What does ‘situational leadership’ mean to me?

I would like to start by quoting Dr. Stephen R. Covey in his book, The 8th Habit: From
Effectiveness to Greatness, “Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential
so clearly that they come to see it in themselves.” I completely agree with this statement but
would also like to point out that most of us would fail to notice how we should succeed at
recognising the growth and potential in the first place. The primary requirement here is to be
able to understand and identify the individual characteristics and needs of the employees at
different levels of development and under different circumstances, and only then can one be in
a position to realise the worth and potential of an individual. It invariably becomes the
responsibility of the leader to be in a position to recognise the character of each individual and
address the existing situation to ensure high performance of his team and to fulfil the goals of
the organisation. This according to me is the fundamental meaning of situational leadership.

To elaborate further, it would be appreciated that every individual is unique in his own way and
behaves differently from others when faced with similar situations, be it in a team or when
alone. In order to help an individual understand this fact to bring out his potential, a leader
must be able to identify specific traits of the individual and address them appropriately based
on the specific situation being faced at that time. A good leader would be the one who is able
to recognise the skills and qualities of this individual and not only fulfil the organisational goals
but also contribute towards growth of the individual. Situational leadership tells us that there is
no best leadership style or strategy and the leader must be flexible and understanding enough
to use different styles with different people in varying situations. In fact, there would also be
situations when the same person needs to be approached in a different manner, depending on
the given situation. This gives an idea that there are two underlying notions governing
situational leadership and they are leadership style of the leader and the development level of
the individuals. Based on this, situational leadership permits one to evaluate the demands of
the situation and, depending on the development level of the subordinates, adopt the most
suitable leadership style in order to achieve the desired outcome.

A leader will always be faced with challenges emanate from the group of people in the
organisation and to understand the reasons leading to every individual’s performance is the key
to being an effective leader. There will be some people who are very eager and enthusiastic
about the work they do but are just not qualified enough to do that job. They do not
understand the work they have to do but are willing to learn. Then there are people who are
able and reasonably trained but due to various reasons they do not have the will to work and
Bhooshan Parikh
CBS FT MBA 2008-09
LDP: Reflection Paper-Situational Leadership Page 1
are not motivated. Then again there are people who are fully trained and equipped to perform
the specific task but are not committed enough. Finally, there will be a small percentage of
workers who possess high levels of commitment and competence. As I understand, situational
leadership will help in achieving a balance and a good match between the leadership style that
the leader should adopt and the kind of people he deals with.

It must be agreed upon that a leadership is about people and situational leadership is how a
leader handles people in different situations. At this point I would like to draw a comparison
with the intervention styles in Change Management and also with Decision-making styles
suggested by Brousseau, Driver, Hourihan and Larsson. Their suggestions are similar to the
situational leadership theory and also relate to adapting a leadership depending on the kind of
people. From the learning that I have gained in the MBA studies I can say that a leader must
adjust to the individual he is dealing with in any particular situation. In doing so, the leader has
to shift his stance from being firm and authoritative to being lenient and delegating. At the
same time he might be required to be encouraging and supportive to his subordinates and to
train and teach them to do what they are supposed to do. It must also be acknowledged that
there will be one leader for a number of subordinates and while all subordinates might possess
unique characteristics, the leader is one and he must adjust to the people under him.
Individuals in an organisation will have different levels of competence and commitment, and I
believe that the knowledge of situational leadership will help the leader to distinguish between
the varying levels of these persons and thereby adopt the appropriate leadership style in
dealing with them.

Depending on the type of individuals, the leader can adopt a leadership style that will transform
an incapable, insecure and unwilling worker to become able, confident and willing. Situational
leadership is not about what a leader should do to people, but is about what a leader should do
with them. It is about exchanging learning and in the process, helping every individual, be it the
leader or the subordinate, to grow in his own scope of work. Situational leadership does not
suggest any one leadership style that is the most suitable. From the understanding that I have
gained about situational leadership, I can now visualise that there can never be a prescribed
way to deal with situations and people, and a leader must be able to shift between different
styles in order to be effective and to bring out the best in his team. This will not only lead to
increased efficiency but also promote growth and development of the individual, and as
mentioned earlier, this is what makes a better leader.

Bhooshan Parikh
CBS FT MBA 2008-09
LDP: Reflection Paper-Situational Leadership Page 2
How can I use ‘situational leadership’ in my life?

Having spent half a year doing my MBA and undergoing a number of modules on the
Leadership Development Program (LDP), I have gathered significant insights into the different
perspectives of a leader and leadership in general. I have come to realise that although I
understand what situational leadership is, I will not be able to utilise it in isolation. Situational
leadership is just one part of leadership and can be used only in conjunction with other aspects;
those which I have learnt on the LDP. It is a bit surprising though, that there were many
instances during the class on Situational Leadership when I felt that I had gone through similar
situations during my past. It felt that Situational Leadership was something that I had already
adopted as a leader but never realised what I was going through at that time. And that is how
my earlier classes on LDP become handy tools for me to learn more and develop. At some point
it might be argued that the Situational Leadership model might be compared to the Whole
Brain theory but that may not be necessary. For me Situational Leadership and Whole Brain are
both part of my leadership toolbox. It is more important for me to first comprehend these
concepts independently and then look towards gaining a mastery over all them and combining
them to be effective in my future dealings.

Presently, when I reflect upon my years served in the Indian Army, I feel that although I did
understand the competencies and commitment of the personnel under me, I never attempted
to help them grow and improve their contribution to the organisation. It was always an
approach towards getting the job done in the best possible manner, and if I found someone to
be less competent for a particular job, I would have promptly disregard him and find someone
else to do that job. Even at that time I realised that it could be demotivating to the individual,
but I just considered that as the military way of dealing with people. Now, when I think about it
in retrospect I realise that I could have been much more effective and productive as a leader if I
had applied the Situational Leadership model in my dealings.

Although I am no longer serving in the armed forces, I am aware that I will always be dealing
with people and in doing so I am sure to be faced with similar situations time and again. But
now I have my toolbox and the learning that I have gained over the last six months to be able to
put all the leadership theories into practice. I have been able to develop being highly reflective
in my day-to-day activities and I have also been actively seeking constructive feedback from my
classmates on various aspects of my personality and under different situations. In doing so, I
have not only been able to understand my leadership style but also am in a position to
understand my cognitions when reacting to situations and in dealing with people. I have also
Bhooshan Parikh
CBS FT MBA 2008-09
LDP: Reflection Paper-Situational Leadership Page 3
noticed that I react differently in different situations even when with the same people and I
now clearly understand that development levels are also situational and a person may be
categorised into varied levels at different points in time. To give a small example, it is very clear
that not all people are comfortable with all the subjects that we learn here in our MBA course
and depending on their level of competence their behaviour is altered. I can relate this directly
to any work environment; a subordinate may react to a situation based on his/her level of
comfort and the competency can be judged from the commitment shown by that person. As a
manager in a leadership role it would be a huge advantage to be able to gather this insight and
turn around this demoralised person into a confident and productive asset for the organisation.
Furthermore, this match between leadership and development will result in promoting growth
and development of individuals and help achieve organisational objectives.

However, I would not restrict myself in using this tool only on an individual basis. I feel that
Situational Leadership can be equally effective when used with the understanding of team
dynamics. Situational Leadership can help me ascertain the development level of every
individual of the team and I can select the most appropriate person for every job. I will not only
be able to get my job done most efficiently, but also develop the kind of cohesion, trust and
confidence in each member, that will create a high performance team. I fully understand that
team members may not be at the same stage of development, and this implies that it is I who
will have to shift from one level of Situational Leadership to the other depending on the
individual’s level of development. This is not as easy as it may sound, and I will consider it as a
constant challenge to create a successful outcome and at the same time also see myself face up
to the contingencies that may arise from time to time. I can take every situation or task as a
learning for myself to be trained in different leadership style and thereby be a more versatile
and effective leader. Who knows, I might even grow up to be a charismatic leader in future, and
then I will look back upon this time I spent in Copenhagen and smile at myself and feel happy
about it.

I would not like to end this paper without referring to the simulation/role play that we did in
class and in doing so I would like to bring out my views on the relationship of the Situational
Leadership model with the whole brain concept. It may be argued that there is a close relation
between these two leadership tools and I am not in a position to agree or disagree on this. I
too believe that there might be a possibility in applying the whole brain model to different
situations but the effectiveness and implementation of these tools will be governed by the
expertise one has developed in using them. During the role play, I have to admit that although I
thought I could use the whole brain model in relating to the different people, I just could not
Bhooshan Parikh
CBS FT MBA 2008-09
LDP: Reflection Paper-Situational Leadership Page 4
remember to use it then. What came to my mind was more related to the individual in front of
me and his/her level of development rather than the colours of the brain. I believe that it is
important to understand a person with respect to the different colours and the whole brain
model but it is more important to first listen to him and be able to empathise with him
according to the situation he is in at that point of time. I realised that it would not be a good
idea to frame pictures about a person based on the whole brain colours even before the
situation is understood or resolved, because many times it would be the situation that would
govern the behaviour of the individual and not his actual self. I would rather use the whole
brain theory at a time when the individual is in a more normalised state and try and judge him
through general conversations.

Finally, I would like to bring out that the role play was dependent up to a certain extent on the
acting skills of the individuals and not everyone would have been able to play their stipulated
role perfectly. However, that was a challenge in itself as I, as a leader, was not aware of the role
being played by that individual and it made it even more interesting to be able to judge the
level of development of that person and this is exactly what we all would be faced with in our
career time and again. I can only consider the whole Leadership Discovery Process as a ‘on-the-
job’ training as it is a continuously evolving process spread over the whole year, and the more
interest I show in this topic the more involved I get in understanding myself and growing up to
be a better leader and at the same time, helping others around me to grow to be better people.

Bhooshan Parikh
CBS FT MBA 2008-09
LDP: Reflection Paper-Situational Leadership Page 5