Leading According to Need

/

Organisations are realising more and more that their success relies on developing networks of self-organising teams orbiting around a set of core values and objectives (See the work of Laloux, summarised here)

In previous articles we have looked at the leader’s role in enabling this move towards self-organising teams and using Mastery, Autonomy and Purpose as their guide

In this article I want to dig a bit deeper into the Autonomy piece and look at ways in which we can help individuals and teams achieve autonomy using a systematic approach achieves ‘swim’ whilst minimising the chance of ‘sink’.


Can't You Just Give Autonomy?

Peter Koning in his book, ‘Agile leadership Toolkit’ demonstrates the problem of releasing autonomy too soon or too late. He suggests a simple graph with the X-axis being ‘Maturity’ and the Y-axis being ‘Freedom’. Too much freedom with too little maturity will lead to ‘chaos’. Conversely, a mature team given little freedom will feel like they are held ‘captive’. More details can be found here.


But how do you know what your team are capable of?

As with anything, the ancients are always a pretty good starting point here. Shu-ha-ri (or Shuhari) is an ancient Japanese term used in martial arts to describe the path to maturity:

Shu: (the first step to mastery) is being able to follow the rules / moves / steps

Ha: (the second step to mastery) is being able to adapt the rules (to meet the needs of the situation)

Ri: (the third step to mastery) is being able to transcend the rules and develop new ones for others to follow


So, how can we use this as leaders?

Shu-ha-ri reminds us that, as leaders, our first role is to assess the needs of the individual and teams within our care before assuming what role we should take. Specifically, we should assess where the team is on its journey to mastering self-organisation. For example, are they at a point where they have learnt how to work together to plan, implement and review their work collectively and are they doing it effectively? Are they able to achieve good results in all situations (in other words, have they learnt to adapt) or do they need more support?

From the evidence we collect, we can then think through our role. In particular, we should be asking ourselves questions like: ‘If they need more support, why?’ And, ‘What is our role here – to teach, coach or guide?’

Situational Leadership Skills

To help with this last question, I still see a lot of value in using Hershey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership model.

The model is based on satisfying people’s skills needs: shown here as S1 – S4.

S1 represents individuals and teams who are less experienced in facing a particular situation, S2 refers to those that might need motivating or be reticent to take responsibility for managing the situation. S3 represents those who might lack skills or confidence to face the situation, whilst S4 represents individuals and teams who are ready to take a lead on managing the situation.

Based on what the leader sees in terms of skills, they can then choose the most appropriate approach to developing their people and teams.

  • Low experienced people (S1) may require more direction – not ‘directing’ but more guidance on what needs doing and how. Think of the leader like a compass – a compass doesn’t direct the route, it helps us keep fixed on our goal. The same goes for the leader. The leader’s role becomes one of helping people set goals and helping them form paths towards those goals. It is also about helping people understand the standards everyone expects from each other. Imagine starting a new role in a new organisation – you would probably want to know pretty quickly how things get done around here so you can make sure you channel your efforts effectively and with confidence.

  • For individuals and teams that are more experienced but are reticent to take more responsibility or take the lead on a particular activity (S2), the leader may need to take more of a coaching approach. Here, the leader’s focus is on asking questions of the individual or team, getting them to think about the way they plan to go about things and what decisions they are going to make.

  • Those who appear to be lacking skills or confidence (S3) will need support to develop what is holding them back. Here the leader’s role is to help the individual become more aware of the blocks they are facing and work together to find solutions. It is also a time for the leader to help people see where their strengths lie and how they can work together with others to utilise their combined strengths.

  • Finally, individuals and teams who are experienced (S4) are likely to be ready for more ownership. They are capable of self-organising and don’t need the leaders input into why, how and what they do currently. The leader’s role now is to learn from the individual and understand where new ways of working could improve.

The Idea is for the leader to assess where their team, and team members, are in terms of skills and what approach is most appropriate. The ultimate goal is to help people get from S1 to S4 using the most appropriate leadership style for the individual or team concerned.

In a nutshell:

As leaders we have a choice – we can lead and develop people according to our preferred style of leadership - and hope it’s a good fit with the needs of the team. Or we can continually monitor where the team is on its journey to self-organisation and choose the most appropriate strategy to get them to the next stage. At all times our focus should be on the individual achieving mastery and autonomy – swimming without sinking, but not suffocating from our interventions either.