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Submitted by: Kreg Enderson

I remember when I purchased my first home, there seemed to be an unlimited number fo trips to the local hardware store. Each job required some tool I had not yet purchased. I quickly found that an electric drill was an essential tool as a home owner. As I began to use the drill for a variety to jobs, I found that it worked great for drilling holes, but not so well for other jobs like securing things with large screws. The drill had one speed, fast! Then someone told me about getting another drill, a variable speed drill. I loved my new drill, because I could make it start very slow when I need to use it for a screw driver, and fast when I wanted to drill a hole.

In leadership, new leaders often approach people with one tool, or one approach. Their approach works well for some, and poorly for others. For team members, those that stay either respond well to the leaders approach, or they are spending time time complaining to others while looking for a new job. So how can we approach our team members with variable leadership?

Some people respond well to very close supervision, or micro-management. They dont want to be empowered to make decisions or be accountable for results. They just want to do as they are told. A new employee would fall in this category because they lack the skills and knowledge to be successful. They need direct supervision from the leader. As they learn and grow, the leadership approach must change to a more empowering style. In other words, our approach must change with each person as they mature in their role.

Another variable leadership challenge is how each person on your team is motivated. A sales manager may use money to motivate his or her team. Many will respond to this tangible reward, but others will respond much better to recognition. How do we know who will respond to what? Simple. We ask them. What do they value? Learn about the person and you will learn how to motivate them. When we have team members that are performing poorly, we must understand if they will respond to pressure, things like formal write-ups. We often wonder why people dont respond when their job is on the line. Its because this added pressure just makes the situation worse for some team members. Find out what they value, and use that as a motivator to improve performance.

I know senior executives in organizations that have a one speed approach to their leadership. I often wonder how much more success they would experience if they had learned earlier in their career about using different styles with different people. As a new leader, ask yourself if you are using one approach to manage your team. Take the time to reach out to peers or even those you may directly supervise, and find out if your leadership could be more effective by changing your style with certain team members. I think you will find that the best leaders us the Variable drill approach to leadership.

About the Author: Certified Coach, successful leader, and owner of the new leader training and mentoring site

LeadershipMentor.net

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