Situational Leadership 2 of Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey

Background

Situational leadership theory has been developed over several stages. In its basic form, it was developed in collaboration with two Americans – namely behavioral scientist Paul Hersey and PhD in leadership Kenneth Blanchard. 

They developed the first model while working on the book “Management of Organizational Behavior”. The theory was first introduced in 1969.

Throughout the 70s, Hersey and Blanchard jointly carried out adaptations of the model until they agreed in 1977 to discontinue their collaboration. In 1985, Kenneth Blanchard introduced Situational Leadership 2 – also called SL2 – in the book “A Situational Approach to Managing People”. This is the model that is used as a starting point for the review here.

About the model

The purpose of the model is to make it easier for the manager to use the leadership style that matches the individual employee’s needs for leadership in relation to a specific goal or a specific task that the employee must perform.

The model shows that the starting point for the manager’s choice of leadership style should always be the individual employee’s needs. The management style towards the individual employee can thus vary over time.

The SLII Model has two approaches.

We start at the top of the model in the matrix with the four leadership styles.

Directive  on the horizontal X axis and supportive behavior on the Y axis.

In Directive behavior, the leader tells what to do and how to do it. He checks that it is done and gives feedback to the employee. It is very much about one-way communication

In Supportive Behavior, the leader takes on a different role. The leader supports, performs active listening, involves and facilitates the employee to make decisions for himself and gives constructive feedback. The leader helps the employee to become an active party in the decision-making process on the task the employee has taken on. This is a two-way communication

Both dimensions go from low to high

Four leadership styles

From these two times two, four leadership styles emerge:

Style 1 – called Directive Leadership Behavior – here there is high instructional behavior and low supportive behavior from the leader. The leader gives specific direction about goals, shows and tells how and closely monitors the employee’s performance to provide frequent feedback on the results. 

Style 2 – called Coaching Leadership Behavior – here there is both high instructional behavior and high supportive behavior. The leader explains why and encourages the employee to make suggestions on how the task can also be solved. However, the leader continues to lead the execution so that the employee achieves the task. 

Style 3 – called Supporting Leadership Behavior – here there is low instructional and high supportive behavior. The leader and the individual employee make decisions together. The leader’s most important role is to listen, encourage and support the individual employee in the solutions that the employee comes up with.

Style 4 – called delegating leadership behavior – here there is low instructional and low supportive behavior from the manager. The employee makes most of the decisions about what, how and when. The manager’s role is to value the employee’s contribution and support the employee’s competence development. The manager delegates the task – the employee has both the competence and the motivation to solve it themselves.

According to the model, the manager has four possible leadership styles to choose from. How the manager uses the 4 leadership styles optimally depends on the employee’s level of development.

The employee’s level of development

The level of development is a combination of two factors. 

These are the employee’s competences and the employee’s commitment. Based on the two concepts, the model identifies four levels of development.

D1 level of development – which consists of low competence and high commitment. Here the employee is very enthusiastic even though the employee is completely inexperienced in relation to the task set or the goal to be achieved. The employee is very willing to learn and believes that it is easy to learn the new skills needed to perform the task or achieve the new goal.

D2 development level – Here the employee is disillusioned. The employee shows low to some competence. The employee therefore has fluctuating performance and does not create enough momentum to solve the task or achieve the goal. The commitment is also low. The employee is discouraged and frustrated; and may be on the verge of giving up

D3 – here the employee is skilled but a little unsure of himself. The employee has competence and helps to solve the task and achieve the goal. The commitment varies, however, as the employee sometimes becomes unsure of himself and his own abilities. In other words, lacks – self-confidence.

D4 – here the employee is the expert and he knows it. The employee has high competence in solving the task and is considered by others as the expert in the area. The employee has a high level of commitment and this is expressed in great self-confidence. The employee has an ability to motivate himself and to find opportunities so that the task is solved and the goal is achieved.

Criticism

The model expects that the manager can always place the employees in one of the four development levels.

It does not take into account that the employees work with different tasks and goals; and therefore can be at several development levels at the same time

The model is an excellent tool for the manager who wants to perform situational leadership. It provides a quick overview of the employee's development level and thus the opportunity to continuously adapt the leadership style to the individual employee.