A Situational
Approach to
Managing
People
by Kenneth H. Blanchard
Read about the leadership training breakthrough
that inspired the bestselling sequel to The One
Minute Manager.
Leadership
ne Minute
anager”
SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP II
Ken Blanchard
The aceptance of Situational Leadership as 2 practical, ea)-o-understand approach to managing
and motivating people hasbeen widespread over the ks decade ad hall. Paul Hersey and I ist,
‘esribed Situational Leadership asthe “Life Cycle Theory of Leadership" in 199, Up unl now, the
most extensive presentation of the concept has een our Hersey Blanchard text, Management of Orga
feational Behavior: Cilzing Human Resouces: now i is th editon.
For those of you who know Situational Leadership, youl se as you rad this atc that I've made @
number of changes inthe orginal model- changes which reflect conversations with my colleagues at
Blanchard Training and Development, fs. particulrly my wife, colleague and frend, Margie, Don
Carew, Eunice ParsiCarew, Fred Finch, Laurie Hawkins, Drea Zari and Pat Zigarmi?— my own
‘experienc, and the ideas manager allover the world have shared with me. This article ad the book
“Leadership and the One Minute Manager’ co-authored with Pat at Drea Zgarmi mark fr al of wat
Blanchard Training and Development, Ine, & new generation of Situational Leadership thinking which
is why we now call the model Situational Leadership
LEADERSHIP AND LEADERSHIP STYLE
Anytime you ty 0 influence the behavior of another person, you are engaging in an at of leader
ship. Therefor, leadership isan influence process. Ifyou are interest in developing your staff and
>aulding motivational climates wich rest in high level of productivity, as wells human satisfaction in
the short and long tun, then you need to think about your aderhip style. Leadership sve isthe
patter of tebaviors you axe when you ae tring to influence the behavior of others as percived by
"hem, While your pereprions of your owa behavior and its impact on othes is interesting ay” impor
tant it tells you only how you"inend”to at. Unless it matches the perceptions of those ou ae eying
to influence, its a01 very help. For example, if you think you ate “an empathetic, people-oriented
manager,” batyour peopethinkyouare"a hard-nosed, task-oriented person," whose perception of reality
wl hey at on yours oF thet own? Obviously thir Ova,
For yes, when people talked about leadership ile, they’ idemtifed two extremes—an autocratic
(aietive} leadership ssl and a demosratic (supportive) kadeship tle. Autocrat leaders used pos
tion power and ther authority to get rents while democratic leaders used personal power and involved
others in participative problem solving and decision-making process. Tannenbaum and Sebi, in
thei claske Harvard Busnes Review ate "How to Choose a Leadership Pattern® argued that these
two leadership styles autocratic and democratic—wre either/or sles of leadership. They deseribed a
continuum with Very authoritarian leader behavior atone endl and very democratic leader behavior at
the eter end
SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP IL
Further research, however, showed that leadership tls tend to vary considerably fom situation to
situation, and that ic snot bef to think of leadership sil as an either/or cotineun. White the
behavior of some leaders is characterized mainly by dieting thee fllowes’' activites in terms of tsk
ascomplisment (directive behavion, oer leaders cancentate on providing socio-emotionl support
fn on building personal relationships hetween themselves and thi followers (supportive Behavior). In
‘othe situations, various combinations of directive and supportive behavior are evident. Thus, it was
‘determined that directive and supportive leader behaviors ae aot citheror leadership styles. Instead,
these patterns of leader behavior can be plowed on two separate and distinct axes as shown in Figure 1*| ign Supportive
Low Drectve | High Supportive
§
3 83 82
| Low Supportive igh Directive
S| Low Directive ‘Low Supportive
a ioe ‘Behavior
s4 st
Wow DIRECTIVE BEHAVIOR ich
Figure 1. The Four Base Leadership Sighs
Each of the four lndership styles depicted in Figure I represent different combinations of directive
and supportive leadership behavior? These combinations differ on three dimensions: 1) the amount of
tirecion the leader provides, 2) the amount of support and encouragement the leader provides, and 3)
the amount of follower involvement in decision-making,
Directive and Supportive Leader Behaviors
DIRECTIVE BEHAVIOR is defined as
“The extent to which leader engages in one-vay communication; spells out the follower(s)
role and tls the followers) what to do, where to do it, when todo it and how todo it; and
‘then closely supervises performance, Three words can be used to define DIRECTIVE BEHAV-
FOR: structure, contol, and supervise.
‘SUPPORTIVE BEHAVIOR is defined as
The extent to which a ader engages in two-vay communication, listens, provides support and
encouragement, facilitates interaction, and involves the followers) in decision-making. Three
words cam be used to define SUPPORTIVE BEHAVIOR: pris, inten, and facilitate,
In Style (se Figure 1, lederis high on direction, low on suppor. He or she defines oles and goals,
provides spesific instruction to the fllower(), and closely supervises task accomplishment. When
thing Style 2, the leader high on both cirestion and support. He or she explains dessins and soliis
‘suggestions fom the followers), but continues to direct task accomplishment, Ste 3 leader behaviors
Characterized by high supportive and low directive behavior. The leader and followers) make deisons
together and then the leader supports the follower efforts toward task accomplishment. In Sigle 4. &
leader provides low support and dizection. He ot she tums over decisions and responsibility fr impe~
‘mentation to the follower)
Leadership Behar as Problem Solving/Deciion- Making Sils
‘As defined earl adership stylist pater of bshaos you ase when You ae trying infec
the behaviows fetes as perce hy she Sine te base Behaviors that subordinates respond tn
sessing you leadership spe are the pes of problem solsng and decision making process tha you
‘se wth them, each ofthe four adrship tyes cam he dnt with diferent approach o problem
Solving and dcson-ating as lsat in Figure 2.
4] mars | Sa
ge |e
B msorne | ene
ye | st
igre 2. The Four Basic Leadership Sighs a Types of.
Problemsolvng and Deeslonsmahing Pree
High rective ow supportive keader behavior Sis refered 1 a8 "Dieting" The eae dines the
‘oes of followers and tel them what hw, when, and where to do varios tasks, Prblemsoing and
‘econ aking are initiated sll by the maageeSolstions an devsion are announcs- commune
tions larly ve-nay, and implementation i closely supervised by te leader
igh diteive hgh soppotv behave (2) tefered to 8 "Coaching." In hn iy the adel
provides great deal of diction and leads wih ihe ideas, but he o be also ters her the
fellowes feelings about decisions as wellas thet ides and sigestions. While wo-nay commeniation
ad suppor are cease, conta oer decon making remit wih the lene
High support low dietive leader behaioe (S3) i ile “Spporing” In Sile 3 the las of
contol fr day-to-day decsion-naking a problems shits Irom adr to follows Te ade’
fale sto provide eeeognton apd to atively Tsten and ecitate problem solsng dion making on
the pat ofthe follower. Thisis appropriate since the Follower.) xs the ability al knowledge to do the
task whenever the se ofS} is mar
Low supports low diesvekader behavior (Ss abel “Deering.” In Sine 4 the ede is
uses the problems with suborintts) ui ont sarcement achieve on problem definition a hen
the deiscnsmaking proses deleted totally tothe flloner. Now i i the subordinate who has
significant coil fr deciding ha tasks are oe accomplish. Followers) ae allowed to "ran thei
tn show” because they hve bath competences conden: to tak responsi for dieting their
‘own bshasoeNo*One Best” Leadership Sts
‘Once it mas generally agreed that there were four basic ladershp ses charactried by varying
egres of aietve and supportive behavior, some writers! argued that there was “ne best leone
Which maxinized productivity and satfaction, growth and development in all itvatios. However,
further research inthe last several decade has clearly supported the contention that there is no best
leadership syle: succesful leaders are able 1 adap heist ft the requrements ofthe situation."
While the acd fr a situational approach to leadership might make sense its not very hep 10
practicing managers, who have 1 make leadership decisions every day. It all depends onthe situa
tion” they want to know wen to use which se
‘A numberof situational variables influence which leadership stl wil be appropriate in which situa
tion. These variables include timeline, job and task demands, organizational climate, and superion’
associates peer’ and subordinates skill and expectations. While al hese factors and undoubtedly
others impact the effectiveness ofa particular sve if practicing managers had to examine all he situs-
tional variables sugusted by theorists before deciding which syle to use, they would be immobiled
That is why Hersey and Blanchard hased thee Situational Leadership approach around the key factor
‘hat they found fo have the greatest impact on your eboice of kadeship syle—the fllowent). In
particu, twas found that tbe amount of direction or suppor tha a leader should provide depends on
the development level that the followers) exhibits on a specific task function, oF objective that the
lender is atempting to accomplish through the individual or group
Development Leet
{n Situational Leadership development eels defined asthe Competence and Commitment! of our
followe(s}—1o perform a parila task without supervision. We use the word Competence rather than
ability because people often se ability to mean potential, They tlk about natural ability to