Episode D.008 Treating People As Individuals

A Situational Approach to Leadership
Before we start, let me set the context for this week and the People Block. Yesterday (D.007 The Discipline of Leadership & Management)) we covered the difference between Leadership and Management. This Episode takes Leadership Rule #5 - Treat Everyone as an Individual to the next step - dealing with them day-to-day.

Also there are two types of Leadership - Transforming & Transacting. Transforming is about the culture, your vision, mission, etc while Transacting is the day to day interaction with employees.

The focus today and for the remainder of the week is on the transactional elements; a Situational Approach to people.

There is nothing in the organizational world I am more intimate with than situational leader - the concept that leadership is based on the development or readiness level of the individual or team being assigned the task.

Here is the fundamental issue - it is task specific - you look at an individual or team 1 task at a time. You Assess first their ability or competence - can they do the job, then Assess their willingness or commitment - will they do the job.

Your decision on these 2 critical factors will determine what style of leadership they receive.

Let’s look at the underlying issues.
Ability or Competence:

• Knowledge
• Experience
• Skills

Willingness or Commitment:

• Desire
• Expectations
• Confidence

Now’s move the discussion to - “is there a logical progression from one level to another”. There are 4 possible combinations - what happens in the real world.

• Lowest level you have - unconscious incompetence 
• Next you become aware - conscious incompetence
• Then you gain skills - conscious competence
• Finally you achieve mastery - unconscious competence 

​How you train, develop, discipline, lead others is based on these assessments. Tomorrow we will cover what are your options for dealing with each readiness level.