Situational Leadership

This item in my series on planning is about leadership.   I think that often circumstances dictate the kind of leadership needed to make progress.  An organization that has the flexibility to select the best leader for the current issue is really healthy.  Often however the most senior person in the group is given the leadership role even if other skills are needed and others defer to the senior person.  I think many organizations miss some real opportunities with a lack of flexibility. 

The most extreme examples of this are the difference between an emergency and a slowly deteriorating situation.  The leadership in an emergency must be very action oriented but calm and very authoritarian.  There is no time to develop consensus.    In a slowly developing situation requires many people working on different aspects of the issue using initiative and innovation.  The leader would be someone who can coordinate a variety of activities while allowing for individual initiative.  This leader has quite a different style from the leader in an emergency. 

I think in all our projects we look for various members of the team take leadership and initiative.   We then build of the individual strengths of all the team members.   

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