Situational Leadership...

This past week, well Monday to Wednesday, I was on a management training course titled Situational Leadership. I had done this course a couple of years ago and just didn't get - didn't see the relevance – possibly due to irrelevant case studies and poor instruction. However, this time around it was a vast/huge improvement; the content and workshopping was a lot more relevant to our organisation, the instructor was excellent, and we had a fantastic group involved.

So what is Situational Leadership; here is my summary of what I learned:

• Democratic versus Autocratic – there is an appropriate time and place for each, the situation must be accessed and the correct style used.
  
• Assessment of a follower’s readiness is to be job/task specific and can be different depending on the task. It is measured by their ability and willingness. There are then 4 readiness cues:
  - Unable/Unwilling
  - Unable/Willing
  - Able/Unwilling
  - Able/Willing
  
• The leader after accessing the readiness must adopt an appropriate leadership style, with each corresponding to the respective readiness above:
  - Telling (directive)
  - Selling (directive)
  - Participating (supportive)
  - Delegating (supportive)

The was also some stuff on active listening and conflict resolution.

On the Thursday we had a session with our lawyers who went through the legal side of management, what can and can not be said, performance management, OHS, bullying, and other managerial responsibilities under the law – some very scary in that a manager can be found liable and fined independent of the organisation.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable and informative 4 days.