Imagine this scenario: You just finished training a new team member. They have a few years of previous experience with another company and are very eager to start working. You asked this employee to create a report, gave them high-level information on how to do the task, and provided the data to get started. You ask if they can run with it, and they say sure. The VP of Sales stops by and asks you to join an impromptu meeting that is happening right now.

When you return later that afternoon, you stop by the employee’s desk to see how things are going and find they haven’t done anything with the data or the report. They say they didn’t know what to do and didn’t have the confidence to ask for help.

As a result, the data has not been entered, and the report is now late. You’re thinking to yourself, what happened? I showed them what to do before I went to my meeting. Why didn’t they finish the report? They had all the information. Instead of leading employees from a one-size-fits-all or one-dimensional angle, you want to diagnose where each employee is for that task based on their competence and commitment.

Why is Being a Situational Leader Important?

Becoming a situational leader is understanding the unique needs of your team members and adapting your leadership style to bring out their best potential for that task. You must meet the employee’s needs to set them up for success.

Diagnosing Your Employee 

The first step to acting like a situational leader is to assess your team member’s competence (knowledge and experience) and commitment (motivation and confidence.) This helps you determine which leadership style to use to meet the employee’s needs.