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What leadership style will you practice today?

Nurse Leader Weekly, May 29, 2006

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In the late 1960s, researchers found that effective leaders had a talent for aligning the leadership style they used with the particular needs of the person or group with whom they were dealing. This approach became known as "situational leadership," reflecting that the leader varies his or her style and uses "different strokes for different folks."

To use this approach effectively, learn to diagnose which style is needed when and become comfortable moving between the four different styles depending on the situation.

1. Directing. In this style, the leader provides specific direction and closely monitors task accomplishment. Communication is largely one-way: You make the decisions and the person carries out your ideas.

A directing style is appropriate

• when a decision has to be made quickly and the stakes are high
• for inexperienced people who you think have the potential to be self-directive
• for staff who have some skills but don't know the organization (e.g., the past history, established protocols, or political implications of a situation)

2. Coaching. As the staff member or group begins to understand the expectations and move through the novice phase in development of skills and abilities, you will need to change to two-way communication with a coaching style.

The coaching style works best with

• staff that want to develop a particular interest in patient teaching or technical skills or competence in a new process, such as discharge planning
• a group that has a sense of what it wants to accomplish but needs help learning to manage a meeting or reach consensus
• employees who have transferred from another department or job and have the basic skills but need the finer points of their new role explained

3. Supporting. As staff accept more responsibility and become proficient in their roles, the leader shares with them the decision-making and problem-solving responsibilities and supports them in applying their ideas.

Supporting style works best with

• staff who are two or three years into the job and have developed their ideas about what needs to be done to improve the work environment
• experienced staff who are brought together on a short-term task force that needs to produce results
• staff who have transferred from another facility (who have demonstrated proficiency in the role) and want to develop some ideas that worked in their earlier employment

4. Delegating. In this style, the leader turns over the responsibility for day-to-day decision-making and problem solving to staff. This style offers the most latitude for authority in decisions and autonomy.

Delegating works best with

• seasoned experts who are ready for "job enrichment," so they can stay enthusiastic and invested in their role and make a contribution
• issues such as staff scheduling, because staff know what needs to happen and are able to make it happen using guidelines agreed upon by the group
• task forces that have developed a process and need to fine tune it or maintain and update its structure

Editor's note: The above excerpt is from the online course, " Nursing CE Series: Leadership and Coaching Skills for Nurse Managers." For more information on this and other courses in our library, go to www.hcprofessor.com.

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