SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Ken Blanchard teamed up with Paul Hersey to do what they thought was an improvement to the many leadership theories that they were taught. Blanchard felt strongly that leadership wasn’t just some traits that someone could learn, but that to be a good leader you have to be able to adapt and lead in different situations. Being able to adapt your leadership style to different situations is what defines a good leader from a great one. The leader is then able to have more effectiveness is they are able to adjust their behaviors to better fit each situation that arises.
As a leader, we must be able to constantly evaluate ourselves and adapt to new situations to new people. Some workers might lack the ability or willingness to complete a task, so they might require more direction to be able to get a job done. By knowing your employees and their behaviors, we are able to set ourselves up to be able to lead them best and accomplish the task at hand.
It is constantly a learning curve in adapting to different situations, but Blanchard and Hersey help break it down into four different types of leadership behaviors with combining both directive and supportive behaviors. Those four are telling, selling, participating, and delegating. These are indicated in the chart to show that combination both directive and supportive in different amounts will decide what kind of leader you will be.
In assessing what would happen in the case of both high competence and high commitment behaviors, there is a matching instance where there is a positive outcome, or what they call the self-reliant achiever.
Also, with a low competence but a high level of commitment, the results are also positive. In this case, we can see that the level of commitment is key. If a worker is committed enough, they can be taught the skills needed to achieve the self-reliant achiever title. But where there is only moderate to high competence and a variable commitment, we have a negative situation, which they call the capable but cautious performer. Also with a negative situation, is the disillusioned learner, who has low to some competence but shows low commitment. These people have the knowledge and are developing that, but lack the desire and drive to really be a leader.
I believe this is what Blanchard and Hersey were trying to emphasize. Without commitment and a drive to be the best, one will never be able to achieve high leadership roles. You may be smart and able to learn, but with the commitment to improve, you can become a great leader.
