How often have you heard someone say: “treat others the way you would want to be treated yourself”? This one expression crosses cultures and is as old as antiquity. Yet high impact, effective leaders do the complete opposite. Instead, they treat others the way the way they would like to be treated…
What does this mean exactly? Say you have a task that needs to get done – putting together a presentation for a meeting with a prospective client – and you decide to involve a member of your team. Would you
- Tell them exactly what to do and how to do it?
- Discuss the task with them and then work together on it?
- Ask them what they’ll do and then be available if they need them?
- Let them just get on with it?
What will get the best results depends on how competent and committed they are and is situational. That means treating your team member the way they need to be treated, depending on each task: they may be highly competent and confident executing one task and not another.
Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard’s ‘Situational Leadership’ model broadly recommends the following…
‘Telling’ is more appropriate in situations when:
- Someone’s competence is unproven (they’re brand new or unfamiliar with the task) and time may also be of the essence.
‘Selling’ is more appropriate in situations when:
- Someone has some of the competence yet lacks the desire and/or the confidence to execute the task.
‘Sharing’ is appropriate in situations when:
- Someone has the competence, yet lacks the confidence/self-belief to execute the task
‘Delegating‘ is appropriate in situations when:
- Someone has the competence and the confidence/desire to execute the task.
The other factor is how confident and competent you are in each situation to tell, sell, share or delegate. Choosing the less appropriate options mean you are more likely to be seen as either a control freak or a laissez-faire leader. Is that in your best interests? The team’s? The organisation’s?
What do you think? Please post a reply.
Leadership Insights 