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Writer's pictureCaitlin Ferguson

Situational Leadership: A Fractional COO's Guide to Adapting Your Style

In my latest Hustle and Humor episode, I shared my thoughts on situational leadership. For founders looking to scale and enable a high-performing team, mastering this leadership style is essential.

What is Situational Leadership?

Situational Leadership is a flexible approach to management that adapts your leadership style based on the task and the individual's readiness. It’s depicted as a quadrant grid, indicating when to be more directive and when to allow team members to take the lead.

A four quadrant grid, showing how directive or supporting to be based on individual scenarios. Situational Leadership Model.

Understanding the Dimensions of Situational Leadership

The model considers two dimensions:

  1. Directive: This dimension assesses the level of specificity, instruction, and direction leaders need to provide regarding tasks. S1 and S2 are more directive.

  2. Supportive: This dimension evaluates how much leaders should step back, engage in active listening, and offer acknowledgment and encouragement to facilitate change. S2 and S3 are more supportive.


Examples:

  • Gerald is an experience project manager, but he's working with accounting for the first time. He will not require guidance on tasks, but he may require support from leadership as he works cross-functionally. He is in S3.

  • Lizzie just joined the company as Office Manager. She wants to grow her skills and take on supporting CRM Management. She needs to learn Salesforce and how the sales team uses it. She is in S1.


Benefits of Situational Leadership

  • Builds Confidence: Helps team members gain confidence as they grow into their roles.

  • Promotes Independence: Encourages team members to take initiative and ownership of their tasks, freeing capacity of founders and executive teams.

  • Enhances Team Performance: Tailors support to individual needs, leading to better overall performance.

Pro Tip: Assess your team’s readiness for tasks and adjust your level of support accordingly. This not only builds confidence but also promotes independence.

For more on how to grow your company sustainably, listen to our conversation on Hustle and Humor on all major podcast platforms and YouTube.


For Fractional COO support, contact us at caitlin@ceofconsulting.com.


Keywords: fractional coo, operations, founder, professional services, situational leadership, adaptive management

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