Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 31

STYLE® influences their comfort with
certain leadership approaches. Leaders
practicing leadership style S1 (telling),
are more comfortable with the "tell
assertive" styles (driving and expressive).
This leadership approach is "high task,"
meaning leaders need to direct and
guide followers. This method is simply
more natural for driving and expressive
people who prefer to be active and
directive when working with others.
On the flip side, leaders practicing
leadership style S4 (delegating), are more
comfortable with the "ask assertive" styles
(amiable and analytical). These situations
are "low task" and require observing
and monitoring followers. Again, this
approach is a natural fit for amiable and
analytical people who prefer a less direct,
more hands-off technique when working
with others.
Importantly, leadership styles S1 and S4
are both "low relationship" strategies,
meaning that, from an interpersonal
relationship-building perspective, they
require less effort. Therefore, these
findings make intuitive sense; leaders
gravitate toward the leadership approach
that is most natural for them, especially
under situations where the effort to build a
relationship is less important. For example,
driving and expressive people are more
hands-on whereas amiable and analytical
people are more detached. However, this
natural tendency is only effective when
the situation calls for it.
What about situations where followers
require more personal involvement from
leaders, namely leadership styles S2
(selling) and S3 (participating)? While we
found that amiable leaders had a slight
preference for the participating approach,
our research didn't find any other SOCIAL
STYLE®-specific preferences. However,
what we did discover is that the selling and
participating strategies are highly related
to leaders' versatility: leaders who practice
a high level of interpersonal versatility are
more likely to use the leadership styles
S2 and S3 approaches than leaders who
lack versatility. Again, this makes intuitive
sense; due to the heavier focus on building
relationships with followers, these two
leadership approaches require more
"interpersonal work" of leaders. Further, we
discovered that versatility and adaptability

are strongly correlated, meaning that
highly versatile leaders are also skilled at
adapting their leadership style to the needs
of the situation. This is a win-win, since
leaders who learn both skills are learning
to interact with their natural social styles in
ways that also achieve leadership demands
and organizational objectives.

HIGHLY VERSATILE LEADERS
ARE ALSO SKILLED
AT ADAPTING THEIR
LEADERSHIP STYLE TO THE
NEEDS OF THE SITUATION.
Building Trust
The implications of these findings are that
leaders will benefit from both programs
when used together. In addition to the
standard benefits leaders gain when
learning about their social styles and
situation-based leadership, in isolation, a
critical insight for leaders is that they need
to be very cautious not to rest on their
behavioral laurels. It's easy for leaders to
default to their comfort zones, especially
when it comes to natural behaviors and
communication styles. This was proven
through the research. However, the
danger is that leaders may default to their
standard social style preferences when the
situation calls for a different leadership
approach. An analytical leader who uses
a delegating approach when the situation
clearly calls for a participating approach
will likely fail. The same is true for an
expressive leader who naturally prefers
the telling approach when the situation
requires a selling approach.
To be effective leaders, people across
individual behavioral preferences must
recognize when followers require more
relationship support, which requires a
higher level of interpersonal versatility
and adaptability. When leaders experience
both programs, making the switch to a
different leadership approach is easier.
The combination of understanding
followers'
Performance
Readiness®,

along with their social and behavioral
preferences, magnifies leaders' abilities to
lead effectively in any given situation.
Another important benefit is the
creation of trust among leaders. One
of the ultimate goals of all leadership
development programs is to help leaders
build the skills needed to develop
trust among their followers. After all, if
leadership is an attempt to influence,
trust is a leader's primary source of
influence potential. Practicing versatility,
along with recognizing followers' taskrelated performance abilities and
needs, helps leaders gain the trust of
followers. As a result, followers will
feel supported because their leader
cares about their technical and taskrelated needs, and provides coaching
and interpersonal support in their
preferred style. In short, leaders gain
trust by communicating and working
with people in the ways they prefer
and by guiding followers' performance
according to their individual needs and
situational requirements. This leads to
better relationships, more trust and
greater effectiveness - essential goals
of any leadership development strategy.

Implications for Ongoing
Leadership Practices
So, what are the implications for L&D
leaders who are trying to get the most
out of their training dollars? When trying
to fulfill multiple criteria in leadership
programs, this research makes clear that
the Situational Leadership® and SOCIAL
STYLE® models, when offered together,
develop leadership skills that are greater
than those achieved in isolation. By
integrating the knowledge gained
from both programs, leaders' skills are
multiplied. In the modern era where
change is fast-paced and organizations
are increasingly challenged to collectively
demonstrate
resilience,
developing
leaders firmly grounded in the tenets
of personal adaptability and versatility
merits strong consideration.
Sam Shriver, Ed.D., is the executive vice
president at The Center for Leadership Studies.
Casey Mulqueen, Ph.D., is the senior director of
learning and development at TRACOM Group.
Email Sam and Casey.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE -FORMALIZ ING INFORMAL L E ARNI NG 2 019 I W W W .T RAI NI NGI NDU S T RY .C OM/ MAGAZI NE

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https://www.situational.com/ https://www.trainingindustry.com/magazine

Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019

Thinking More Broadly About How Adults Learn
Table of Contents
Mentoring: 4 Keys To Making it a Meaningful Learning Experience
Formalizing Informal Learning: Tinker Dabble Doodle Try
The Accidental Learner
Percolating Builds Depth
Coaching is a Cop-Out
Close More Deals With Story Selling
Partnering for the Power of Knowledge: How Can Knowledge Sharing Foster Collaboration Among L&D and Employees?
Organizational Resiliency: a Function of Leader Adaptability and Versatility
Rules of Engagement for by Laura Francis Mentoring Reverse
Steps to Formally Make The Informal Part of Your Content Strategy
The Play's the Thing': The Power of Story-Based Learning
Fujitsu’s Experiment With Peer Coaching Pays Off
How to be Authentic When Collaborating on Multicultural Virtual Teams
Making the Case for Informal Learning at Work
Formalizing Informal Learning to Improve Performance
Making Learning Fun Again
Investing in the Future of the Worker, Not Just the Future of Work
Company News
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Cover1
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 2
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Thinking More Broadly About How Adults Learn
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Table of Contents
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 5
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 6
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 7
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 8
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Mentoring: 4 Keys To Making it a Meaningful Learning Experience
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 10
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Formalizing Informal Learning: Tinker Dabble Doodle Try
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 12
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - The Accidental Learner
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 14
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Percolating Builds Depth
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Coaching is a Cop-Out
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 17
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 18
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 19
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Close More Deals With Story Selling
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 21
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 22
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 23
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Partnering for the Power of Knowledge: How Can Knowledge Sharing Foster Collaboration Among L&D and Employees?
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 25
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 26
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 27
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 28
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Organizational Resiliency: a Function of Leader Adaptability and Versatility
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 30
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 31
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Rules of Engagement for by Laura Francis Mentoring Reverse
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 33
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 34
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 35
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Steps to Formally Make The Informal Part of Your Content Strategy
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 37
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 38
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 39
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - The Play's the Thing': The Power of Story-Based Learning
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 41
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 42
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 43
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Fujitsu’s Experiment With Peer Coaching Pays Off
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 45
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - How to be Authentic When Collaborating on Multicultural Virtual Teams
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 47
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 48
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 49
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 50
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Making the Case for Informal Learning at Work
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 52
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Formalizing Informal Learning to Improve Performance
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - 54
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Making Learning Fun Again
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Investing in the Future of the Worker, Not Just the Future of Work
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Company News
Training Industry Magazine - September/October 2019 - Cover4
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