In Situational Leadership, the Leader Determines the Situation

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In Situational Leadership, the Leader Determines the Situation

Trouble with Situational Leadership is: the model relies on the manager or leader to be the sole determinant of the employee's "ready, willing and able" status (whether or not we are aware of it). In case of a bossy (Editor: ~ordering) boss, especially in high pressure, urgent deadline times, can easily lead to the manager undermining the employee (the subsidiarity trap), 'telling', over "managing". Quite militaristic and arrogant and old-style in many ways. So the SL model should mainly be used as a guideline for discussion between bossy leaders and their subordinate.
SL is also heavily weighted to TASK, far less so to RELATIONSHIP. This implies that those with a dominant / aggressive style will "take to" the model more readily than those with an assertive but nurturing style ...

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		2 Renker Weiss Management Consultant, Austria
	Directive or Cooperative Leadership Style Dear Graham, I conduct leadership seminars and workshops since many years. Some of them happen on an offshore-yacht. During the crew/manager briefing, I also mention that it can happen, that I - as the skipper - have to make a decision whitin a second - to prevent crew and/or ship from damage. This has nothing to do with bossing by the boss. It can and it will happen, that a leader has to give immediate directions, when it is necessary (e.g., a drifting container in open sea threatens the crew and ship). The training on the yacht gives managers many examples to their real business life in a figurative sense. BUT a directive style should be the exeption: because a crisis in contrast to a catastrophy is the result of unsolved problems from the past. Rgds Renker.

		1 K R Sethuraman Professor, Malaysia
	In an ICU, Directive Leadership is the Norm (Healthcare Mangement) @Renker Weiss: I have been in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) as the team leader for over 4 decades. In view of the fast changing situation in IC, directive leadership is the norm (not the exception) here. The team follows the directives and later on, when things are under control, we do a thorough debriefing with the team, which includes explaining the rationale for issuing such directives earlier. I am certain that in the current pandemic, similar leadership style is saving many lives at present in healthcare.

		2 Michael Horwitz Professor, United States
	Great Examples of Telling Style In both situations described the telling or directive style is predominant. Few organizations operate that way all the time. Since SL is about successive approximations. The leader selects a behavior to help create movement in the desired direction. And then modifies behavior again. The leader needs to be attuned to their associates and continually adapt. It's never laissez-faire. Never no support, that's abandonment. And indeed as shared above, sometimes it's directive because of a crisis.

		2 Graham Williams Management Consultant, South Africa
	In Situational Leadership, the Leader Determines the Situation My hope is that we move towards a time where command and control (including telling in situations where this in NOT warranted) is not the norm in most workplaces. Even if it's not rocket science that if a fire breaks out, there is no time to consult and vote! I cannot agree that a dictatorial leadership style is saving lives under Covid-19. Rather, my hope is that a serving leadership style takes hold. I don't think that situational leadership supports this style. As we move to roles-based, distributed and hybrid work from and at home situations, and agile organisations and people (not agile leaders only!) situational leadership will become less relevant.