For Situational Leaders: The "Situation" May Be Sitting Right in Front of You!
.jpg)
Earlier today I was shuffling around on Amazon and ran across a book title that caught my interest, ‘Self-Promotion for Introverts, The Quiet Guide to Getting Ahead’ by Nancy Ancowitz.. I have always considered myself to be an “introvert” so I decided to spend a little time with the information about the book.
Within a few minutes I had been introduced to a world of similar titles I did not realize existed and they are all selling better than my book! Here are some examples:
‘The Introvert Advantage: How to Thrive in an Extrovert World’ by Marti Olsen Laney
‘Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life is Your Hidden Strength’, by Laurie Helgoe
‘Networking for People Who Hate Networking: A Filed Guide for Introverts, the Overwhelmed and the Underconnected’ by Devora Zack
‘The Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength’ by Jennifer B. Kahnweiler
‘Confessions of an Introvert: The Shy Girl’s Guide to Networking and Getting the Most Out of Life' by Meghan Wier
‘The Successful Introvert: How to Enhance Your Job Search and Advance Your Career’ by Wendy Gelberg
And the list went on…
As someone who considers themselves an introvert I was stunned to see how bold my people had become, especially in recent years. All these books have been published since 2002. By past standards of introversion this seems like almost an epidemic of coming out…I AM AN INTROVERT, HEAR ME ROAR!!!
OK, then I pulled myself together and once more resumed my practical, pragmatic approach to life and I began thinking about managers and the challenge of having someone with an introverted nature working for you. Statistically speaking anywhere from 25-40% of a work force fits the introvert personality profile.
.jpg)
The concept of Situational Leadership was developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard in the mid-1970’s. More likely than not if you have worked as a manager in any of the larger public corporations, the Fortune 1000, or even some larger private firms in the past 35 years, you have been exposed to some form of Situational Leadership training.
The basic theory as developed by Hersey-Blanchard calls upon a leader to assess the needs of either individuals or groups in relationship to the task they are faced with. The keys to success using this approach rest on a leader being able to accurately assess the maturity level of all parties involved and apply the most appropriate leadership style. The literature on this management model is abundant so I won’t take time with it here.
While the staying power of this model stands as a testament to its value I think it is important to remember that it was developed well before the concept of knowledge work had been fully distinguished. As I read through the summaries of the books listed here it struck me that while there is still plenty of value left in a management model that is task-relevant we are also likely in need a model, or at least some thinking about a model more person than task focused.
In the world as it is constituted today the highest value is knowledge as it is being created and therefore the source of knowledge, the individual becomes the focus of developmental concern. I will even go so far as to say that the truest role of managers, especially mid-level managers is to use the production of results they are accountable for as the venue for development of the human capital they have been assigned.
If you can accept this possibility it then becomes imperative that those of us responsible for management development begin to frame an idea of the individual employee as “the situation” and the tasks at hand and results to be produced become the means to address “the situation.” For most managers this will turn their world on its head. And yet, if we are to effectively develop managers who can reliably identify, develop and retain human capital for our organizations does anything else really make sense?
- Where in your management development education process place is there an emphasis on having mid-level managers develop in-depth knowledge of a variety of “types” of personalities?
- Would you consider offering one of the resources named above to a direct report as a possible developmental tool?
