The Leadership Effectiveness and Adaptability Descriptor tool (LEAD)

The LEAD tool developed by Hersey and Blanchard is about the situational approach to leadership, which is based on the assumption that each instance of leadership is different and depends on the persons or groups being led, i.e. the followers maturity levels, which may be: M1 Lack of specific skills required for the job and inability and unwillingness to do or to take responsibility for the job or task M2 Inability to take on responsibility for the task; however, willingness to work at the task M3 Adequate experience and ability to do the task, but lack of confidence to take on responsibility M4 Adequate experience at the task coupled with the belief in ability. Willingness to take responsibility for the task Correspondingly, the leadership styles are characterized into four behavior types, which are: S1: Telling - Characterized by one-way communication, where the leader defines the roles of the individual or group and provides the what, how, why, when, and where to do the task S2: Selling - The leader is still providing the direction, but he or she is now using two-way communication and providing the socio-emotional support that will allow the individual or group being influenced to buy into the process S3: Participating Marked by shared decision making about aspects of how the task is accomplished and the leader is providing less task behaviors while maintaining high relationship behavior S4: Delegating Here, the leader is still involved in decisions; however, the process and responsibility has been passed to the individual or group. The leader stays involved to monitor progress This tool enables us to assess the preferred leadership styles of the leader, and his/her ability to effectively adapt the same to different situations, thus helping us to view the overall effectiveness of the leader.

Key Findings Leadership Style Preference

Leadership Style Preference

Overall Score Interpretation

Overall effectiveness (-24 to +24) +13 to +24 +1 to +12 -12 to 0 -24 to -13 Situation/style wise effectiveness (-6 to +6) +3 to +6 +1 to +2 -2 to 0 -6 to -3 Corresponding level of Effectiveness High Moderate Low Very Low

17% 33%

Telling Selling Participating Delegating

50%

Table 1.1

Overall Leadership Effectiveness Score

Reference Range

-6
-24 to +24

Leadership Effectiveness Score: Situation-wise

Reference Range is -6 to +6 Table 1.2 Situations requiring Telling Style (S1) Situations requiring Selling Style (S2) Situations requiring Participating Style (S3) Situations requiring Delegating Style (S4) +4 -2 -4 -4

Leadership Effectiveness Score: Style-wise

Reference Range is -6 to +6 Table 1.3 Total Actual Score using (S1) Style Total Actual Score using (S2) Style Total Actual Score using (S3) Style Total Actual Score using (S4) Style -4 +1 0* -3

*Please note that this this style was not used in any situation. Technically, that would have an impact anywhere between -6 to 0, depending on the actual style (s) chosen.

Interpretation

Overall, your leadership effectiveness is -6 (refer table 1.1), which corresponds with a Low effectiveness score. Here, effectiveness is defined as the ability of the leader to use a style that corresponds with the maturity level of the team members. This effectiveness is a function of the leaders ability to use a style appropriate to the maturity level of the team, which translates into the ability of the leader to use all 4 styles. The tool has been designed in such a manner that each style matches with 3 situations on the questionnaire. Following are the key observations and interpretations of your choices: As actual style. Your style.

Leadership Style Preference

you can see, your primary style employed is the Selling secondary actual styles are Telling and Delegating styles, followed by the Participating

17% 33%

Telling Selling Participating Delegating

50%

In selling style, the leader explains the why behind the task, solicits suggestions, praises behaviors that are approximately right and directs task accomplishment. This style is most appropriate for team members who have developed some skills but are often frustrated due to unmet expectations. Soon after beginning a new task, they commonly experience a period of disillusionment (difficult task, different than expected) which decreases there level of commitment. The questionnaire is created to ensure that each style is appropriate in only 3 situations. As per the findings, you have used this style in 6 situations (out of 12 situations). This essentially means that you tend to rely on this style slightly more than any other style. While this may be great in situations where you are interacting with team members that are operating at M2 maturity level, this style may not be appropriate with other kinds of team members. Your actual effectiveness score using this style is +1 against a min-max of -6 to +6 (refer table 1.3). This score demonstrates that while you are using this style most often, your effectiveness on the same is moderate. This could largely be a result of using the style in situations where it is least effective. A closer analysis of the situations where you have used this style reveals that you have scored -2 out of +6 (which is low effectiveness) on situations that were pertaining to the Selling style (refer table 1.2), which is lower than your overall effectiveness on the style. This essentially means that while you are relying on this style in 50% of the situations, you may not actually be using the style in situations that are most suitable to the same.

Your secondary style is Telling, where you are providing specific directions about roles and goals and closely tracking the teams performance in order to provide frequent feedback on results. This style is appropriate only in situations where the team lacks the knowledge and skills when it comes to performing a specific task, but is interested, enthusiastic about the task and ready to learn it. You have used this style in 4 out of 12 situations, with an overall effectiveness score of -4 (refer table 1.3), implying very low effectiveness. On deeper analysis, it is observed that you have scored high effectiveness on situations which required you to use this style (refer table 1.2). Here, you have scored +4. However, misjudging the use of the style in other situations has resulted in an overall low effectiveness. Your next secondary style is Delegating, where the leader and the team make decisions together. The role of the leader is to facilitate, listen, encourage and support the follower. And this style is appropriate where the team member has mastered the task, and is committed and highly motivated. It is noted that you have used this style in 2 situations, resulting in a style effectiveness of -3 (refer table 1.3), which is very low. Also, on situation effectiveness score, you have scored very low again, with a score of -4 (refer table 1.2). The analysis reveals that while you have used this style in 2 situations, it was inappropriate in these situations given the maturity levels of the team. It is observed that you have not used the Participating style of leadership in any situation. In this style, the leader and the follower make decisions together. The role of the leader is to facilitate, listen, encourage and support the follower. This is the most ideal style when managing team members who may be going through self-doubt, questioning if they can perform the task on their own. Their commitment may fluctuate between excitement and insecurity. As a result, you have scored 0 on this style (refer table 1.3). However, on situations requiring use of this style, you have scored -4 (refer table 1.2), implying very low effectiveness in terms of handling these situations. Overall, you have demonstrated use of 3 of the 4 styles. Your key opportunities of development may be summed as: Ability to gauge which style is most appropriate in a given situation, depending upon the maturity level of your team members Ability to use all 4 styles, in equal preference, depending on the demands of the situation Proactively explore the opportunity to use the Delegating and Participation styles of leadership