The Leadership Game

If you play golf you understand that the right club is needed for a specific situation – a driver for off the tee, a wedge for getting out of the trap or onto the green and a putter for sinking the ball. Each stroke requires some consideration about what is happening and what needs to be achieved. I see leadership the same way. Each situation, each contact, each decision is a sort of a quandary that requires consideration about what is the best approach, the best leadership style to use to be most effective. I know some people feel that there are only certain effective leadership styles – the participative style, the collaborative style, etc., and that styles like the directive style are too negative and unnecessary. The quagmire – can you engage and empower people as a leader and still be able to be directive and make tough decisions and not be seen as authoritative or autocratic? I think that if the ship is sinking – the leader must take control and does not have time to solicit for opinions. As our major corporations struggle or are failing – should those leaders be gathering input from everyone or taking authoritative steps to turn things around?

Guest blogger, Dr. Stu Tubbs, respected Eastern Michigan University faculty and popular leadership consultant shares his thoughts on situational leadership.
I look forward to your comments and thoughts. And as always… let’s keep the conversation going!
Sandi

The Right Leadership Approach for the Right Situation
Dr. Stu Tubbs PhD.

The leadership quagmire…mmm. I am not sure I care for the term as it sounds negative. Although it is true that leadership is a demanding and sometimes frustrating role, it can also be one of the most interesting, challenging and rewarding roles of your life.

In a recent class, I had six Saudi Arabian MBA students, all architects, all in their early thirties, all men, all Muslim. What I learned from this experience is that you can't stereotype people. Leaders must treat each person as individuals in order to effectively lead. These six men were as different from one another as any six male American students that I have ever taught. This experience is a metaphor for what I teach in a Situational Leadership program.

One of the confusing things about leadership is that we are constantly told that we must be consistent. Yes, that is true. We must have consistent policies and procedures, in other words a structure that is consistent. But, at the same time, we must work within the structure with each individual in ways that are unique to each person. A really good training ground for all of us is parenting. Each of our children is different. Over time, we learn in a natural way, how to best approach each situation with each of our children. Leadership on the job has some distinct similarities. It's not rocket science!

What we learn in the Situational Leadership program is a framework that gives us a structure for how to figure out in a simple, yet powerful way, what each person needs from us in the way of leadership. Think of it as a medical model. It requires that we first accurately diagnose the needs of the person we are trying to lead. If the diagnosis is skipped, or if it is wrong, or if we just apply the solution that worked best last time, all else is doomed to failure. I think it is important that we understand that different leadership approaches, types or styles are all valuable in the right situation. In my program a simulation is used to teach participants how to improve their diagnostic skills through practice and to correctly diagnose leadership situations to decide what needs to be done and what leadership style is appropriate. It is also a fun and energizing way to learn something that is imperative for effective leadership and to help avoid the “quagmire”.