Situational leadership is an adaptive kind of leadership. It involves a flexible system that adapts to the existing work environment and the needs of the organization. Situational leadership encourages leaders to focus on their team members and help them bring the best out of everyone in the group. This kind of leadership helps in developing strong relationships between individuals in a group, and it establishes a good rapport which brings out the best in people.
Situational leadership works on the basic foundation which is characterized and manifested around the globe. Leaders adopting situational leadership have to be able to understand the needs of their followers (McCleskey, 2014). A clear insight into the core values and needs of followers enables the organization to adopt situational leadership in their system quickly. Situations arise during leadership processes. Challenges that need to be tackled from a different angle will not be fixed with a hard kind of leadership, but adoption of situational leadership, enable leaders to move from one type of leadership style to another seamlessly (Spahr, 2015). Trust is built within followers if leaders can focus on their needs precisely. Trust, a characteristic exhibited in situational leadership, will not only boost the confidence of the followers but also improve relationships between leaders and their followers. Coaching, a basic foundation of situational leadership enables leaders to evaluate maturity and competency of his followers enhancing their character.
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The situational theory has been tested and applied in various fields in our world today. After World War II, for example, Dwight Eisenhower became the President of the United States. Being an Allied Commander during the war, he was well known for his diplomacy and ability to get allied leaders to work together to defeat the Nazi Machine war. President Eisenhower's' ability to manage strong personalities of allied leaders made him make it through the war and won the election with two terms in office. Maintenance of strong relationships with allies was the key to his success. He knew that it was in the building and maintaining confidence and trust within his partners that he would win the war. Public participation made the public more confidence in his leadership skills thereby voting him for two more terms.
Pat Summit was named the head coach of US women’s basketball team in the 1984 Olympics where the team won a gold medal (McCleskey, 2014). The award was not coincidental. She had to build a whole basketball team every few years. Developing confidence in her group, for over 38 years, Pat Summit ended her career with 1098-208 overall record as a football coach (Vroom & Jago, 2007). Situational leadership is evident as Pat focused on coaching and developing the character of her students. Character development boosted confidence in their play, making them consistent and winning a lot of matches conclusively.
John Wooden, a situational leader, was the head coach of UCLA's men's basketball team. He won three Pacific Coast Championship within his eight years as a coach. He had a UCLA's record of an 88-game winning streak where he quoted that when you are through learning, you are through (Vroom & Jago, 2007). Leaders don’t stop learning; they never stop being students of experiences that shape up their followers. Situational kind of leadership is adaptable making it more successful, as it incorporates many different types of techniques.
References
McCleskey, J. (2014). Situational, Transformational and Transactional Leadership and Leadership Development. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 5 (4). Retrieved from: http://jbsq.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/June_2014_9.pdf
Spahr, P. (2015, Oct 30). Situational Leadership. How Flexibility Leads to Success. St. Thomas University. Retrieved from: https://www.ssc.coop/cms/lib/MN06000837/Centricity/Domain/9/How%20Flexibility%20Leads%20to%20Succes.pdf
Vroom, V. H., & Jago, A. G. (2007). The role of the situation in leadership. American Psychologist, 62(1), 17. Retrieved December 2, 2015 from: http://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/15341_Readings/Leadership/Vroom_Jago_2007_The_role_of_the_situtation_in_leadership.pdf
