Situational Leadership: When to Coach, When to Direct, and When to Step Back
A guide to adapting your leadership style to meet your team where they are.
In this issue:
Part 1: Understanding Situational Leadership
What is Situational Leadership?
How Situational Leadership Works
Part 2: Applying Situational Leadership
The Situational Leadership Loop
Real-Life Leadership Scenarios
The Situational Leadership Worksheet
Part 3: Going from Here
Common Pitfalls (and How to Avoid Them)
Recommended Resources
Final Thoughts
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It was my second month managing a new team. One of my reports, let’s call him Arjun, had just joined straight out of college. Arjun was bright, energetic, and full of ideas. I gave him a critical project and told him to “Run with it.”
He did run with it, but straight into a wall.
He delivered code on time, but it turned out that he had made some flawed assumptions, and the design wasn’t scalable. When the bugs started pouring in, he was confused and frustrated. I was equally puzzled. After all, he was smart and motivated, so what could possibly have gone wrong?
The mistake wasn’t his. It was mine. I had assumed his energy and enthusiasm meant he didn’t need much direction, that he would be able to “figure things out.”
What he actually needed was daily guidance and hands-on support. He had high motivation, but he was inexperienced in the domain and the engineering practices.
Managers often fall into one of two traps. They either over-manage everyone or under-manage everyone. They lead based on their preferences, not their team’s needs.
In this article, we will learn about Situational Leadership, a powerful leadership model that you can use to avoid the traps I mentioned above.
Ready? Let’s dive in.
Part 1: Understanding Situational Leadership
In this section, we’ll learn about Situational Leadership, how it works, and why it's one of the most practical models for real-world leadership.
What is Situational Leadership?
The origins of Situational Leadership trace back to the work of Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard, who initially introduced it as the Life Cycle Theory of Leadership in their 1969 book, Management of Organizational Behavior. They later renamed it Situational Leadership.
At its core, Situational Leadership emphasizes that:
When it comes to effective leadership styles, there is no “one size fits all”.
The right style depends on the situation, especially the readiness and development level of the person you’re leading.
Instead of leading from habit, ego, or preference, Situational Leadership asks you to be adaptive. It’s not about changing who you are as a leader, but about changing how you lead based on what your team needs from you at that moment.
How Situational Leadership Works
The model has two core elements:
Development Level of the team member
Leadership Style used by the manager
Development Levels (D1–D4)
Each person you lead sits somewhere on this spectrum:
D1: Low Competence, High Commitment: New to the task. Eager, but lacks experience.
D2: Some Competence, Low Commitment: Gaining experience, but getting overwhelmed or discouraged.
D3: High Competence, Variable Commitment: Skilled, but may lack confidence or motivation.
D4: High Competence, High Commitment: Seasoned, confident, and self-driven.
Leadership Styles (S1–S4)
To match those levels, you adjust your leadership style:
S1: Directing: High direction, low support. You make decisions, set goals, give clear instructions. Best for D1.
S2: Coaching: High direction, high support. You guide and motivate, still very involved. Best for D2.
S3: Supporting: Low direction, high support. You listen more, ask questions, offer encouragement. Best for D3.
S4: Delegating: Low direction, low support. You trust them to take full ownership. Best for D4.
Evolution and Growth
What I find the best part of this model is that it doesn’t assume people stay in one box forever.
As they grow in skill or go through challenges, their development level evolves. And to continue to support them, you must adapt and evolve your leadership style tool.
Part 2: Applying Situational Leadership
In this section, you will learn how to apply Situational Leadership in your role as a leader.
We will start by reviewing the Situational Leadership Loop, a simple two-step process you can start using right away.
We will then discuss some common real-life leadership scenarios, and how you would apply this framework in each of those.
Finally, we will make it real with the Situational Leadership Worksheet, which will help you build your muscle in applying and using this framework in your leadership role.