March FAQ – Applying Situational Leadership
One Friday each month, I dedicate the post to looking at some questions I have heard recently from developing leaders. Sharing those questions and my thoughts for them is a way for me to spread the information to as many leaders and future leaders as possible. If you have a question about leadership, or just a situation you would like some additional insight on, please email me at Effective Retail Leader. Let’s take a look at this week’s question.
I have different second-level managers that are in very different places in their career and learning of the business. How can I best help them become more successful in their roles?
I love this question for a couple of reasons. First, I enjoy seeing a Store Leader want to help develop their team to the next level. Believe it or not, not all managers recognize that it is also part of their responsibility and role to help develop talent. Second, this leader understands that his second-level leaders are in different places and that they will require unique approaches to their ongoing growth. He has started to realize the need for leading situationally. I like this example also for the fact that it calls out that situational is tied to the person and circumstances, not to the physical space. In this case, the other leaders all work in the same location. It would be easy to confuse that for being ‘in the same situation’, that is not the case. Here we have people in differing places of their career or experience levels, yet all in the same environment.
Understanding that each of these leaders is ‘in a different place’ is step one of applying a situational leadership framework. Next is to fully assess where they are in their developmental needs in order to determine the leadership style that will work best for them as you begin their growth program. This will allow you to understand how to approach the learning process and what will make them most comfortable.
For someone who has just been promoted into their second-level leader role, they may be in that eager, beginner stage (D1 – Enthusiastic Beginner). They have not had a lot of experience, they are highly committed and excited, they just have limited exposure to what the new role requires. Their competence in this new role is low. Matching this with an S1 style of leadership that is more hands-on, directing in nature will ensure they have the support they need to build confidence and competence as someone who leads other people. This is now a role that requires decision-making, so you’ll want to make them feel safe in making choices, but also know they have a safety net in doing so.
For one of your other leaders, perhaps they were passed over for a promotion, or they have been in their role for a while, but have not moved along like they believed they should. These can be challenging situations to lead through. You know they have the ability, but they do not demonstrate it actively. These types of employees likely fall into the D2 zone, or the Disillusioned Learner. Personally, I think this sounds worse than it is. People hear ‘disillusioned’ and begin to lose hope in them. When we plot this assessment on the grid, it shows low competence and low commitment, also making it feel like it could be a lost cause. However, these employees can offer the quickest recovery and biggest surprises. Matching your leadership style here is perhaps most critical to ensure they can be moved from disillusioned, back to engaged. Find ways to reinforce your belief in them and their capabilities. Value their knowledge and experience, get their input on different scenarios to engage them in decision-making. This can lead them to remember what they are capable of and rebuild confidence in what they have to offer.
Remembering that assigning the developmental needs level is a snapshot in time and highly sensitive to the immediate circumstances. This does not have to be a long-term assignment of ‘labels’. Do not get caught up in a low competence, low commitment set of labels and recognize that these types of employees do have experience, have demonstrated capabilities previously, but may be in a different situation now than they were before.
Upon completing your assessment and matching process, it becomes about providing the day-to-day coaching and follow up. Depending on the style you are applying that could be quite frequent, or especially in cases of using the S4 leadership style, spread out over multiple days. You are always still observing, being visible, and available to your team, but the specific feedback and coaching you provide will vary based on their individual needs.
Utilizing a situational leadership style framework to support your team will yield positive results, especially for the long term. Your team will appreciate it, the environment you create for your entire team will be rewarding, and I am confident that you will see ongoing, positive results from the culture you are enabling with your approach to their development.
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