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Someone already mentioned Situational Leadership, but I'll just expand on that a little. There are four main methods of management in this paradigm, and it depe

Someone already mentioned Situational Leadership, but I'll just expand on that a little. There are four main methods of management in this paradigm, and it depends on how your team members work. * Low competence, high commitment -- these guys don't know wtf they're doing, but they're happy to be there. They need direction and guidance, very hands-on. The strategy here is "I talk, I decide." * Low competence, low commitment -- these guys don't know enough to work on their own (but maybe aren't totally incompetent), and they're discouraged. They need direction AND encouragement. The strategy here is "We talk, I decide." * High competence, low commitment -- these guys know what they're doing and can work on their own, but maybe they're bored or intimidated or not confident enough to really take charge of their own schedules. They need encouragement and advice. The strategy here is "We talk, you decide." * High competence, high commitment -- these are the ones where you say "Here's a problem, go solve it". The risk here is that they'll leave -- they don't need you anymore, right? The strategy here is "I trust you, you decide, but I'm here for advice if you need it." That's just a really rough overview, but I suggest picking up some management books. Like my boss tells me, "if you're trying, you're one step ahead of the game." Good luck.

brational 12y ago
> * High competence, low commitment... The strategy here is "We talk, you decide." Can you elaborate on this one? What do you talk about and how do you steer them to their own decisions?
- Jemaclus 12y ago
  With the first two low-competence groups, you tend to start off the conversation with "I think we should do X," because you don't trust them to come up with a good plan from the start. You can talk about it with them, but at the end of the day, you get to decide what's going to happen. With the high competence/low commitment group, you probably want to start the conversation off with "Here's the problem. What do you think we should do?" Then you both discuss is and come to an agreement as to the best course of action -- but you make it so that the decision ultimately rests with them. If you do it right, they wind up doing what you want anyway (because you've talked about it together, right?). If they're highly competent, then that means they should be able to accomplish the goal, so you don't want to necessarily override their decision. You're demonstrating that you trust them, so you're letting them make the final call. Contrast with the 4th group, where you basically say "Here's the problem, let me know when it's solved" and don't even have to talk about anything at all. That make sense?

brational 12y ago

> * High competence, low commitment... The strategy here is "We talk, you decide." Can you elaborate on this one? What do you talk about and how do you steer them to their own decisions?

Jemaclus 12y ago
With the first two low-competence groups, you tend to start off the conversation with "I think we should do X," because you don't trust them to come up with a good plan from the start. You can talk about it with them, but at the end of the day, you get to decide what's going to happen. With the high competence/low commitment group, you probably want to start the conversation off with "Here's the problem. What do you think we should do?" Then you both discuss is and come to an agreement as to the best course of action -- but you make it so that the decision ultimately rests with them. If you do it right, they wind up doing what you want anyway (because you've talked about it together, right?). If they're highly competent, then that means they should be able to accomplish the goal, so you don't want to necessarily override their decision. You're demonstrating that you trust them, so you're letting them make the final call. Contrast with the 4th group, where you basically say "Here's the problem, let me know when it's solved" and don't even have to talk about anything at all. That make sense?