Leadership As A Effective Leader

All situations are different and a leadership style applied in one situation will not always work in another. A leader must use judgement to decide the most appropriate style needed for each situation. The ‘Situational Approach’ to leadership identifies four leadership styles which are;

Situational leadership theory is when a leader adapt’s to the situation and the management styles to the behavioral needs of the individual or group. Trait approach leadership gives more credence to the qualities and traits that people are born with that make them natural born leaders.

In the changing business environment, leaders of all organisations may face unprecedented uncertainty, especially the technology advancement and changes among the employees. To survive and succeed, leaders should have some necessary attributes. Meanwhile, some changes for leadership skills have to be made to confront the challenges.

Situational leadership focuses on adapting your leadership style or approach based on the situation and the amount of direction and support that is needed by followers. As Jesus trained and equipped his disciples from simple fishermen to fishers of men, who carried on his ministry after he ascended to heaven, he integrated different styles and theories of leadership that best served and supported his followers (Blanchard & Hodges, 2003). Depending on the level of competency and commitment of their people, leaders will adjust their style to provide the necessary support and direction. The core competencies of situational leaders are the ability to identify the performance, competence and commitment of others, and to be flexible (Paterson, 2013). From being highly directive, telling their people exactly what to do and how, to delegating, clearly stating the objective and allowing them to complete the task with little direction and support, situational leaders adapt their approach to the needs of their people and the particular situation.

Personality, experience, general operating style and learning of leadership are all contributors in determining what style of leadership an individual will adopt. To be a leader and decide upon a style, one must know their self and have an understanding of their own abilities, as well as having a knowledge base on their prospective followers (Sellgren, Ekvall, & Tomson, 2006). I will be discussing two leadership styles, situational and authoritarian. Situational leadership is a style of leadership developed by Dr. Paul Hersey, which is categorised under the core theory of contingency. This theory was first introduced as “Life Cycle Theory of Leadership”, which was renamed to “Situational Leadership” in the mid 1970s. This style teaches that there is no one particular style that is efficient for every situation and effective leaders adapt their style to accommodate the range of individuals within a group. An effective leader must have the ability to diagnose, adapt and communicate based on the readiness of followers and other situational variables. Dr. Paul Hersey describes the “an individual’s readiness level as their willingness and ability to complete a particular task. He proposes that a situational leader is able to change their leadership style depending on the situation and a follower’s readiness level. This is a significant element in ensuring the task gets completed successfully (Mujtaba & Sungkhawan, 2011). According to this style, there are four readiness levels. Style one is when the followers are unable and unwilling to perform the task. Upon identifying this, the leader is able to explain to followers what, where, how and when to do this particular task. This particular style is also known as “telling” and is optimal when attempting to influence followers with low readiness levels. Style two, also called “selling” is described as when

According to Institute of Medicine (2011) capabilities of situational leaders include skill presentation recognition, flexibility including competence and pledge of others. Situational leaders relate with their subordinates by encouraging and directing them. Situational leadership is an association between the subordinates’ development level and leaders ' behaviour to offer encouragement and direction. (Carter et al, 2005; Northouse, 2013) The

Situational leadership has very little in common with the other models mentioned herein. This model revolves around the leader changing leadership behaviors to meet the needs in relationship to the follower (Kouzes, 2003, p. 111). The difference between situational leadership and charismatic, servant, and transformational leadership is the lack of an organizational vision and the empowerment of the followers. Situational leadership uses followers based on their readiness level that relate to their ability and willingness to complete the task (Wren, 1995, p. 208). This aspect coupled with the leader’s task and relationship behavior is used in relation to the

This paper will address why situational leadership theory is useful and relevant in developing an effective leadership culture. In addition, it will also discuss the three theories of situational leadership and what is considered to be the strengths and weaknesses of each theory when leading staff in the organizational environment.

     The situational leadership model is based on certain assumptions. One of these assumptions is that there are different levels (or situations) in which a leadership style is played out. In the same way that there are four different levels of readiness on the part of staff or “followers”, there are also four leadership styles. On the whole it is the level that the followers are to be found that is most important element in the equation when a leadership style is seen to be to be the appropriate style and is chosen from among four possible styles. According to this idea leaders can choose to lead in

Hersey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) asserts that a leader’s effectiveness is dependent upon the readiness, or ability and willingness, of the leader’s followers to complete a task. This leadership style is an amalgamation of task-oriented and relationship-oriented characteristics that are employed depending upon the situation and the followers involved. According to the SLT, as followers increase in readiness the leader’s style is to adapt accordingly (Kinicki & Kreitner, 2009).

Situational leadership, developed by professor Paul Hersey and author and consultant Ken Blanchard. Their approach was based off of a 1967 article by W.J. Reddin called The 3-D Management Style Theory. In his article, Reddin discusses the need to have different styles based on the demands of the leader. A leader needs to be flexible in their approach to meet the needs of the job, their superior and their subordinates (1967). Hersey and Blanchard progressed this theory by introducing the Situational Leadership II model. Their model breaks leadership into four different styles, and how a leader must alter their approach in supporting and directing their subordinates based on a given situation. These styles are directing (S1), coaching (S2), supporting (S3) and delegating (S4). The model also focuses on the development level of the subordinates by categorizing them between low (D1), moderate (D2 and D3) and

Leadership is a process of continuous learning and increasing leadership effectiveness requires understanding, reflection, and the application to the appropriate subject matter. To become an effective leader, one should strive to enhance their skills and abilities associated with applying new data, information, and ideas objectively and subjectively. Even though everyone in the world has in their possession some sort of leadership characteristics and attributes, not everybody is set out to make the necessary sacrifices it takes to become a truly effective leader. Utilizing authentic leadership practices entails learning how to be true to yourself and others. An essential element facilitating meaningful leadership is trust. Influential risks, changes, and challenges will inevitably occur throughout the various stages of life. According to Erik Erikson, human life stages comprise of infancy, early childhood, play age, school age, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood, and old age (Armstrong, 2012). This paper’s objectives include revealing several moments in life where challenges to leadership occurred, predominantly focused on the adolescence, young adulthood, and adult stages in life. The paper highlights specific instances in life where leadership challenges became noticeably obvious, influencing various personal and professional motivational elements. Life is full of challenges, highlighting previously endured leadership examples helps to recognize and learn

The situational leadership model was developed by two authors, Ken Blanchard, and Paul Hersey in the year 1969. These authors based this model on the concept that leadership should adapt to different management practices and approaches to fit different situations and surpass any diversity of their encounters (Lussier & Achua, 2010). In particular, this model provides guidance on how to analyze a situation, choose effaceable strategies and adopt the most appropriate leadership style. Apparently, the two developers of the model researched and found that, given some case, leadership may fail to accomplish some goals due to adopting single

Leadership has been a topic that has been researched for a long time in many disciplines. Leadership as a personality focuses on the characteristics of an individual that gives them power to act as leaders. There is leadership as an attribution this approach views leadership as phenomenon that causes group of followers to have outcomes.(Wu et al, 2010, 90).Researchers have used the following approaches to study leadership; they are mainly trait, behavior, power influence, situation and integrative approaches. Trait approaches focuses on the characteristics, values, skill and personality of leaders. Behavior approaches is focused on the leaders behaviors, differentiating between the behavior of ineffective and effective leaders. Integrative approach combines all the approaches to have a holistic picture of the process, outcomes and determinants of leadership. The approach that this paper uses is situational approach that is not leader centered but more on the significance of the context as an influence of leadership. Leaders should be able to choose the leadership quality appropriate to a particular situation.

There are always chances and possibilities to become a good leader regardless the odds against you, gender, age, race, education, previous experience, etc. This paper defines what leadership is and it explains the relationship between leadership and influence. It also highlights the importance of finding opportunities to develop skills and creating strong to become a good leader. It is also emphasized the power of influence that comes from motivating your team, to improve performance and satisfaction and that setting a clear goal is mandatory for good leadership. The conclusion summarizes all the topics under discussion.