Situational Leadership - not just for managers

The process

Peter's focus on the training day was to give the employees practical tools that they could use in their daily work with both colleagues and their respective managers. The whole point was also to give the employees self-awareness and create a realistic picture between their own self-perception and reality. Something that obviously challenged the participants' self-image of competences.

Among other things, the employees were asked to define their level of competence in a number of their tasks based on the Situational Leadership tool. Many quickly realised that as soon as the tasks were broken down into several sub-tasks, the skills and willingness to perform the tasks were not necessarily the same as first assumed. By asking themselves "am I currently performing at a consistent and acceptable level on this task", it really opened their eyes to the fact that there were tasks or subtasks that they hadn't engaged with or performed consistently on for a long time.

In sales, for example, tasks could be broken down into a number of different tasks such as: following up on leads, closing a sale, building relationships, customising solutions for the customer, etc. As the employee typically does not have the same level of competence in all aspects of sales, the tasks will be broken down to create a foundation for the employee's future development.

In this way, employees were challenged and gained greater self-awareness of their competence levels in their individual work tasks. The whole essence of self-management is awareness of one's own competences in order to form the basis and take responsibility for self-development and articulate the gaps to e.g. managers, colleagues or in project groups.

The yield

All employees took away a detailed action plan from the training day with specific actions to work on. Whether it was confronting their manager with a task they've been putting off for a long time due to lack of skills, or creating a generally faster and smoother communication when handing over tasks. handover of work tasks. In this way, all employees took home individually customised measures.

Employees subsequently found that communication between themselves and the manager became much more effective. Both parties had a common language, making it much easier for the manager to use a customised management style based on the employee's skill level. As more people are trained in the tool, it can also be used across departments to streamline communication and work processes.

In the future, the tool will be used when employees and managers have their regular Pit Stop interviews, where the focus is on work tasks and personal development, among other things. This ensures that OK a.m.b.a. keeps both employees and managers on their toes, and that there is continued ownership for both parties.