WHY – Your Leadership Approach Isn’t Working

Have you ever wondered why your employee tends to become defensive when assigned a task? Have you noticed one of your employees become less engaged in the work?

It is fairly common for leaders to tend to operate with one leadership style. Maybe your approach is typically one that is very directive or one in which you mostly are Telling someone what to do. After all, you have a lot to get done and just telling someone what needs to be done is the fastest way to get results. Or maybe your style is one in which you are Selling to them. You tend to show your employees what needs to be done, you explain to them a bit of why it needs to be completed in a specific way. Or perhaps you style is more of a Participating approach. One in which you typically ask more questions of your employees such as: “What are your thoughts on what needs to be completed and what do you think is the best approach ?” Or finally, maybe you are the type of leader that trusts your employees to get it done and do it the right way by completely Delegating the assignment. And thus, you only get involved when there is a problem.

In the early 1980s, Ken Blanchard and Paul Hersey developed a very useful model called Situational Leadership. And today if you were to research this approach you would see slightly different views on how this is applied, but the essence of their model can be quite useful. The situational leadership model is such: Leaders should match one of the styles listed above to the specific situation based on the skills and motivation of the employee for the specific task assigned. And thus by adapting your leadership style to the needs of the individual you will get the work completed more efficiently and your employees will be more engaged.

Think of it this way. What would happen if your Manager were to be very Directive with you on something that you already knew what to do and how to do it? You would likely resent the fact that you were being told how to do the work. On the other hand, what would happen if you were assigned something new that you had never completed before and didn’t know where to start? Your Manager said, “Well, good luck, and let me know if you have any problems?” You would likely be a bit apprehensive about making a mistake.

In my experience, after working with many leaders from around the globe, it is often common for a leader to use one of the styles as their default way of leading versus adapting their style to the situation.

Here are a few practical tips on how to avoid this common mistake:

1. Write down a list of the current assignments that your employees have been assigned to complete. You don’t have to list every single task, just enough of the main responsibilities.
2. Next to each task make an indication of the employees current skill level (High, Medium, Low). Have they demonstrated that they know how to do this and have done this before? Or are they new to the task and need guidance? Or somewhere in between?
3. In the next column, indicate their current motivation level. (High, Medium, Low). Are they confident and willing to take on the work? Or are they a bit tentative and afraid to make mistakes. Or somewhere in between?
4. Use these two data points to help you determine which of the four styles to take with each person for a specific assignment. For example: If they are Medium Skill and low Motivation, you would use a Selling leadership style. One with both some direction and a lot of explaining/encouragement. I suggest in the fourth column that you list the current approach you should take with the employee.
5. Review and modify your list on a regular basis (Weekly, Bi-Monthly). If you are matching your own style correctly, you should also notice changes to the person’s Skill and Motivation levels. For example, someone is brand new to the task. Their Skill is Low and their Motivation is Medium. This week you are fairly directive showing them how, telling them what needs to be completed. Next week, you use more Selling style, giving them encouragement and explaining why it is completed that way. The next month, you are more Facilitative with the individual and asking more questions about how they think it should be completed. And within 6 months, you have completely delegated the assignment, staying informed but only getting involved when needed.

Certainly this is mostly common sense and in many cases as leaders we adapt our styles without thinking about it. And when your leadership style is adapted correctly to the appropriate situation, the employee’s skill level, and the employee’s motivation levels, you will have highly engaged employees. Unfortunately, it’s also common for leaders to try to shortcut the situation and, with good intentions, delegate an assignment to one of your employees for which they aren’t ready. This causes the need for you to jump in, tell the employee what needs to be completed, and also squash their motivation and their confidence to complete the assignment on their own. A thoughtful approach to using the right leadership style can help you develop your employees much more quickly and in the end save you time.