The term "situational leadership" has been much used recently in texts about leadership and manuals for managers. What is it? How is it done? And is it really an approach every manager today should be familiar with?
What is situational leadership?
According to Entrepreneur.com, situational leadership is a management method whereby the manager adjusts their approach according to the specific needs of individual subordinates. So rather than a single management style of a leader, the focus is on the many different styles the manager adopts when dealing with different employees.
Each employee is different and has different, specific needs when it comes to the leadership style of their manager. Situational leadership is of course much more challenging than other methods as the manager must detect the needs of individual subordinates and have a much more individual approach towards each of them. Even so, situational leadership pays off by exploiting the full potential of all team members.
Tips on implementing situational leadership in practice
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Learn what motivates individual employees and then motivate them accordingly.
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Find the most effective communication style for each employee and adopt it when talking to them.
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Find out the strengths of individual employees and support them.
- Connect with individual employees also on a personal level, and try to establish an informal, friendly relationship with each of them.
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