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I was working with a senior group of executives in a large, well-known company.
John, as I will call him, had been described as a command and
control leader nearly all of his life.
John set impossibly high standards, called people out,
gave harsh public criticism, and praise from John was few and far between.
When I met John,
he was in a simulation in which he was randomly assigned to be a subordinate.
For the first time,
John experienced what it was like to be bossed around and not consulted.
The experience of being out of the loop was a wake up call for John, and
as a result he decided to become a more participative leader.
So how can we help John?
According to McGregor there are two
fundamentally different kinds of leadership styles, Theory X and Theory Y.
Theory X leadership is largely transactional.
Meaning that leaders believe people are fundamentally not motivated and
they need to be offered incentives or punishments to perform.
Theory X leaders believe that people need to be monitored, and
that good work should be rewarded, and bad work or lack of work needs to be punished.
All of this amounts to a tit-for-tat culture.
John was a Theory X leader.
A very different view, is Theory Y leadership,
which is based on the outlandish idea that people want to contribute and
are self motivated to perform good work.
Theory Y leaders are transformational, meaning that they inspire people
to excel and contribute, not by administering rewards and
punishments, but by empowering others and giving them authority.
This creates a gift culture, where people are not adding up cost and
benefits, but they are actively contributing to the enterprise.
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Another question, when it comes to leadership is,
should managers focus on getting the work done or attending to the people?
Task-focused leaders are highly agentic and focus on
getting the work done, meeting performance objectives, and being productive.
In contrast, person-focused leaders care about the people,
their welfare, and seek to build trusting relationships with them.
Let's use Blake and
Mouton's leadership grid to explore five possible types of leaders.
The Authority-Obedience Manager is high task, low people.
The Authority-Obedience leader focuses so much on the task,
that people often don't feel appreciated.
The Country-Club leader focuses so much on the people that no work is getting done.
The Impoverished leader is low people, low task, and is not really doing anything.
Team Managers are high people and high task.
Team leaders focus both on the people and the work to be done.
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Most of us tend to be Middle of the Road Managers.
We know we should be attending to the task and the people, but we're falling short.
So let's bring this all together.
Hershey and Blanchard realized that because organizations and
companies face different challenges and situations change,
leaders need to be ready to respond, pivot and adjust.
So they developed the Situational Leadership Model.
According to the Situational Leadership Model,
leaders need to consider the readiness of their team in regard to the task.
If your team is not ready to perform the task,
low readiness, leaders need to be very directing, what Blake and
Mouton referred to as authority obedience leadership.
If teams are very ready,
leaders can delegate because the team can handle the rest.
When team members are moderately ready when it comes to the task,
leaders can do more supporting and coaching.
Okay, let's sum up by putting all of this in a context you can immediately use.
First, you now have a language to talk about your leadership style, and
recognize styles in others.
Second, you know your strengths and weaknesses.
Third, think about which leadership style would be most useful for
the goals of your organization.
Fourth, what can you do in the next 30 days to begin to develop and
cultivate this style?
Fifth, who can be part of your support system in your leadership development?
Finally, remember each of us is a work in progress.
And we are never complete.
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Leigh ThompsonJ. Jay Gerber Distinguished Professor of Dispute Resolution and Organizations
