A511.3.3.RB - Directive and Supportive Behaviors

In the situational leadership approach there are four styles that a leader may use (Northouse, 2018).  These styles are made up by the level of directive and supportive behaviors used.  The directing style is high directive and low supportive.  The coaching style is high directive and supportive.  The supporting style uses high supportive and low directive.  Lastly, the delegating style is low supportive and directive.

When it comes to my role as a parent, I have to decide which style I choose based on which child I'm dealing with and the situation at hand.  In a situation where safety and/or time are critical, I use a directing style.  When it comes to school or homework related tasks, I use a coaching style.  If we're dealing with a sport or hobby, I use the supporting style.  If I were to use a directing style with my oldest, teenage son, he would likely shutdown and stop listening.  He has a coach that provides the high directive side of things.  What he needs is my support.  If we're talking about my youngest, first grader son and his homework, I can't take a strictly directive style because that may dampen his thirst for learning and knowledge.  Coaching gives me the opportunity to direct him while also supporting the knowledge he already has and encouraging him to explore his own way of getting to the right answers.

In my roles at work, my decision on style is mostly dependent on the person with which I'm dealing.  My boss gets a supporting style.  I can do this by taking the more tactical and operational things off his plate, so he can focus on the more strategic tasks at hand.  With my peers, I may use either a supporting or coaching style.  On subjects in which I'm considered an expert, I take a more coaching style.  In areas that I'm not familiar with, I use a supporting style; I'll ask, "how can I use my skills or expertise to help you?"  When I was a direct, front-line supervisor I used either a supporting or delegating style.  For the regular tasks, I simply assign task to the right person and they handle the rest.  I would also take time to regularly ask the mechanics if they had all of the tools they needed to accomplish their work.  Or maybe they had heard of a new tool or material that they might want to try.  In those instances, I supported them by getting them what they needed.

As the name implies, the situational approach to leadership is all about accurately interpreting the relationship with the person and the task they need to accomplish.  A good leader can accomplish that interpretation quickly and pivot to different styles as the situation changes.

References

Northouse, P. (2018).  Leadership: Theory and Practice 8th ed. SAGE Publications. Kindle Edition.