lawn is mowed, looks great and you aren’t tired.  You’re ready for something else and you don’t dread the next time you have to cut your grass.

Relating this to your people is simple: motivating them will achieve a great result, but you have to get behind them and push.  If you stop pushing, they often times stop performing.  By inspiring your people they realize the expectation and accept it is part of their job.  The propel themselves to finish a goal.

It seems like a rather simple way to phrase it, but it makes sense.  And it explains it in such a way you can ask your people, “how do I get you to be self propelled? To accomplish the goals without my constant pushing and observation?”

Filed under: Business, Inspiration, Life, Management Lesson, Motivation, News, training

Inspirational and Motivational Quotes (plus a few more)

I came across this inspirational quote page (click here).  If you’re looking to add a little something to a presentation or speech this site has a number of quotes all listed in an easy to use menu.  I like to include this either in written follow-ups or when I’m giving a card of thanks or inspiration to an employee.  The one I like the most is listed  on the banner at the top.  “If you would create something, you must be something.” –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Filed under: Business, Inspiration, Life, Management Lesson, Motivation, training

Achieving Success by Writing It Down

One of the most important lessons I ever learned in life was to achieve success by writing it down—writing down whatever I wanted to achieve.  It’s very similar to the lessons you hear in the technique of envisioning your success.  With most of these “vision” styles you learn to make a goal a reality by seeing it being accomplished.  If you want to lose weight, begin with a vision of yourself the way you want to be; see yourself in that pair of jeans that just won’t fit or walking on the beach proud of your success. 

Writing it down takes the concept of starting with the end in mind and adds the frame work of accountability.   

For instance, if your goal is see an assistant manager promoted to an associate or store manager, write it down: “Sally Q. Manager will be promoted/promotable by March 1, 2008.”  Now you have a focus or an idea of the “big picture”.  I see every goal as the reward at the top of flight of stairs.  Once we climb those stairs, we achieve our goal.  And we to be successful we don’t simply write down what is at the top of those stairs, we must also write down what each of those stairs represents.  Every step gets us that much closer to the top or the accomplished goal.  And each step, to be most efficient, must be taken one at a time.  Don’t skip a step; just follow them to the top. 

So then you have to ask yourself, “What does Sally need to do in order to be considered promotable?”  These answers are your steps.  Make steps actionable and measurable.  Broad generalizations such as “show a level of competence” in a subject matter are not your best bet.  How will Sally show you she’s achieved this competence?  What measurable action can Sally perform that will show you her competence?  With every step of your plan, every stair to the goal, you must ask yourself “is this something I can quantify? Can I explain to Sally how she will show me she’s achieved this task?”  If you cannot easily answer this then your goal, your step isn’t a good one.  To set Sally up for success she must know what is expected and how to achieve what is expected; she needs to know what accomplishing this step will look like. 

Once you have this on paper you have a vision of the accomplished goal, you have the framework to achieve it, and you have steps that allow you to not only hold Sally accountable but hold yourself accountable.  You will have a better idea of how to determine if Sally is on track if you’ve already planned how she will get there. 

This idea has many options.  I myself set a goal to finish 2007 with $0 in credit card debt.  I started with the realization that I could achieve this goal.  Then I set mile markers or steps that will not only get me to my goal, but also give me an opportunity to celebrate smaller successes along the way.

Filed under: Business, Inspiration, Life, Management Lesson, Motivation, News, training

Training new hires

A common question we as managers seem to ask ourselves is “How do I train my managers to be better trainers?”  The honest answer in a lot of cases will be: you can’t.  It’s the sad truth.  You can however, understand and develop the process of training to ensure the outcomes are stronger, better prepared associates.  Your managers might not necessarily get better at training, but the process will be improved.

 

The most important step is to identify one person in your business who is a good trainer.  (It might even be you.)  This person should oversee the big picture, follow up and give feedback to the other trainers in your business.  This approach will departmentalize your training.  Many companies have a training department which oversees all the training, the new hire never putting into action or seeing ‘real world’ application until they are thrown in the field or on the sales floor.  This process has to be broken. It isn’t beneficial to most learning styles.  Almost every learner benefits from actually practicing, as a part of the learning process, what is being learned. 

 

The managers who do not count overall training as their strength are still incredibly important to your organization’s training process.  The person in charge of the overall process should identify the strengths of each manager in your location.  For instance, Sara might not be great at training, but she is most exceptional at some operational process. (If she’s not great at any operational process, why is she a manager?)  If Sara’s strength is to understand the payroll component of your business, have new hires learn from Sara how the process works.  Tim might be great at sales, either in the field or on the sales floor.  Have new hires see Tim in action. 

 

This approach to identifying the leaders in your business and playing to their strengths isn’t new, but it is often forgotten.\

  

Filed under: On Boarding, orientation, training