Situational leadership is intuitive (Northouse, 2016). Up until this course, I had never heard of the situational approach to leadership or the various styles that leaders utilize based on the motivation and the ability of subordinates. Yet, I easily recognized the approach because it encompasses many strategies that I’ve used as a leader and that have been used on me as a follower. While some approaches to leadership use one method to lead, the situational approach provides a prescriptive method of leadership that changes based on followers’ competence and commitment and instructs a leader on how to act with his or her followers effectively (Northouse, 2016).
For instance, several years ago, I worked as an assistant manager in a souvenir and home goods store at the beach. Because we had many seasonal employees each summer who would come to the United States from various foreign countries to work on their summer breaks from college, I needed to use the high directive-low supportive style, or directing style (S1; Northouse, 2016), in order to train the employees who were new each year. These employees needed to be told what to do and when and how to do it. We usually hired these employees between April and May, right after the end of the university school year, before the beginning of the busy summer season. That way, the employees could be taught while the store wasn’t very busy. By the time the store became crowded, they’d be knowledgeable enough that I could move on to the next style.
By the beginning of the busy beach season, most seasonal employees had enough knowledge about the store and their job requirements that I could lead them using the high directive-high supportive style, also called the coaching approach (S2; Northouse, 2016). The employees now knew how to do most of the day-to-day work that the job required, though they needed help with odd questions and situations that didn’t occur on a regular basis. We had weekly meetings where we set goals for the following week and employees could add their input on what they thought needed attention.
In the meantime, we also had employees who returned each summer. These employees knew the basics of working for the company, but sometimes needed a small refresher or perhaps we developed new policies while they were away. In this case, I was able to lead using the high supportive-low directive approach, which is also known as the supporting approach (S3; Northouse, 2016). For this type of leadership, the employees had a few seasons of experience, so they did not need to be told what to do on a daily basis. Instead, these employees felt comfortable sharing their ideas for the store in terms of how to organize the products and which best-selling items should be showcased. I respected and encouraged their input and they were able to take on more responsibility than some of their younger and less-experienced coworkers.
Finally, there were other employees who were technically my subordinates, but whom I viewed as my near-equals. These employees had been at the business for a while, some longer than I was there and they knew the ins and outs of the business. They knew what was expected of them on a daily basis and I knew that I could count on them to do what needed to be done each day without me having to tell them or check up on them constantly. When I led these employees, I did so with a low supportive-low directive style, also known as the delegating approach (S4; Northouse, 2016). I was able to lead these employees by trusting that they could handle the general goals set out in the weekly meetings and I didn’t worry that they wouldn’t be able to handle the work.
My personal example shows that not only is the situational approach to leadership intuitive because I utilized the approach without even knowing that I was doing it, but that the approach is able to be used with employees of various abilities and commitments to the organization. Northouse explained that this approach was important because it showed how leaders must remain flexible to their followers’ needs by changing their leadership style based on each situation (2016). While I did not know about the situational approach when I worked at the store at the beach, I found through my own experience that I needed to approach my followers with different leadership styles that fit each individual to make sure each employee was working to the best of his or her potential. Now that I know more about this approach to leadership, I will be sure to continue taking advantage of all this approach has to offer.
Reference
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: Theory and Practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Michael Diclemente says
I also agree that the situational approach is intuitive based on my own experiences. In my blog post this week, I addressed how I used the situational approach in my own practice when I first became a manager without yet learning about the approach. It was a natural application to the issues that I experienced as a manager. The only term that is similar that I heard about was “coaching”, which was a formalized method that most companies have used to describe employee development. Although the coaching style is specified in the Situational Leadership model specific to S1/D2 (Style 2, Development Level 2) (Northouse, 2016), most companies seem to describe all development activities as coaching.
Your overall experience at the store seems similar to what I experienced the first time I assumed a leadership role; it was a naturally intuitive method once I was not afraid of offending or causing unnecessary confrontation. In hindsight, I don’t know why I felt that correcting or directing behavior to correct problems was a confrontation, but I did at the time. I wanted to avoid confrontation and in doing so I failed to become a leader or a manager for that matter.
I think you’ve provided a good example of how employees have different development levels (D1-D4) and how one’s style (S1-S4) corresponds to the employee’s development level according to Situational Leadership (Northouse, 2016). For example, with the long-time employees that knew what they were doing, you used delegating (low supportive/low directive) style because that was the appropriate choice for a highly competent and highly committed employee (S4/D4) (Northouse, 2016).
References
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Amy Bell says
Hi Katie
Your blog raises a very interesting question. I had a somewhat similar experience when I was put into my first leadership position. I believe what that helped me at the time was the leader who trained me. She had a leadership style that is quite similar to the situational leadership style of management. The only employee we had that was a challenge to her and I both, was a young lady who had just graduated high school. This was her first job, and as you know, retail is its own interesting challenge at times.
For the most part, leading with the delegating approach required a low supportive-low directive style (Northouse, 2016, p. 95). This was sufficient with all of my employees, except for this one employee. She could be classified as a D4 on the developmental level, meaning she was able and willing to perform (PSU WC, 2017, P10). However, her one short coming was her refusal to follow dress code regulations. This one behavior kept her at a consistent developmental level of a D3, she was able to perform but was unwilling to follow direction (Northouse, 2016, p. 96). I classify the dress code as part of performing the job because we were in clothing retail. Part of doing the job was wearing the merchandise and showing customers how the style look when worn.
I approached this ongoing problem by taking the path of high directive-low supportive leadership role of directing (S1) in an effort to change her behaviors. “Using this style. A leader gives instructions about what and how goals are to be achieved by the followers and then supervises them carefully” (Northouse, 2016, p. 94). Oddly enough, my manager had to take on the leadership style of supporting (S3) with me during my challenges with this employee. “A leader using this style gives followers control of the day-to-day decisions but remains available to facilitate problem solving” (Northouse, 2016, p. 95). I appreciated her involvement without taking over the situation. It was the right style of leadership I needed at the time.
Your blog really makes a great point. I also believe a great deal of this leadership style is second nature. I will also be using this leadership style in the future.
References:
Northouse, P. G. (2016). Leadership: theory and practice (7th ed.). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.
Pennsylvania State University World Campus (2017). PSYCH 485 Lesson 5: Style and situational approaches. Retrieved October 1, 2017 from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1867456/modules/items/22975672