The second quadrant is located in the upper right, S2 coaching leadership style. This phase is where the leader listens to the follower, provides support and encourages the follower’s efforts, and facilitates involvement with problem solving and decision-making. Communication flows between leader and follower. The X-axis beginning point is to the extreme right (high directive) indicating that leader will be providing directions. The rectangular object showing development levels is also to the extreme right but here it signifies that the amount of learned knowledge (amount of development to perform task) is low. The Y-axis is on the top showing us that supportive behavior is high. The follower will be getting support from the leader as well as direction. Commitment is lower than in the directing stage but some competence is increasing. Control over decision-making remains with the leader but follower begins to make suggestions, offer ideas and opinions.
The third quadrant is located in the upper left, S3 supporting leadership style. Here is where the leader listens to the follower more than before. The X-axis is to the extreme left (low directive) indicating that leader is not providing much direction. The rectangular object showing development levels is also to the extreme left but here it signifies that the amount of learned knowledge (amount of development to perform task) is high. The follower has learned many of the tasks but has not stayed as committed as in the directing stage. The Y-axis is on the top showing us that supportive behavior is high. The follower is still getting support from the leader as well as direction but is allowed to do much of the task on his/her own. Control over decision-making begins to shift from the leader to the follower. The follower’s competence level is higher.
The fourth and last quadrant is in the lower left, S4 delegating leadership style. The leader backs off some more and the follower gets control. The X-axis is to the extreme left (low directive) indicating that leader is not providing much direction. The rectangular object showing development levels stays to the extreme left because the amount of learned knowledge (amount of development to perform task) is high. This means that the follower not only knows his/her tasks, they have competence and confidence. This brings about a new feeling of commitment. The Y-axis is on the bottom showing that supportive behavior is low. The follower is getting little support and direction. The leader can now discuss problems with the followers and seek joint agreements on defined problems. Decision-making becomes part of the follower’s role.
Some depictions of the situational leadership model portray a bell curve that flows from the lower right quadrant, into the upper right, to the left upper, and then down and out to the lower left. This is indicative of the development that is taking place and that with the increased development less supportive behavior is needed. The directive behavior starts out high and gradually decreases as it shifts from the coaching mode to the supporting mode. More learning, through increases in development level, allows the leader to use his/her time on other things.
The situational leadership model will be further explained utilizing phases that we all went through during our childhood. How we learned to ride a bicycle will be broken down into the four stages.
In the directing stage, the leader (usually a parent) provides a lot of direction on how the follower (usually one of their kids) is suppose to mount the bicycle, how to sit, how to hold the handlebars, how to peddle to attain speed so that it does not tilt, and how to turn right and left. The parent approach is slow and involves telling, showing, and doing. This occurs through a lot of verbal communication with little hands-on time for the child. The child does not have the skills developed and lacks the confidence to perform the task alone. The directive behavior is high since the parent is providing many directions and supportive behavior is low since the parent is providing minimal support. This is acceptable since the child is not really performing.
As the lessons progress, the parent switches more to the coaching phase by encouraging the child to get on the bicycle. The parent then pushes the child and holds onto the bicycle to provide stability. Both the parent and child are involved in the task but the support has moved from low to high since there is direct involvement by both. The directive behavior stays high because the amount of direction has not decreased. Confidence is building and skills are becoming relevant but the child cannot do it alone.
Time and practice eventually provide the child with enough learning that they begin to move through space on their own. The peddling is sporadic at times but the child is able to maintain enough speed to keep from falling over. Sitting correctly and hold the handle bars has become second nature. Maneuvering turns is still troublesome but the child is capable and experience is increasing. Confidence is still in the lacking stages. The shift in the rectangular box places the child in a moderate developed phase. The supportive behavior is high and directive behavior reduction is occurring. Communication between the child and parent is two-way with the parent providing praise and listening readily to the child’s comments. The parent has become more of a facilitator than a coach.
The last phase of bicycle riding results in the child jumping onto the bicycle and driving off down the neighborhood without parental help. Development level is high and has shifted on the progressive scale all of the way to the left. The supportive behavior has gone from high to low and directive behavior has done the same. The parent has given the child the responsibility of staying up on the bicycle and making the turns. In addition, the child now has the ability of making decisions about when to cross the street and how to watch for on-coming traffic. The parent will continue to provide overviews on what the child should do and when they should do it but it will be more suggestive. The child’s confidence has increased to the point that they even try to perform tricks on the bicycle. They may even have learned to ride better than the parent.
The X-axis can be further explained as the amount of supervision the leader partakes. We have already discussed that in the directing stage the amount of direction provided is high. The follower is told not only what to do but when and how. An example providing further explanation is to tell the follower ‘to take a round point shovel and dig a hole sixteen inches deep before the rain looming over the horizon comes down’. The follower knows what specific type shovel to use for digging the hole, how deep the hole is to be dug it, and the time requirement for completion of the hole. This is providing very explicit direction that require a lot of the leader’s time. The leader will expend more time overseeing the task until completion for the beginning follower. As the follower gains knowledge, about the shovel types and earthen layers, the leader can provide more generalized instructions knowing that the tasks will still be completed with some degree of quality. Eventually the instructions will sound more like “Dig the hole over there before it rains”. The leader will not have to utilize any where near as much time, in providing directions and overseeing the work, as before.
The Y-axis is treated the same as the X-axis. The difference is that instead of directions the leader is providing support, encouragement, and praise. In the coaching and supporting quadrants, the leader seeks to illicit the follower’s ideas and opinions while providing the support. The high support could come in the way of offer to have others provide assistance with the followers task as in, “let me have Joe help you so that you can see what is needed and how it is done by an experienced individual”. The low support would just tell them to “do it”.
In each of the situations, the leader needs to have some knowledge in being able to know the level of learning that the follower has attained. The amount of learning and ease of doing so will also affect the follower. The motivation will shift from high to low depending on whether the follower thinks that they were able to learn quickly enough or not.
This is where the bell shaped curve plays an important piece. The curve is where the follower’s willingness (motivation) goes up and down. When the follower is in the directing stage, he/she is not able to perform due to lack of knowledge and fear of failure drives the unwillingness. Entering into the coaching phase, follower has gained some confidence through learning but is still unable to perform well on his/her own. This is like the child that thought washing dishes was great because they never had to wash them. After a few lessons, the child got somewhat motivated about wanting to do the dishes. As time progressed, they learned more about the ways to wash and it became a requirement that he/she was the dishes after every meal. Motivation was high and began to decrease.
This is the shift to the supporting quadrant, where the follower is able to perform but the motivation (willingness) is falling off. Through the support, encouragement, and praise from the leader motivation returns upon crossing into the delegating stage. Here we have the follower fully motivated and able to perform.
In summary, the situational leadership model provides a leader a shifting process for teaching a follower through their varying learning phases. As the follower learns a skill and gains the confidence to perform it alone, the leader reduces the amount of direction and support provide. Both the leader and the follower undergo changes during the learning but the adaptability of each will determine the degree of success.