The following contains excerpts from the book, Leadership and the One Minute Manager (Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zagarmi, Drea Zigarmi).
At our music school in Odessa, Texas we believe that music is not only sound, it is relationships. When discussing the importance of relationships, the subject of leadership becomes of utmost importance.
This book outlines the process a leader takes in training and developing people through four stages. In each stage the leader applies a different approach to his follower, helping him grow into the next stage of development, ultimately becoming self-reliant.
The leader takes upon himself the role of a servant, helping, teaching and training his people. “When you think with a top-down pyramid philosophy…the assumption is that everyone works for the person above them on the organization ladder…turn the pyramid upside down, so that top managers are at the bottom…managers should work for their people, and not the reverse…if you think your people are responsible and that your job is to be responsive to them, you really work hard to provide them with the resources they need to accomplish the goals you’ve agreed to. You realize your job is not to do all the work yourself or to sit back and wait to ‘catch them doing something wrong,’ but to roll up your sleeves and help them accomplish their goals. If you do that, both of you are successful.”
It is our goal at our music school in Odessa, Texas to serve our students, empowering them to attain their artistic goals and musical development.
In goal setting, there are three parts to performance management: 1) Performance Planning, 2) Day-to-Day Coaching, and 3) Performance Evaluation. The part that almost never gets done is the Day-to-Day Coaching, but it’s probably the most important part of the process.
To begin, a leader must have an ‘alignment conversation,’ in which the leader and follower agree upon three to five goals and the performance standards for each goal. Goals should be SMART: S= specific, M= motivating, A= attainable, R= relevant, and T= trackable.
As teachers in our music school in Odessa, Texas, we help students set attainable goals, providing them feedback and objectivity.
Specific
- What exactly is the goal or task?
- When does the goal or task need to be accomplished?
Motivating
- Is the goal or task meaningful for the individual?
- Will working on this goal build competence and commitment?
- Will working on this goal add or drain energy?
Attainable
- Is the goal realistic, reasonable, and achievable?
- Is the goal within the individual’s control?
Relevant
- Is the goal or task meaningful work for the organization?
- Is the goal or task aligned with organization and work team goals?
- Is the goal or task a high priority in relation to other goals?
Trackable
- What does a good job look like, at each level of development?
- Howe will progress and results be measured and tracked?
“Once SMART goals are set and you and your team member are aligned on them, the next step is diagnosing an individual’s development level on a specific goal or task…you need to look at two factors to determine a person’s development level: competence and commitment…Competence is a function of demonstrated knowledge and skills, which can be gained through learning and/or experience…Commitment is a combination of confidence and motivation. Confidence is a measure of a person’s self-assuredness – a feeling of being able to do a task well without much direction – whereas motivation is a person’s interest in and enthusiasm for doing a task well.”
Development Levels
D1 Low Competence, High Commitment (enthusiastic beginner)
D2 Low to some Competence, Low Commitment (disillusioned learner)
D3 Moderate to High Competence, Variable Commitment (capable but cautious)
D4 High Competence, High Commitment (self-reliant achiever)
“Everyone has peak performance potential – you just need to know where they are coming from and meet them there.”
Matching leadership styles with each one of the development stages provides individuals with what they need, when they need it.
For years, leadership has been seen at two extremes: directive and supportive. “Supportive managers were accused of being too soft and easy. They were too collaborative, while their directive counterparts were often called too controlling…A whole manager is flexible and able to use four different leadership styles.”
As teachers at our music school in Odessa, Texas we endeavor to match our teaching style to the specific needs and developmental level of the student.
Style 1- Directing
High Directive Behavior and Low Supportive Behavior
The leader provides specific direction about goals, shows and tells how, and closely monitors the individual’s performance in order to provide frequent feedback on results.
Style 2- Coaching
High Directive Behavior and High Supportive Behavior
The leader continues to direct goal or task accomplishment but also explains why, solicits suggestions, and begins to encourage involvement in decision making.
Style 3- Supporting
Low Directive Behavior and High Supportive Behavior
The leader and the individual make decisions together. The role of the leader is to facilitate, listen, draw out, encourage, and support.
Style 4- Delegating
One of our greatest joys at our music school in Odessa, Texas is to see our students develop to the place in which they have the capacity to train other students.
Low Directive Behavior and low Supportive Behavior
The individual makes most of the decisions about what, how, and when. The role of the leader is to value the individual’s contributions and support his or her growth
“These four leadership styles consist of different combinations of two basic leader behaviors that a manager can use when trying to influence someone else: directive behavior and supportive behavior. Four words can be used to define directive behavior: decide, teach, observe, and provide frequent feedback. Different words are used to describe supportive behavior: listen, involve, facilitate, and encourage.
“There is nothing so unequal as the equal treatment of un-equals.”
“An S1 directing style is a good match when a decision has to be made quickly and the stakes are high.”
An S2 leadership style would be helpful for someone who has lost some commitment. “It’s how inexperienced people are managed that causes them to lose their commitment. Once you’ve lost commitment, providing direction is not enough; you also have to provide support and encouragement.”
“Delegating is appropriate for people who are self-reliant achievers – people who are competent and committed. They don’t need much direction, and they’re also able to provide their own support.”
The three skills of a situational leader are: goal setting, diagnosing, and matching…most leaders aren’t willing to stop for a minute to decide what people need from them.”
“Directing (Style 1) is for enthusiastic beginners who lack competence but are enthusiastic and committed (D1). Coaching (Style 2) is for disillusioned learners who have some competence but lack commitment (D2). Supporting (Style 3) is for capable but cautious performers who have competence but lack confidence or motivation (D3). Delegating (Style 4) is for self-reliant achievers who have both competence and commitment (D4).”
“If someone doesn’t have competence on a particular task, then someone has to direct, control, and supervise that person’s behavior, and if that person’s commitment is low, you also have to provide support and encouragement.”
“A leadership style that is appropriate with a person at one moment in time may be inappropriate with the same person later on…Your goal as a manager should be to gradually increase the competence and confidence of your people so that you can begin to use less time-consuming styles- supporting and delegating- and still get high quality results.”
“Just remember that leaders need to do what the people they are leading can’t do for themselves at the present moment…As development level moves from D1 to D4, the curve shows how a manager’s leadership style moves form S1-Directing to S4- Delegating with first an increase in support (S2), then a decrease in direction (S3), until eventually there’s also a decrease in support (S4). At D4 the person is able to direct and support more and more of his or her own work.”
- Tell them what to do (S1)
- Show them what to do (S2)
- Let them try (S3)
- Observing performance (S4)
Try to catch people doing something right, not wrong. “Acknowledge their progress and then…if no progress is being made, redirection kicks in.”
“My goal is to change my leadership style until my people can perform their jobs well on their own with little direction or support from me.”
“When the best leader’s work is done, the people say, ‘we did it ourselves’.” (Lao-tzu)
Six types of conversations to have with your people:
1- Alignment conversations, where you get on the same page with the person’s goals and development levels, as well as your leadership style on each goal or task.
2, 3, 4, 5- The four types of style conversations: S1, S2, S3, S4. You follow through and provide the leadership style you agreed to in an alignment conversation.
6- One on one conversation, where members can bring up whatever is on their minds – whether it’s personal or professional.
“The purpose of an alignment conversation is to focus both the leader and the individual on what is most important…One of the biggest obstacles to high performance in organizations comes from unclear expectations and accountability.”
“Once the development level is clear, the matching leadership style is pretty clear.”
“Positive assumptions about people are a given; you believe people have the potential to become high performers. What fluctuates is the leader’s behavior, depending on their people’s needs for direction and support.”
At our music school in Odessa, Texas we not only hope to match the student’s need with the appropriate teaching style, but also to help those who have attained the ability to teach others to do the same.