2 The Launching Pad

Determining Appropriate Help: Learning About Situational Leadership® II

Ken: As I suggested in the introduction, at some time in our life we all have made a New Year's resolution to do something and then not followed through—we didn't behave on our good intentions. Most New Year's resolutions don't work because we find accomplishing the goal to be tougher than we thought it would be. Added to that, we get little, if any, help from people around us when we get discouraged. In fact, they often smile and say, “We'll believe it when we see it,” and then walk away to let us manage on our own. But if we could do it by ourselves, it would not need to be a New Year's resolution—we would just do it.

I knew right away that I could not regain my fitness on my own—a delegating leadership style wouldn't work for me. Then I had a blinding flash of the obvious: Why not use Situational Leadership® II¹—the model that has built our business more than anything else we have ever taught— to help Tim and me figure out the kind of leadership (i.e., help) I would need to accomplish the fitness goals we would agree upon?

That would be perfect because Situational Leadership® II—also known as SLII®—contends that leadership is not something you do to people; it's something you do with people. And if Tim and I both knew and practiced SLII®, he could give me the help I needed on each part of my fitness program. After all, according to SLII®, there is no one best leadership style for helping people to accomplish their goals. So a delegating style might work in some situations, but certainly not in an area where someone was struggling like I was with certain aspects of my fitness.

Three skills are necessary to effectively apply SLII® to any situation:

• Goal setting

• Diagnosing

• Matching

Goal Setting

All good performance starts with clear goals. After all, the first secret of The One Minute Manager is One Minute Goals. If you don't know what you want to accomplish, there is very little chance you will get there.

1. I first started developing Situational Leadership® in the late 1960s with Paul Hersey at Ohio University when we were writing our textbook Management of Organizational Behavior. In the 1980s when Margie and I began to build our own training and development business, together with our founding associates, we began to find that some critical aspects of Hersey's and my original Situational Leadership® model didn't fit the research on team development and observations about how most people feel when they are initially working on a new task or job. It was at that point we created Situational Leadership® II. See Leadership and the One Minute Manager (New York: HarperCollins, 1985 and 2013).

In setting clear goals, it is important that the goals you set are SMART goals. SMART is an acronym to help you remember the key aspects of an effective goal. However, you should write your actual goals in this order: S, then T, then R, A, and M. I'll explain as we continue.

S stands for specific. Goals should state exactly what you want to accomplish and when you want to accomplish it.

T stands for trackable. How are you going to measure your performance? In other words, what are the performance standards? What does a good job look like?

So you first decide exactly what you want to achieve—S— and then you determine how you are going to track or measure progress toward goal accomplishment—T. Once the S and T are in place, then use the other three SMART criteria—the R, A, and M—to check if the goal is truly SMART.

R stands for relevant. Is it really important? Will it make a difference in your life?

A stands for attainable. Goals have to be reasonable. Whether or not they are reasonable depends on what has happened in the past. You want to stretch yourself but don't want to make a goal so difficult that it's unattainable and you lose commitment.

M stands for motivating. For you to do your best work, the goals that are set need to tap into what you enjoy doing or know you will eventually enjoy doing.

Diagnosing

Once SMART goals are set—aligning what needs to be done and when—the next skill for using SLII® is diagnosing your development level on a specific goal or task.

Development level is a function of competence (skills/experience) and commitment (motivation/confidence). In other words, any time you are not performing well, it is usually a competence problem, a commitment problem, or both.

Competence is a function of demonstrated knowledge and skills, which can be gained through learning or experience. When it came to fitness, I knew a lot about it—at least some aspects of it—having written about it and having been a part of a number of health and fitness programs. I have always had less of a competence problem than a commitment problem.

Commitment is a combination of confidence and motivation. Confidence is a measure of your self-assuredness—the feeling of being able to do a task with little help. Over the years, my confidence level to maintain a fitness program had eroded.

Motivation is a measure of your interest in and enthusiasm for doing a task well. There are times when you have the competence and confidence to do something, but no interest. Over the years, I lost motivation when I realized that living a healthy, fit lifestyle was going to be harder than I thought. I also found that I got bored with exercising and eating the right food. Some people lose motivation because they feel their efforts and progress aren't being acknowledged—in other words, they need other people's support and cheerleading. That certainly was true for me—and the reason why a delegating, leave-alone leadership style never worked for me in this area.

As you can imagine, there are different combinations of competence and commitment. To be precise, four combinations of competence and commitment make up what we call the four development levels. See the figure at the top of the next page.

When you are a D1 on a particular goal or task, you are what we call an enthusiastic beginner. Even though you have high commitment, you are inexperienced because you are new to the task or goal. In many ways, you don't know what you don't know. Therefore, you are low on competence.

If you ever started a fitness program in the beginning of the year, I would imagine you were an enthusiastic beginner unless you had been down this road before, like me. Then you might be a D2, or what we call a disillusioned learner. You have low to some competence, because you have some prior knowledge and experience in the area you're working on. But you are discouraged because you haven't made as much progress as you expected. It's at this stage you could become frustrated and might even be ready to quit. That's what happened to me in my past fitness journeys. It happens to a lot of people.

If you are a D3, you are what we call a capable but cautious performer. You have demonstrated some competence and experience in doing the task, but lack confidence in doing that task by yourself. In that case, you can become self-critical and unsure. You can also become bored with a particular goal or task at this stage and lose commitment that way.

You ultimately hope to become a D4 in doing a task, and then you'll be what we call a self-reliant achiever. You will have both high competence and commitment and not require a New Year's resolution to perform well.

Besides knowing about the four different development levels, it is important to realize that development is task- or goal-specific. Since goal setting focuses your energy, make sure you don't set too many goals and dilute your efforts.

Once you have agreed upon three to five SMART goals in a particular area such as fitness, it is important that you analyze your development level on each of the agreed-upon goals. For example, you might be an avid jogger, and when it comes to aerobic exercise you are a D4—self-reliant achiever. But when it comes to nutrition and weight control, you are a D2—disillusioned learner. You are frustrated because you are constantly fighting your weight.

As a result, it was important for me—and it might be important for you—to realize that with a fitness program, you need different leadership styles, or help, for different parts of your program. If you are in good shape when it comes to aerobic exercise, you can be left alone and will continue to perform well, but if that same approach is used around nutrition and weight control, you will be in trouble.

Matching

This brings us to the third skill needed to use SLII®: Matching. This involves finding someone who can provide you with the appropriate amount of directive behavior and supportive behavior that you need to accomplish a goal.

• Directive behavior involves telling people what, when, where, and how to do things, and then closely observing them.

• Supportive behavior involves listening, praising, facilitating, interacting with, and involving people in decision making.

When I think about the difference between directive and supportive behavior, I go back to my days at the University of Massachusetts when I did a lot of work with teachers. We taught them that if a student came to a learning experience with their barrel empty of knowledge, the job of the teacher was to fill up that barrel. Directive behavior is a “barrel-filling” leadership style. If the student came to a learning experience with their barrel full of knowledge, the job of the teacher was to draw that knowledge out of the student and help them organize it in a way that made sense. Supportive behavior is a “barrel-drawing-out” leadership style.

Just like with competence and commitment, there are four different combinations of directive and supportive behavior that make up the four leadership styles, as seen in the figure on the previous page:

Style 1—Directing: High Directive Behavior and Low Supportive Behavior

The leader provides specific direction about goals, shows and tells how, and closely tracks the individual's performance in order to provide frequent feedback on results.

Style 2—Coaching: High Directive Behavior and High Supportive Behavior

The leader continues to direct goal or task accomplishment but also explains why, solicits suggestions, and begins to encourage involvement in decision making.

Style 3—Supporting: Low Directive Behavior and High Supportive Behavior

The leader and the individual make decisions together. The role of the leader is to facilitate, listen, draw out, encourage, and support.

Style 4—Delegating: Low Directive Behavior and Low Supportive Behavior

The individual makes most of the decisions about what, how, and when. The role of the leader is to value the individual's contributions and support their growth.

How do these four leadership styles differ in terms of the “barrel-filling” and “barrel-drawing-out” concepts? Suppose when it comes to flexibility, you suddenly realize how important it is for your overall physical functioning. If a trainer or a knowledgeable friend were using an S1—Directing style with you on your flexibility, that person would tell you what your goal should be and what a good job would look like, and then closely supervise your performance. So S1—Directing is a “barrel-filling” style.

If someone were to use an S2—Coaching style with you on your flexibility, they would still be in charge and provide a lot of direction, but this is where a good trainer or knowledgeable friend would begin to engage in two-way communication by asking for your suggestions. This would involve providing a lot of support, because some of the ideas you suggest would be good—and it would be important for an S2 leader to reinforce your initiative and capacity to start to evaluate your own efforts. So an S2—Coaching leadership style is both a “barrel-filling” and “barrel-drawing-out” style.

If a trainer or knowledgeable friend wanted to use an S3—Supporting leadership style with you on your flexibility, that person would keep the ball in your court—supporting your efforts, listening to your suggestions, and asking questions to build your confidence in your competence. Rarely would an S3 leader talk about how to go about accomplishing a particular task. Such a leader would instead help you reach your own solution by asking questions to expand thinking and encourage risk taking. So an S3—Supporting leadership style is a “barrel-drawing-out” style.

If someone working with you on your flexibility wanted to use an S4—Delegating leadership style, that person would turn over to you the responsibility for day-to-day decision making and problem solving on building your flexibility. So with an S4—Delegating leadership style, there is little “barrel filling” or “barrel drawing out” taking place.

So you can see how, with the same task—improving your flexibility—a trainer or knowledgeable friend can use any of the four leadership styles.

Once you know what areas you need to work on—such as aerobic exercise, strength, flexibility, or balance training, or nutrition/weight control—you are ready to find someone like Tim who can match the appropriate leadership style to your development level in each area. In other words, to help you achieve a goal, a trainer or knowledgeable friend not only needs to use different strokes for different folks, but also different strokes for the same folks on different goals.

Take a look at our complete Situational Leadership® II model on the next page. To determine the appropriate leadership style you need, imagine a vertical line from your development level up into the style portion of the model. Where that line hits the curve running through the four leadership styles will indicate the appropriate leadership style required for your development level. So, as the illustration indicates:

S1—Directing is for enthusiastic beginners who lack competence but are enthusiastic and committed (D1). They need direction and frequent feedback to get them started and to develop their competence.

S2—Coaching is for disillusioned learners who have some competence but lack commitment (D2). They need direction and feedback because they're still relatively inexperienced. They also need support and acknowledgement to build their self-confidence and motivation, and involvement in decision making to restore their commitment.

S3—Supporting is for capable but cautious performers who have competence but lack confidence or motivation (D3). They do not need much direction because of their skills, but support is necessary to bolster their confidence and motivation.

S4—Delegating is for self-reliant achievers who have both competence and commitment (D4). They are able and willing to work on a project by themselves with little direction or support.

Because we will be referring to the concepts in Situational Leadership® II throughout the rest of the book, we have reproduced this model on the last page of the book for your easy reference.

Changing Leadership Style over Time

Once you and a trainer or knowledgeable friend have determined which leadership style to use on each area of your fitness program, the question becomes this: Does the trainer always use the same style on a particular area? The answer is no. The goal is to move your development level to the point where an S4—Delegating leadership style would work. In my case, I would then be competent and committed to effectively carry on without Tim's supervision. As you'll see throughout our journey, Tim doesn't do just a one-time diagnosis of my development level and deliver the appropriate style. He is always looking for opportunities to move forward on the leadership style curve from S1—Directing, where I was an enthusiastic beginner, to S2—Coaching, if any disillusionment set in, and then to S3—Supporting, where I needed more support than direction, and eventually—ideally—to S4—Delegating, where I was able to manage my own performance. In a sense, you have to look at the curve running through the model as a railroad track. If you start at station S1—Directing and you want to get to S4—Delegating, you have to stop at S2—Coaching and S3—Supporting before you get there.

Problems occur when you skip a style. The most serious error you can make is to have someone start off directing your effort (S1) and then, for some reason, that person stops working with you and leaves you alone (S4) to work on accomplishing a goal by yourself. In many ways, I made that mistake in the past when I got too busy with travel and forced Tim to jump off the track and go directly to an inappropriate S4—Delegating leadership style. If you look at the model, you'll notice there is no railroad track that goes straight from S1—Directing to S4—Delegating. What happens if a train goes off the track? People get hurt—they get discouraged and don't accomplish their goals.

To illustrate the importance of staying on the leadership railroad track when helping someone accomplish a goal or goals, let me relate my experience teaching golf.

Just a minute, Blanchard, we already heard about your basketball coaching. What is this about teaching golf?

My favorite sport besides basketball is golf. My dad introduced me to the game at about the same time he put a basket in our basement—when I was six years old. I never met a golf game I didn't like.

In 1984, I got a call from Jerry Tarde, editor of Golf Digest magazine. He had just finished reading The One Minute Manager and was intrigued by the analogy we drew in the book suggesting that not providing clear goals for people was like asking them to play golf at night—in both cases, they wouldn't perform very well because they wouldn't be able to see the pins (i.e., goals).

Jerry asked me if I played golf.

I was quick to reply, “I'm a golf nut.”

He was delighted and asked if I would write an article with one of their top teaching pros entitled The One Minute Golfer.

I said I would be happy to do the article if I could coauthor it with a pro named Bob Toski, because I had heard he was a great golf teacher and also quite a character. So I flew to Florida and spent two days writing with Bob. Our article appeared as the cover story in the June 1985 issue of Golf Digest magazine. It went over so well that Jerry asked me to go to one of their golf schools and write a follow-up article entitled The One Minute Manager Goes to Golf School. As a result, I spent a fun week in Alabama working and playing with Toski and other esteemed golf teachers.

I didn't end up writing the article, however. Why? Because I learned that at most golf schools the instructors use mainly S1—Directing and S2—Coaching leadership styles throughout the program. Then, when school is over, they go straight to an S4—Delegating style. As a result, the students often get worse after they leave because they have “paralysis by analysis” and can't put what they learned into practice on their own. So I decided to co-found The Golf University® in the San Diego area with some local golf pros.

At the beginning of our two-and-a-half day school, I would teach all of the students SLII® so they could understand the journey we would be taking them on. The first morning, our pros would analyze each student's golf game and set three or four learning goals for their time with us. Then the pros used S1—Directing and S2—Coaching styles with their students for the rest of the day. Rather than rotating everyone around the same learning stations in an attempt to teach them everything about golf in one school, we divided the students into groups with similar goals based on their golf experience.

The second day, our pros predominantly used S2— Coaching and S3—Supporting styles with the students on their learning goals. On the final morning, when students hit a shot, their pros would not comment about the shot until the students had analyzed their own performance. Why? Because the pros knew that when the school ended, the students would be forced to go to an S4—Delegating leadership style. Unless the students could direct and support themselves on what they had learned, they would not improve and might even get worse after graduation. Having our pros stay on the leadership railroad track—moving from S1, to S2, to S3 during school, to the inevitable S4 style at the end of the program—worked well as students continued to improve.

Quite a few retirees, who had never played before but wanted to learn the game, came to our school once each quarter for a year or so. Each time they came, we would give them new learning goals, work them through the railroad track again with these new goals from S1, to S2, to S3, and then send them home with the S4—Delegating style and they would practice what they had learned. After several visits to the school, a number of these “beginner seniors” ended up shooting in the low 80s or high 70s. With results like that, we were named one of the top golf schools in America under the leadership of our head pro, Tom Wischmeyer.

We closed The Golf University® after 9/11 when people just weren't traveling anymore to noncritical activities like golf schools. But using SLII® and changing our leadership style over time as a strategy for improving students' golf games really worked. In fact, I wrote a book about the process, originally entitled Playing the Great Game of Golf: Making Every Minute Count and later retitled The One Minute Golfer: Enjoy the Great Game More.

Why have I taken so much time in this section to talk about Situational Leadership® II? Because SLII® concepts are vital to understanding how to move forward and accomplish goals—whether it be with your golf game or anything else— as I was attempting to do with my fitness program. The reason I had failed so often in the past was that I hadn't allowed either myself or Tim to practice what I preached. I had cut off Tim's support and direction too early when I obviously couldn't handle an S4—Delegating leadership style yet.

With my newfound awareness that SLII® would have a big part in my fitness journey, it was time for me to commit to my commitment. As you go on this journey with Tim and me, you will see that the concepts from Situational Leadership® II come into play continually.