“This was a great workshop and I hope it is offered again in the future. Although it was only 2 sessions, I really felt the information was good and talking through peoples’ situations helped us process what readiness levels and leadership styles meant and how they worked together.”

CMLE was pleased to offer this two-part series regarding situational leadership and supervisory skills (if you are interested in learning more about using situational leadership, check out this article). We were able to employ the services of consultant Chris Kudrna, who called on his extensive experience to teach and advise our group of library professionals. He covered a lot of information, and we’ve tried to include the main points for your benefit.

Part One of the series focused on the basics of situational leadership, including the steps of leadership, readiness levels, and leadership styles.

Leadership = any attempt to influence

The steps of leadership include identifying the task, identifying the person’s readiness for the task, and using the correct leadership style. We discussed the four levels of readiness, and that it is up to the leader to decide which one is correct.

Then, based on the level of readiness, the leader will select (hopefully!) the correct style of leadership, of which there are also four. However, it’s important to recognize that the follower gets to decide the style that is being used. As a leader, if you are unsure you are leading in the style you intend, it is a good idea to simply ask.

Part Two focused on power, the fact that it is a neutral entity, and that we personally do not get to decide how much power we have. The amount of power one has can fluctuate, even on a daily basis.

Power = influence potential

There are two main categories of power; with several types of power within each category.

Position power comes from your organization (such as your job title). We discussed several types of position power, and how there are effective ways to use each of them. Some types of position power are especially suited for specific professions, like teaching.

Personal power refers to the extent to which followers want to follow you –  it takes into account how much they genuinely like you. We discussed the three types of personal power, and the fact that all of them require time to accumulate.

Something to keep in mind is that in order to be a successful leader, you must have one or more of these power types; the more the better! It is also very important to be able to correctly identify the task and readiness of the people or person you are leading. That ensures you will be able to use the correct leadership style to be successful. As always, clear and efficient communication is a necessity of any effective leader.

“I LOVED getting real, concrete examples of how to phrase things and to handle situations. So many light bulb moments happened when a situation was presented and Chris offered a concrete way of handling it.” 

We want to thank everyone that was able to attend, your experiences contributed to lively discussion and highlighted the need for events like this one!

Image credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/0Sy4gfZ2RXU (Ross Tinney), licensed under CC0 1.0