The situational approach is the theory that leaders adapt their style to fit their followers. A perfect example of this would be when President Trump first started running for President. After initial polling and feedback, he began to brand himself as the nominee who would run against the norm. He saw that his voters were sick of being misled by the “fake news” so he capitalized off it. When a candidate goes to certain states, they alter their speech as well as delivery. Our commentary mentions that directive and supportive behaviors are not directly correlated to leadership success. However, they are useful depending on the situation they are applied in. Leadership styles are developed in 4 categories…
“Directing: This style is a high directive-low supportive style. The leader focuses on achieving goals and doesn’t really spend much time on supportive behaviors. Directing leaders give specific instructions on how goals are to be completed.
Coaching: This style is a high directive-high supportive style. Coaching leaders focus on goal achievement as well as the needs of followers. These leaders still make the final decisions about how goals are to be accomplished.
Supporting: This style is a high supportive-low directive style. Supporting leaders do not focus only on goals. They listen to followers and ask for their input. These leaders allow followers to make decisions.
Delegating: This style is low supportive-low directive. These leaders do not offer much task input or social support. Delegating leaders are not overly involved in goal achievement. Followers are in charge of accomplishing goals.” (Introduction to Style and Situational Approaches)
Recently I have been given a significant promotion at work; it’s important to note that I feel under qualified for it. With that being said I have found myself taking on a supporting type of leadership style where I usually would be a directing type of leader. Because I am in a position where I feel like I can learn from my followers I consider their opinion valuable in helping me make decisions. Despite my fears of not being knowledgable enough I still have ideas that I want to implement and goals I wish to achieve. Therefore I would not consider my leadership style as delegating.
What interests me the most about my recent promotion is that my type A, outgoing, personality usually hates being in a position where I don’t control the narrative. This new leadership style has helped me become more of a team player and focus on the goal as opposed to my own personal gain. By focusing on the objective, I’ve started to realize that in the legal field building connections is just as important as succeeding at your goals. In realizing this cause and effect , I am now able to alter the way I lead depending on who I am working with.
Sources Cited:
Introduction to Style and Situational Approaches,Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved February 6, 2019, from https://psu.instructure.com/courses/1975088/modules/items/25786805
nkm5181 says
Hello Rebecca,
This part of my post touches on why I brung the President up “The situational approach is the theory that leaders adapt their style to fit their followers. A perfect example of this would be when President Trump first started running for President. After initial polling and feedback, he began to brand himself as the nominee who would run against the norm. He saw that his voters were sick of being misled by the “fake news” so he capitalized off it. “. When speaking about the situational approach in general his actions when running (adapting rhetoric to certain voting demographics) shows a clear example of this. I chose not to go further because this is not a political class. I wanted to avoid putting my political views in the post. Had I mentioned which style of leadership I felt our President related to, I believe it would have garnered negative responses.I do believe this tied in well with my post,thank you for your opinion and response.
Rebecca Hanna Hormann says
Hello,
You’re introduction seemed quite solid and I liked where it was going in terms of Trump and leadership. This is a topic that crossed my mind when I was thinking about this blog post – the idea of politicians and politics in America right now and the different types of leaders. You do a good job of stepping us through the the different types of leadership styles which we looked at in the notes. But in stepping through the leadership styles you lost me a little bit because I wasn’t quite sure how you were connecting this to Trump. And then you continue on to connect leadership styles to your own experience. I think your own experience of change and promotion in the workplace and your own adjustment to different situations is good example of leadership in different situations. However, I finish your blog post kind of wondering why Trump was mentioned in the first place. Maybe you could try and tie these things together a little bit so I could see the connection you were going for? All in all, not bad, with your own experiences you give a good example of the situational approach but the post seems a bit discontinued altogether.