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Reading Room Articles Practical Leadership Skills for Property Management Professionals By Nadine Francis Written for Sales and Marketing Magic Have you always wanted to hear a more practical, easy-to-implement approach to managing and motivating the people you supervise? How many of you have been through leadership training programs that helped you diagnose what type of leader you are? (Directing, Coaching, Supporting or Delegating style.) Did you find that once you were diagnosed, you stuck to that leadership style? Do you find yourself today with those same leadership characteristics? When you finish reading this article, you will discover that there is no one best leadership style. Successful leaders are able to adapt their style to fit the requirements of the situation, the requirements of their associates. You'll find that the more flexible you are to manage within all four leadership styles, the more effective you'll be as a leader. From the time an associate starts as a new hire until the time they are promoted to their first management position, they have gone through several stages of development. Because they go through various stages of development, varied forms of leadership styles are required from us, the leader. Throughout this article, you'll see 2 factors that change. The first is our discussion regarding directive and supportive behavior. Our leadership style is determined by the amount of directive versus supportive behavior given to the associate. The second is our discussion regarding the development level of the associate. The development level of the associate is determined when the commitment level and the confidence level are measured. We'll first introduce the difference between directive versus supportive behavior of the leader. DIRECTIVE BEHAVIOR is defined as: The extent to which a leader engages in one-way communications; spells out the associates role and tells the follower what to do, where to do it, when to do it and how to do it; and then closely supervises performance. Three words best define this behavior ... structure, control and supervise. This behavior works well for the newly hired associate who needs clear cut direction. The associate may have a high level of enthusiasm, but due to lack of education, on-the-job experience, they have little knowledge of how to do the particular task. Because of lack of knowledge or skill for the particular task, the associate needs a high degree of directive behavior from you, the leader. While it is clear that a new hire would need this type of supervision to be successful, it also applies to top performers promoted to a new job or assigned a new task. A high directive leadership style will ensure success to the associate performing a new task which they have no prior experience, education, or on-the-job training. They need to be told how to do it, when to do it and where to do it, and closely supervised to be successful. The key to effective leadership is knowing when to increase or decrease the amount of direction you are giving the associate. If once the new hire is up and running with their task, you have to decrease the amount of directive behavior. If you don't, you'll be over-supervising. The associate will become frustrated and will do everything possible to get you to leave them alone. SUPPORTIVE BEHAVIOR is defined as: The extent to which a leader engages in two-way communication, listens, provides support and encouragement, facilitates interaction, and involves the associate in decision-making. Key words to define supportive behavior are praise, listen and facilitate. A good example again, is the new hire. Say the new hire is a leasing consultant and has been working with and demonstrating apartments to prospects for the past three months. The new hire over the past 30 days has a closing ratio of 40% and is working well with everyone. A high amount of directive leadership on your part may be over-supervising at this point. The new hire knows how to effectively greet, gather information, present the product, overcome objections, close and follow-up. They now have thoughts and opinions about their role and because of their experience and performance, it is now time to listen and facilitate their continued growth. This is also true for any associate who consistently performs their functions accurately, on-time and with enthusiasm. They need you, the leader, for support and encouragement only. Let's specifically talk about the four leadership styles. While we go through the four styles, note how the amount of directive versus supportive behavior will change. Directing: is a combination of high directive and low supportive behavior. The leader provides specific instructions about roles and goals, and then closely supervises the associates performance. With a Directing leadership style, the leader is in charge. Coaching: is a combination of high directive and high supportive behavior. The leader explains his/her directions, solicits suggestions, praises correct behavior, but continues to direct task accomplishment. With a Coaching leadership style, the associate is more involved in decision-making, but when push comes to shove, the leader decides. Supporting: is a combination of high supportive and low directive behavior. The leader and associate make decisions together. The role of the leader is to facilitate, listen, draw the associate out, encourage and support. With a Supporting leadership style, the associate's role is to decide how the task is to be accomplished. The leader's role is to listen and provide assurance, support, resources, and ideas, if requested. Delegating: is a combination of low directive and low supportive behavior. The leader turns over responsibility for task accomplishment to the associate; the associate provides his/her own direction and support. When a Delegating leadership style is used, the associate decides how, when, where, and with whom the goal is to be accomplished. Remember that managers can get results in any style. Therefore, there is no "one best" leadership style. Successful leaders are able to adapt their style to fit the requirement of the situation/associate. Flexibility is important because no two people come to a task with identical skills, knowledge, confidence, or motivation. To effectively manage these people at different levels of development, you need to vary your leadership style to fit the needs of the situation, the task and the associate. The key to effective leadership is matching leadership style to development level. No one is completely competent, confident, or committed to all of their tasks all of the time. The choice of an appropriate leadership style should depend on what the associate is being asked to do and a diagnosis of their competence and commitment to the task at hand. The more knowledgeable the associate of the specific task, the less direction the leader provides. The more motivated and confident the associate is, the less support the leader provides. To avoid using the wrong style at the wrong time with an associate, effective managers consider the person's development level which is a function of the associates competence and commitment to perform a task well, without supervision. Competence - a function of the associates task knowledge and skills gained through formal education, on-the-job training and experience. In determining an associate's competence, managers also need to look at the associate's knowledge of the organization, as well as transferable skills such as planning, time management, interpersonal communication skills, etc. All of which are important for the accomplishment of the specific task. Commitment - is a function of the associate's motivation and confidence. Motivation is the associate's interest and commitment to the task, and his/her enthusiasm and desire to succeed. Confidence is the person's sense of security or self-assuredness; the extent to which the associate trusts that he/she has the ability to work independent. The four levels of development are: The Enthusiastic Beginner. A person with low competence, but usually high commitment. With the enthusiastic beginner a delegating leadership style is used successfully. Because of the low competence level of the associate the leader will need to tell the associate what to do, how to do it, when to do it and then closely supervise performance. Because of the high level of commitment, support is not what is needed. The Disillusioned Learner. A person with some competence, but often their confidence and motivation drop. With the disillusioned learner the leader will become the coach. The coaching style provides directive behavior because of their lack of competence but also supportive behavior to build confidence and enthusiasm is most appropriate with individuals at this development level. Coaching encourages two-way communication which helps build confidence and motivation on the part of the associate. The Reluctant Contributor. This person has moderate to high competence, but variable commitment. Interest in doing the task may vary from day-to-day, as can confidence. A supporting style is used with the reluctant contributor. Remember the associate has moderate to high competence, they know how to do the job, so they need little if any direction. They need support and they need it bad. Sometimes the variable commitment can be a result of lack of confidence or insecurity. The associate needs a high level of support from you to get through this period ... they are on the verge of Peak Performance .. we need to help them get over the wall by offering a high level of support. The Peak Performer. High in both competence and commitment. (What we want every associate to grow to with each task their assigned.) A delegating style is used with the peak performer. They are permitted to take the ball and run with it, they decide how to do the job, where and when the task is to be completed. They have proven themselves, they have earned your respect as a top performer. Let's say that this peak performer is an assistant manager. The assistant manager has a new assignment of writing the owner's report at the end of the month. The assistant manager has never performed this task. You have always handled the task alone. What type of leadership style will be needed for this associate to be successful writing the owner's report? That's right, directing. You'll need to tell the associate how to do it, when to do it and then closely supervise performance. We want to match our leadership style to the development level of the associate because we don't want to under-supervise or over-supervise. When managers over-supervise, it frustrates the associate. When managers under-supervise, they usually don't get the results they want and the associate can become confused and disillusioned. Are you refreshed and encouraged about your leadership role? You now have a better idea of how to evaluate your associate's behavior and therefore their development level and you'll know exactly the type of leadership style the associate needs to succeed. It is our job to build our people to the best they can be .... hopefully this information will help make dramatic changes in your effectiveness and in-turn, dramatic changes in your entire teams performance. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: NADINE FRANCIS is a training consultant based in Atlanta, GA. If you would like more information about leadership skills or available in-house training, contact Nadine at (404) 917-9233.