Tag Archives: development levels

VIRTUAL ACTIVITY: INTRODUCING SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP – WHICH STYLE FOR WHICH LEVEL?

Posted on by Leave a comment

v2osk-1Z2niiBPg5A-unsplash

INTRODUCTION

Previously we have explored the four leadership styles for situational leadership (see it here) and the four development levels (here). Next we are going to discuss how the leadership styles relate to the development levels.

FACILITATION

  • Once the participants are back from their break, welcome them and allow them to settle down.
  • Then tell them that:
    • We know what the leadership styles are.
    • We also know what the various development levels are.
    • Next, we are going to explore how to match the leadership styles to the development levels.
  • Display the next slide titled – WHICH STYLE FOR WHICH LEVEL?

Slide15

  • The displayed slide has information for a group activity that they will do to start exploring how to match leadership styles to development levels.
  • Read out the information on the slide and use it to set them up to do the activity.
  • Use the ‘breakout rooms’ feature to split them into small groups. None of the groups should have more than four people.
  • Allow them to do the activity for 15-minutes.

WORKBOOK INFORMATION – TIM’S TEAM

In your group read the information about the four team members in Tim’s team and then complete the activity afterwards.

You have 15-minutes to do the task.

Dhara

Dhara has been in the organisation and part of Tim’s team for 8 years. She is highly motivated and experienced. When Tim gives her a project or a task, he leaves her to get on with it because she will complete the task and come back to him with the results. At times, if she needs support, Dhara will ask Tim but that is the exception rather than the norm.

Adrian

Adrian started in the team almost the same time as Dhara. He is very experienced and for the most part can work by himself but Tim has noticed that Adrian is not as enthusiastic or motivated as he used to be. He will get on with the job but it almost seems as if he is bored of it. On a project recently he seemed quite negative and reluctant to contribute even though he has adequate experience, skills and knowledge to work on the project.

Bushra

Bushra started in the team just over a year ago. She is full of energy and very enthusiastic about the job. Since she came from a  different sector, there are still considerable gaps in her skill and knowledge but she has the willingness to learn and she is really good at following instructions. She still has to be shown quite a number of things but Tim believes that within the next six months she will be able to complete most if not all of her tasks independently.

Bello

Bello is new to the team. He was transferred from another department in the organisation. Since what he was doing in his previous team was different he has some skills and experience but still needs more development. That is not a problem since he can be supported to develop the necessary skills but Bello is struggling to get to grips with the job. He does not display confidence that he can complete tasks and gets demotivated when he makes mistakes.

Your task

Now that you have read about all of Tim’s team members, please complete the table below.

ST Table

  • When the time is up stop them.
  • To get feedback from them about the tasks:
    • Ask them for each person’s development level and why they chose the development level.
    • Ask them for the appropriate leadership style for each person and why they chose that leadership style.

FACILITATION (CONTINUED)

  • When the time is up stop them.
  • To get feedback from them about the task:
    • Ask them for each person’s development level and why they chose the development level.
    • Ask them for the appropriate leadership style for each person and why they chose that leadership style.
  • After their feedback display the slide titled – TIM’S TEAM and let them know that you will briefly show them the development level and leadership style for each person.

Slide16

  • Click on the slide once to display the development level for Dhara. Pause for about 3-seconds before clicking the slide again to display the appropriate leadership style for Dhara.
  • Click on the slide once to display the development level for Adrian. Pause for about 3-seconds before clicking the slide again to display the appropriate leadership style for Adrian.
  • Click on the slide once to display the development level for Bushra. Pause for about 3-seconds before clicking the slide again to display the appropriate leadership style for Bushra.
  • Finally, click on the slide once to display the development level for Bello. Pause for about 3-seconds before clicking the slide again to display the appropriate leadership style for Bello.
  • Allow them to read the information on the slide for about 2-minutes. After that ask them for any comments and or questions about the information displayed.
  • Listen to any comments or questions they have and respond appropriately.
  • Next tell them that:
    • We have now explored the most fundamental aspects of the situational leadership approach.
    • Summarily, the approach is about being flexible and not leading every team member exactly the same way.
    • We all tend to have a more comfortable way of leading people that we default to.
    • Situational leadership is challenging us to take the time to understand the needs of our team members and their development levels and then identify the appropriate leadership style to use to support a team member with their general development level or their development level in respect to a task or project.
    • For some of us this will require thinking differently and we are going to do a bit of thinking now about our team members and ourselves.

Next the participants will do a reflection activity to think about how to apply situational leadership to their teams.

VIRTUAL SESSION: INTRODUCING SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP – THE FOUR DEVELOPMENT LEVELS

Posted on by Leave a comment

mathias-jensen-5x4U6InVXpc-unsplash

INTRODUCTION

We’ve been exploring situational leadership and in a previous post (here) we looked at the four leadership styles. In this post we will discuss four development levels. Each leadership style is appropriate for a certain development level. We will now discover what the development levels are.

FACILITATION

  • Display the next slide titled – EXPLORING THE FOUR DEVELOPMENT LEVELS.

Slide11

  • Use the information on the slide to set them up to do a group activity where they will read about the development levels and summarise them back to the group.
  • Give them 10-minutes for the activity.
  • When the 10-minutes is up, stop them and bring everyone back to the main room.
  • Then ask each group to present back their summary starting from the group in room 1 through to the group in room 4.
  • When they finish presenting their summaries, thank them for doing the activity and display the slide titled – THE FOUR DEVELOPMENT LEVELS.

Slide12

  • Tell them that:
    • To summarise what you’ve just spoken about, there are four development levels which are determined by a person’s level of competence and commitment.
  • Click on the slide once to display the first development level – D1. Tell them that:
    • The first development level is D1.
    • It is a combination of low competence and high commitment.
    • A person at this development level is low on skills, knowledge and experience in relation to the job role or task but high on motivation or confidence or both.
    • This is a characteristic you may find in people who are new to a job role.
    • They are excited and motivated about the role and willing to take on the tasks but may need a certain degree of direction and support to help them develop the necessary skills, knowledge and experience.
  • Click on the slide to display the second development level – D2. Tell them that:
    • People at this development level have low to some competence. They have some skill, knowledge and experience in relation to the job role or task.
    • They also have low commitment which means either low motivation or low confidence or both.
    • This can happen to people who are working on a challenging task for which they have some competence but have become demotivated because they are struggling with the task.
  • Click on the slide to display the third development level – D3. Tell them that:
    • People at this development level have moderate to high competence but their commitment varies.
    • They have a good level of competence and struggle with their commitment levels.
    • This can be a characteristic of someone who has been in the same role for a long time. They are highly committed but beginning to become demotivated because they are not challenged by the work anymore.
  • Click on the slide to display the last development level – D4. Tell that:
    • A person with this development level has both high competence and commitment.
    • They have a high level of skills, knowledge and experience and are also highly motivated with good self-confidence.
    • When a person is working on a task or project that they are highly competent in and are excited and enthusiastic about, they will operate at this development level.
  • Click the slide again to display an arrow beneath the development levels table indicating that the development levels go from developing to developed starting from D1 to D4.
  • Tell them that:
    • As you move from D1 to D4, the development levels move from least developed which is D1 to most developed which is D4.
  • Display the next slide titled – FACTS ABOUT DEVELOPENT LEVELS.

Slide13

  • You will need to click on the slide four times to display all the information. Each time you click, some information is displayed which you should read out to the delegates.
  • After that ask them for any questions and/or comments they have about what you’ve discussed so far.
  • Listen to any comments and/or questions they have and respond appropriately.
  • Then stop for a 10-minutes break.

In the next post we will look at how to match leadership styles to development levels.