SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP
Part of the following ministry resources: Christian Leadership, Empowerment, Transformational Leadership.
- Introduction
- Situational Leadership as Empowerment and Transformational Leadership
- Situational Leadership and Spiritual Leadership
- Ministry Resources for Spiritual Leadership
- Related Ministry Resources
Introduction
The concept of “Situational Leadership” was popularized by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey to provide a model for individualizing the coaching approach based on people’s varying levels of motivation, competence, and maturity. It is thus “situational.” They developed a grid for assessing where people fall on a continuum, and whether the appropriate style is directing, coaching, supporting, or delegating.
Situational Leadership as Empowerment and Transformational Leadership
Situational leadership is an expression of transformational and empowering leadership. One of the four key competencies of transformatiional leadership as defined by Bernard Bass is “individualized consideration,” or paying attention to each individual follower’s needs for achievement and growth by acting as a coach or mentor. This is also found universally in the literature on servant leadership.
Situational Leadership and Spiritual Leadership
Situational leadership resonates with some aspects of spiritual leadership. For example, Lynn Anderson, in They Smell Like Sheep, shows the importance of biblical images such as shepherd, mentor, and equipper. In another of his books, The Jesus Touch, Anderson shows how Jesus’ interactions with each person was “creative,” or conceived uniquely for each case. Situational Leadership is potentially a good tool in helping leaders know best how to tailor their shepherding and mentoring approach to each individual.
Ministry Resources on Situational Leadership
Two texts discuss this model in detail.
- Kenneth Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi and Drea Zigarmi, Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership – This is the place to start for understanding the Blanchard model.
- Kenneth Blanchard, John P. Carlos and Alan Randolph, The 3 Keys to Empowerment: Release the Power Within People by Talking about the Challenges for Astonishing Results – Helps leaders trouble-shoot through the challenges associated with shifting to the empowerment model and Situational Leadership II.
Also, each volume in the popular One-Minute Manager series by Ken Blanchard and his associates describes how to coach and mentor others in an empowering manner. As such, they express situational leadership. There are many installments in this series. The list below is selective.
- Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, The One Minute Manager — The first volume in the series.
- Kenneth Blanchard and Robert Lorber, Putting the One Minute Manager to Work: How to Turn the 3 Secrets into Skills
- Kenneth Blanchard and Martha McBride, The 4th Secret of the One Minute Manager: A Powerful Way to Make Things Better
- Kenneth H. Blanchard, The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey
- Douglas B. Allen and Dwight W. Allen, Formula 2 + 2: The Simple Solution for Successful Coaching
Related Ministry Resources
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