Situational leadership key to job efficiency

By Lee Roberts

TIAA Executive Director

When shop owners and lead technicians apply the same leadership style with an employee no matter what the task is, he or she may not be getting the most efficient results than if situational leadership principles were applied.  With situational leadership, supervisors must understand that people fall into one of four developmental categories in each and every job task they are engaged:

D1 - the person has low competence but high commitment.

D2 - the person has high competence but low commitment.

D3 - the person has high competence but variable commtment.

D4 - the person has high competence and high commitment.

It is important to note that a person can be a D1 in one job task and D4 in another.  For instance, an auto mechanic might not know how to turn a rotor, but they are highly motivated to try the task, which would be a D1 development level.  Contrarily, the mechanic may be knowledgeable at replacing a water pump and is also motivated, which would be categorized as a D4 development level.

Recognizing what developmental level a worker is at with a particular task is important because supervisors have to match and apply the corresponding support level:

S1 - Directing: apply structure, control and directly supervise.

S2 - Coaching: direct and support.

S3 - Supporting: praise, listen, facilitate

S4 - Delegating: turn over responsibility for decision making.

Being able to recognize the developmental level and match it with the correct support level is the key to efficiency.  Never apply the wrong corresponding support to developmental level - such as S3 to D1.

A supervisor's goal should be to motivate, train and help workers get to the D4 level on each and every task.  When workers attain that level, they essentially don't have to be supervised, which positively affects the bottom line - profits.

(This article published from Topics Fall 2007 issue)