Leadership is defined as “someone who guides or directs a group.” There are many ways to do this. The most visible and probably the most ineffective is to yell at people until they do something that looks like what you want them to do. That works once. But true situational leadership - that focuses on the group, the conditions, and the goals - is a much more effective and long lasting method of leadership.

This type of leadership is closely related to success coaching in that each member’s success in the endeavor is crucial to the overall success. The coaching techniques can be used to guide the group toward the group goal as well as each person’s individual goals. leadership that focuses on developing each member of the team or organization will advance the group’s goals and keep the team morale high and is more likely to retain members.

The problem is that most companies think they “don’t have time” for this sort of thing. They think that working with individuals or situations distracts from the “work of the company” when in reality, achieving excellence in every situation IS the work of the company.

Here are 5 success coaching techniques you can use for effective situational leadership:
Creativity. Encourage each group member to be as creative and problem solving as possible. You never know from whom a good idea might come. Each person feels more invested in the final decision, even if it is not his or hers. Also, encouraging or making each person exercise his or her creativity periodically makes them to be more creative all the time.
Immediate feedback. This is the “guide” part of leadership. Waiting until the project is over to give feedback is too late. That’s like waiting until the plane lands in Chicago to tell the pilot it’s off course for Cleveland, or to tell the pilot he or she is doing an excellent job. Positive feedback especially should be immediate, to reinforce and encourage someone’s good behaviors.
Effective use of energy. Controlling one’s energy use is a large part of success. A person who uses up all of his or her energy at the beginning of the project is not effective for the final push. A leader who is saving his or her energy for later probably is not spending enough at the beginning to give the project a solid send off. Monitoring the overall collective energy of the group is very important to keep the team in harmony.
Encouragement. Too many companies have the antiquated idea that praising someone is bad, especially if that praise is for doing their job. “That’s what I’m paying you for” is hardly encouraging. This is related to timely feedback, but is also encouragement in general. This lets people know they are doing it right, which helps eliminate the sluggishness that doubt brings, and increase a person’s self-confidence and autonomy.
Developing individual goals. Goals should be SMART: Specific; Measurable; Attainable; Relevant; Timely. Working with each team member to define SMART goals for his or her part of the project will increase the efficiency of the project as well as help the individual. Working with each team member to define SMART goals for his or her individual goals will increase the effectiveness and contentment of each team member, which increases the likelihood of success astronomically.

Using these techniques for a specific project or team member or phase of the project is situational leadership. Yelling at people to “work harder” won’t make them work harder. The standard end of the year speech “We succeeded despite you people” is not encouraging. Focusing them on the problem that is holding them up, developing ways around the problem, providing timely feedback and praise to people, and using feedback to adjust the SMART goals is leadership that gets the job done and helps everyone achieve success.

Author's Bio: 

STRESS JUDO COACHING helps you focus on personal excellence in a number of ways. Go to our EXPERT PAGE for 3 free and exclusive reports, explaining The Truth (your current stress management program is impotent); The Remedy (the requirements of a program that eliminates stress); and The Overview (how STRESS JUDO COACHING can transform your life). STRESS JUDO COACHING was created by Rick Carter, based on dealing with stress during 20+ years as a trial attorney and 30+ years in martial arts. You can become a black belt when it comes to fighting stress.
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