How do you adjust your leadership style to different situations?

Choosing a leadership style requires the experience to be able to apply the appropriate style for a given situation. In all cases, surveying the environment is a necessary precursor to selecting a leadership solution. The enterprise approach demands that the appreciation not be limited to the 'problem' but include the skills, experience, confidence, judgement and cohesion of your team. Regardless of leadership style, the consistent requirement is that integrity, genuine concern for your team, commitment to the goal and leading by example be sustained at all times.

Giving your team the freedom to create and innovate may prove beneficial in business as usual settings, whereas a more directive or authoritative approach may be required during disruption, emergencies and crises. It is imperative to adjust your style not only due to the situation, but also the skills, experience and coping mechanisms of your team. More experienced teams will be able to implement horizontal spans of control over vertical spans, allowing individual skillsets and decision making, whereas less experienced teams require closer supervision and direction.

Leaders need to set the conditions for team to succeed. But leadership style needs to change for the circumstances while not looking erratic. Talk is important.

I have always considered the adaptation of leadership style to individuals a critical aspect of effective leaders. Every truly great leader I have served had the unique ability to meet my individual needs and this resulted in my willingness to follow them anywhere and push myself to achieve any objective they asked. The ability to “see” each individual and the unique positives and minuses they bring to the table is critical to building an effective team, but more importantly it is critical to helping each individual to their personal best.

I believe organization value and culture also hold significant points which need to be consider beforehand. Even with modern approach, custom style leadership will be much acceptable, flexible and adaptive in line with how organization approach treat its members, firm yet considerate humanizing people, yet keeping everything by data, IMHO, will be the main foundation for developing and improving leadership approach. Each and every organization has its own unique signature which need to be recognize and work in line. When leadership goes deviate from its, the main purpose and goal will need more efforts for either derailed from current culture and value or create new one.

This is an issue I believe holds the greatest challenge to the cybersecurity community. I spend a gray deal of time with younger cyber personnel encouraging them to understand and “get inside the do-loop” of their system administrators. Working collaboratively and through taking time to understand the mindset of the admins permits a stronger cyber posture. For example, instead of pushing the burden of analysis for a reported finding to the admin, I train my team to fully research the issue and provide the admin surgical details of the finding, proposed resolution, impacted servers, etc to give admins the details they need to optimize their response, tailoring their notice to the needs of that particular admin.

A successful leader had to adapt his learedship style to the situation in hand. No matter if you are the leader of a nation, the leader of a Division, the leader of a company or the leader of a tactical team, you actually directly lead a small number of individuals and you inspire all the rest. You have to know in depth your direct subordinates and use a different leadership approact on each one - the approach that would get the best results. It's not a one number fits all thing. Some people work better with general directions and an end goal. Others need a more narrow path to follow. In every case the leader needs to keep a close eye on the progress. Leadership is not an easy task and certainly not all are meant for it. Adapt and conquer.

In my experience, before we even assess the situation, as leaders we should be in a constant state of self-assessment. Understanding the strengths we have, and some might say more importantly, acknowledging our shortcomings is a solid starting point before assessing the situation. Once we have this data set understood, assessing the situation then comes from a different perspective. For example, we may find the situation can be easily solved with direction because we know what needs to be done but there might be more long term benefits to just providing support to let your team develop a solution. A mentor once told me, “effective leadership is the product of our “velocity of action” and leadership toolkit”. Might be good to know our tools.

My only core leadership style is always ensuring the best interests of my team are my center. When I taught leadership, curiosity was my number one trait for an effective leader. Understanding each individual and being willing to adapt will develop the strongest team. My goal has been and always will be to get every individual to do at least one thing they never thought they could do. Sometimes that takes being tough, sometimes it takes being a cheerleader, and sometimes it takes a hug… whatever it takes that is my goal for everyone I have the privilege to lead.

The hardest part of the situational leadership model is understanding your followers' performance readiness levels (R1/R2/R3/R4). One of the best ways that I have found to judge their level quickly is by asking three simple questions. 1. Have you ever completed this task or one similar before? 2. How successful were you in completing it the last time you did? 3. How willing would you be to take on this task again? These three questions will help you determine their readiness levels. Once you have done this as a leader, it is much easier to match your leadership style of S1, S2, S3, or S4. Without knowing their readiness level, you will NEVER be able to match your leadership style consistently.

Everyone interprets situations based on their personal experiences and no one can fully understand what another thinks and feels. I have watched so many disastrous situations over my career based in a lack of communication. An effective leader adapts communication styles to the audience and takes the time to provide clear explanations and feedback as the action progresses. I seek criticism and feedback as part of my continuing journey to excellence.

The most effective way I have found is to understand my strengths and weaknesses and those of my team to “fill each others gaps.” I am not always the most patient human and while I believe in standardizing supporting tasks doing repetitive tasks is not my strong suite so I always ensure I have some one who does that well. One of my early mistakes as a leader was covering my gaps so well my team didn’t feel they could contribute. Letting your team see your weaknesses and their role in filling them is the key to building loyalty and individual worth. Think about your favorite leader and I bet they had a weakness you filled for them.

Using your experiences and teamwork to achieve innovative results. Never underestimate the value of supervision. It pay dividends.

A good leader in my experience is one that is astute, gets to know his staff, what they do, their background and what makes them tick. Understands their personality so that you can adjust your own style to get the best performance out of them. Overtly support/defend them when needed. Above all actively listen and give feedback.

My leadership style isn’t new, but I have always found it to be effective. I simply lead by example, I show that I’m not afraid to do any work that could be anything from mopping a floor, cleaning a bathroom, or any other task that any of my employees might have to complete. I also let my supervisors handle day to day operations without being a micromanager. My expectations are simple, do your job, if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask. I’ve always been open to my employees, so that they feel that they can approach me without fear, or repercussions.

Flexibility and adaptability are essential, but they should not overshadow the critical role of authenticity. People are keen at detecting inauthenticity, and trust can quickly dissolve if they sense a lack of genuineness. Authenticity goes beyond just maintaining values; it includes being transparent and honest in every interaction. This foundation of trust, built on authenticity, is what allows other aspects of leadership to thrive. So while we adapt to meet various demands, let's not forget that our core self should remain constant. It's this genuine approach that will sustain trust and effectiveness in the long term.

In a creative leadership role, it is crucial to adapt your leadership style to effectively manage and inspire your team. - fostering collaboration - embracing flexibility - providing autonomy - encouraging learning - celebrating achievements These are all important elements to any leadership style, but most importantly... never forget where you came from. No one starred out as a boss, so remember compassion... it will take you a long way as a leader in any line of work.