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Blanchards Situational Leadership Model description 1

Situational Leadership
This is a term that can be applied generically to a style of leadership, but that also refers to a
recognised, and useful, leadership model. In simple terms, a situational leader is one who can
adopt different leadership styles depending on the situation. Most of us do this anyway in our
dealings with other people: we try not to get angry with a nervous colleague on their first day, we
chase up tasks with some people more than others because we know they'll forget otherwise.

But Ken Blanchard, the management guru best known for the "One Minute Manager" series, and
Paul Hersey created a model for Situational Leadership in the late 1960's that allows you to
analyse the needs of the situation you're dealing with, and then adopt the most appropriate
leadership style. It's proved popular with managers over the years because it passes the two
basic tests of such models: it's simple to understand, and it works in most environments for most
people. The model doesn't just apply to people in leadership or management positions: we all
lead others at work and at home.

LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOUR

Blanchard and Hersey characterised leadership style in terms of the amount of direction and of
support that the leader gives to his or her followers, and so created a simple grid:

Directing Leaders define the roles

and tasks of the 'follower', and
supervise them closely. Decisions
are made by the leader and
announced, so communication is
largely one-way.
Coaching Leaders still define roles
and tasks, but seeks ideas and
suggestions from the follower.
Decisions remain the leader's
prerogative, but communication is
much more two-way.
Supporting Leaders pass day-to-day
decisions, such as task allocation and
processes, to the follower. The
leader facilitates and takes part in
decisions, but control is with the
follower.
Delegating Leaders are still involved in decisions and problem-solving, but control is with
the follower. The follower decides when and how the leader will be involved.

Effective leaders are versatile in being able to move around the grid according to the situation, so
there is no one right style. However, we tend to have a preferred style, and in applying
Situational Leadership you need to know which one that is for you.
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DEVELOPMENT LEVEL

Clearly the right leadership style will depend very much on the person being led - the follower -
and Blanchard and Hersey extended their model to include the Development Level of the
follower. They said that the leader's style should be driven by the Competence and Commitment
of the follower, and came up with four levels:

High Competence Experienced at the job, and comfortable with their own ability
D4
High Commitment to do it well. May even be more skilled than the leader.
High Competence Experienced and capable, but may lack the confidence to go it
D3
Variable Commitment alone, or the motivation to do it well / quickly
Some Competence May have some relevant skills, but won't be able to do the job
D2
Low Commitment without help. The task or the situation may be new to them.
Low Competence Generally lacking the specific skills required for the job in
D1
Low Commitment hand, and lacks any confidence and / or motivation to tackle it.

Development Levels are also situational. I might be generally skilled, confident and motivated in
my job, but would still drop into Level D1 when faced, say, with a task requiring skills I don't
possess. For example, lots of managers are D4 when dealing with the day-to-day running of their
department, but move to D1 or D2 when dealing with a sensitive employee issue.

SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP

You can see where this is going. Blanchard and Hersey said that the Leadership Style (S1 - S4)
of the leader must correspond to the Development level (D1 - D4) of the follower - and it's the
leader who adapts.

For example, a new person joins your team and you're asked to help them through the first few
days. You sit them in front of a PC, show them a pile of invoices that need to be processed
today, and push off to a meeting. They're at level D1, and you've adopted S4. Everyone loses
because the new person feels helpless and demotivated, and you don't get the invoices
processed.

On the other hand, you're handing over to an experienced colleague before you leave for a
holiday. You've listed all the tasks that need to be done, and a set of instructions on how to carry
out each one. They're at level D4, and you've adopted S1. The work will probably get done, but
not the way you expected, and your colleague despises you for treating him like an idiot.

But swap the situations and things get better. Leave detailed instructions and a checklist for the
new person, and they'll thank you for it. Give your colleague a quick chat and a few notes before
you go on holiday, and everything will be fine.

By adopting the right style to suit the follower's development level, work gets done,
relationships are built up, and most importantly, the follower's development level will
rise to D4, to everyone's benefit.

To make Situational Leadership work, you need to go through a training programme,

where you'll learn about how to operate effectively in all the Leadership Styles, and
how to determine the Development Level of others. And the Blanchard organisation
would be happy to tell all about their training programmes worldwide.

You can also get the basics from Ken Blanchard's "Leadership and the One Minute Manager."
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Blanchards Situational Leadership Model description 2

Competence and Commitment Defined 1

Competence is a function of knowledge and

skills, which can be gained from education,
training and/or experience.

Commitment is a combination of
confidence and motivation. Confidence is a
measure of a persons self-assuredness a
feeling of being able to do a task without
much supervision, whereas motivation is a
persons interest in and enthusiasm for doing
a task well.

Leader's Behavior 1

Directive Behavior involves: clearly telling

people what to do, how to do it, and when to
do it, and then closely supervising their performance.

Supportive Behavior involves: listening to people, providing support and encouragement for their efforts,
and then facilitating their involvement in problem-solving and decision-making.

Leadership Styles 1

Directing Style is for people who lack competence but are enthusiastic and committed. They
need direction and supervision to get them started.
Coaching Style is for people who have some competence but lack commitment. They need
direction and supervision because they are still relatively inexperienced. They also need
support and praise to build their self-esteem, and involvement in decision-making to restore
their commitment.
Supporting Style is for people who have competence, but lack confidence of motivation.
They do not need much direction because of their skills, but support is necessary to bolster
their confidence and motivation.
Delegating Style is for people who have both competence and commitment. They are able
and willing to work on a project by themselves with little supervision or support.
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Blanchards Situational Leadership Model description 3

THE BLANCHARD LEADERSHIP MODEL

OBNotes.HTM by WILF H. RATZBURG

The Blanchard Leadership Model takes a situational perspective of leadership. This model
posits that the developmental levels of a leader's subordinates play the greatest role in
determining which leadership styles are most appropriate (leader behaviors). According to
this conceptualization, leader behaviors fall along two continua, (1) directive behavior, and
(2) supportive behavior. This categorization is not dissimilar to those of the Ohio State
Leadership studies and the University of Michigan studies.

BLANCHARD SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP MODEL: LEADER BEHAVIOR CATEGORIES

DIRECTIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORTIVE BEHAVIOR
one-way communication two-way communication
followers' roles spelled out listening, providing support &
close supervision of performance encouragement
facilitate interaction
involve follower in decision making

Putting the leadership behaviors identified by the Blanchard together on a grid (note the
similarity between this figure and the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid), four leadership
styles result: directing, coaching, supporting, delegating

This grid does not differ very much from the Blake and Mouton Managerial Grid. So, what
distinguishes it from the previous behavioral leadership models? This models expands on
previous approaches by taking situational variables into account.

For Blanchard the key situational variable, when determining the appropriate leadership
style, is the readiness or developmental level of the subordinate(s). Their model posits 4
such developmental levels:
D1: LOW COMPETENCE
HIGH COMMITMENT
D2: SOME COMPETENCE
LOW COMMITMENT
D3: HIGH COMPETENCE
VARIABLE COMMITMENT
D4: HIGH COMPETENCE
HIGH COMMITMENT
The Blanchard model combines the behavior grid (similar to the Blake- Mouton Managerial Grid) with the
Developmental Levels of subordinates to arrive at some conclusions about appropriate leadership styles. In
other words, the Developmental Level of the Subordinates determines which of the four leadership
styles (S1, S2, S3, or S4) is correct.
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Blanchards Situational Leadership Model description 4

Ken Blanchard - Situational Leadership

Ken Blanchard is internationally reknowned for his situational leadership model developed with Paul
Hersey and his One Minute Manager series co-authored with Spencer Johnson. Blanchard's One Minute
Manager series and situational leadership model are popular as they are simple to use and widely
applicable.

Ken Blanchard's situational leadership model outlines 4 different leadership styles that can be
adopted depending on the situation or task.

Competence versus Commitment (Skill vs Will)

The leader assesses the development level of the follower with regard to completing a specific task. The
leader assesses the followers level of competence and commitment in that situation and correctly
matches their leadership style with the development level of the follower. An effective leader is able to move
fluidly between each leadership style, recognising that a follower will have different development levels for
different tasks.

Development (D) Level

(D1) Low Competence, Low Commitment low skill level i.e. no

training, understanding of how to complete the task, previous
experience and lacks motivation or confidence to complete the task.

(D2) Low Competence, High Commitment has desire or incentive

to complete task but low skill level.

(D3) High Competence, Low/Variable Commitment can competently complete task but lacks confidence or
perceives task as high risk

(D4) High Competence, High Commitment experienced and motivated to complete task independently.

Leadership (S) Style

(S1) Directing one-way communication where leader tells and shows follower what to do, and closely
supervises them doing it.

(S2) Coaching two-way communication where leader directs what needs to be done, seeking ideas and
suggestions from the follower.

(S3) Supporting leader focuses on motivation and confidence issues and leaves task decisions to follower.

(S4) Delegating leader provides high-level direction only and further involvement and decision making is
controlled by follower.

Ken Blanchard's Situational Leadership Model has been adopted by many large companies as it is easily
learned and applied.