Jacob Fields1

Leadership Essay
The 1970s and 1980s were a time that brought about many changes on how society
views different topics, one of which was how a person in a leadership position should manage
those under them to allow for the best relationship while still maximizing productivity. A model
that was formed during this time to meet these needs was the Hersey-Blanchard model of
Situational Leadership.
The Hersey-Blanchard model is based entirely on how the leader and those under them
communicate and are able to get work done. David Straker describes that according to the
Hersey-Blanchard model, a leader should adapt their style to follower development style (or
'maturity'), based on how ready and willing the follower is to perform required tasks (that is,
their competence and motivation) (Straker, n.d.). This means that as workers become more
acclimated to what is going on with the company, they can act more independently and do not
need the leader to be walking them through every step of a process. The Hersey-Blanchard
model takes this process and separates it into four distinct steps: Telling, Selling, Participating
and Delegating. Telling is where the leader has a very direct role in what those under them are
doing. The leader gives exact instructions on what needs to be done, when it needs to be done,
and how to do it. Selling is where the leader still directs those under them on what to do, but is
willing to listen to the ideas of those people. This gives the workers a little bit more freedom to
adapt the idea in a way they think might work better, while still meeting the demands of the
leader. Participating occurs when the leader presents the idea or what needs to be done to the
workers, but then allows them to help in the decision making on how to do the process. They
give the workers more freedom and ability to think for themselves, while still ensuring things
are done in a way that is satisfactory to the leader. Delegating is where a majority of the input
comes from those under the leader. The leader is mainly there to ensure that progress is being
made on the assignment (Boundless, 2015). This model will allow for a leader to slowly put
responsibility onto their followers in a manner that will not be overwhelming to the followers,
based on their ability and motivation.
The process to get through each of the four steps is based on maturity of the group that a
leader is managing. As a group becomes more mature, the leader is able to move to a step that
gives slightly more freedom to the workers. These maturity levels are usually divided into four
levels: M1, M2, M3 and M4. M1 is for the least experienced of workers. Usually this means
people who are new to the group and need a lot of helping figuring everything out. This
matches up with the Telling step of the model. M2 occurs when people are still inexperienced,
so they need a lot of help still, but their motivation to do tasks has increased and they are eager
to learn and work. When workers reach this level of maturity, the Selling style is one a leader
should shift to. M3 starts to happen when the followers have learned a majority of the
necessary processes and are extremely motivated to work. They are still going to need some

Jacob Fields2

assistance from the leader, however this is very limited. At this point in the Hersey-Blanchard
model, the Participating style is what should be being used. The final maturity level, M4,
workers have a complete understanding on what needs to be done, and how to do it without the
help of a leader. This should be where a leader utilizes Delegating, because they do not need to
have any more involvement in that followers work ability at this point (Free-ManagementEbooks, n.d.). With every leadership theory, there are some pros and cons to each. For the
Hersey-Blanchard Theory, the pros are that it is very easy to apply and that the level of which
style to use when can be based on the leaders discretion, as opposed to following a strict
timeline. The cons are that it becomes harder to use as the needed tasks become more
complicated and it is hard for someone who is in a leadership position, but with limited power,
to use (Leadership-Central, n.d.).This leadership theory is very beneficial to use in a smaller
group setting, and is something that I was able to apply myself.
Being a Supplemental Review Session Leader for the Fall 2015 Semester, I was given
the responsibility of running a small group tutoring room and being the leader of that session.
This meant that I had to learn how to interact with the students in my room so that not only
would I be able to help them learn how to do problems, but so that they could then go and do
those types of problems on their own without my help. I set up my sessions in a way that could
closely follow the Hersey-Blanchard Model. At the beginning of the semester, I did a lot of
teaching to help my students figure out ways to approach different types of problems, and
strategies that they could implement in the class. As the semester progressed, I slowly was able
to allow my students to work more on their own and in their group so that I only needed to
answer questions when they truly did not know how to a problem. Some students were even
able to reach a point where they could come up to the board and show the rest of the class how
to do problems. Within individual sessions this also occurred. Usually a session would start
with me doing a problem to show my students how they were done. Then I let them try some
with my limited guidance, since this would be some of their first attempts by themselves.
Usually by the end of a session they were able to do a majority of those problems by
themselves. Overall, I feel as if the Hersey-Blanchard model was a very effective tool to utilize
in a group tutoring session.

Jacob Fields3

Works Cited
Boundless. (2015, July 21). Leadership and Followers: Hersey and Blanchard. Retrieved from
Boundless.com: https://www.boundless.com/management/textbooks/boundless-managementtextbook/leadership-9/contingency-approach-71/leadership-and-followers-hersey-andblanchard-352-4004/
Free-Management-Ebooks. (n.d.). Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory. Retrieved from FreeManagement-Ebooks: http://www.free-management-ebooks.com/faqld/leadtheory-06.htm
Leadership-Central. (n.d.). Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership Theory. Retrieved from LeadershipCentral.com: http://www.leadership-central.com/situational-leadershiptheory.html#axzz3xbkfPHLv
Straker, D. (n.d.). Hersey and Blanchard's approach. Retrieved from ChangingMinds.org:
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/styles/situational_leadership_hersey_blanchar
d.htm#nav