Lifecycle of Leadership Development - Essay Example

SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP Introduction Boston Consulting Group is one of the famous consulting organizations that have its operations spread across 45countries. It is a renowned company and as per Fortune Global List it ranked in 3rd position in 2014. CEO of the company is Richard Lesser who has contributed abundantly towards the growth and success of the organization. He graduated as a Chemical Engineer from University of Michigan and even attended as a Baker Scholar in Harvard Business School. In the year 1988 Richard Lesser as a consultant joined Boston Consulting Group and through his hard work and dedication he is now the President, CEO of the company. Situational leadership is an innovative leadership style that would be analyzed in relation to Richard Lesser who is the present CEO of BCG. Discussion Justification of the leader exemplifying situational leadership Paul Hersey had developed the situational leadership theory and was initially known as Life Cycle theory of leadership. The most important concept behind this theory is that there is no such leadership style which can be considered to be perfect or adopted by an individual. A leadership style can be stated as effective if it is task relevant. Those leaders are successful who are able to adapt leadership style to degree of maturity of their team. This quality is well observed in Richard Lesser who is the CEO of Boston Consulting Group. Figure1 represents various components of situational leadership. Figure 1: Situational Leadership (Source: Liverore, 2010) The different leadership styles are categorized into four segments such as telling, selling, participating and delegating. S1 represents telling and in this form there is one way communication as the leader guides the team on what is to be done. S2 is selling which encompasses socio-emotional support and this form of two way communication enables team members to be fully indulged into the process. S3 represents participating behavior that highlights shared decision making and the focus is shifted from task oriented approach to relationship oriented approach. S4 is delegating behavior in which the entire responsibility is on the team members and the leader gets involved only in decision making process and monitoring overall progress. The type of leadership style would be totally depending on the maturity level and competencies of the team members. Richard Lesser has greatly exercised all the different styles that has been outlined in Figure 1. The newly appointed consultants of the group are in direct guidance of Richard Lesser. He believes to educate all the new joiners properly so that they can work in collaboration with experienced candidates of the organization. On the contrary he also does not direct those employees who are highly experienced and has outperformed in every possible scenario (Lussier, 2012). This clearly indicates that leadership approach of Richard Lesser is aligned with particular situation. Like for instance when the firm had issues in its operations in Asia, Africa and South America being a leader he adopted participative leadership approach rather than directive or telling. This is simply because he considers his team to be highly talented and prefers to incorporate their innovative ideas in decision making process to resolve issues. Value created by situational leadership Boston Consulting Group has emerged as an organization that has shown improvement and growth with every passing year. Richard Lesser who had started his career in this company as a consultant is currently CEO of the organization. Situational leadership approach has been thoroughly embedded in this organization. This form of leadership has been able to build a highly talented team with innovative ideas and thoughts. There are certain added values that have been brought in by such leadership style to the organization that is led by Richard Lesser. The foremost value is that it has facilitated two way communications throughout the system. This approach enables an individual to directly approach to the leader in terms of resolving issues or putting forward an opinion that could be beneficial in strategic decision making process (Srinath, 2009). Apart from this the competency level of organization has been increased due to this unique leadership style. The leader exercise control on team members who possess low competencies and have high or low level of willingness. Additional value that has been created is survival of the fittest in the organization. This leadership approach has created the value that those individuals who acquire competencies and enhance their skill sets would be the ones who can survive in this renowned organization. It has even conveyed the message across the organization that leaders would be supportive in the initial phase but with time team members need to prove their competencies. This concept has even incorporated the value that communication should always be both way as it helps to build a bridge between management and employees (Bonnici, 2011). It has been able to facilitate ownership culture in the organization where the team members consider themselves to be an integral part of the organization. Skill development by situational leader An individual needs to possess certain skills so as to exhibit a particular leadership style. However situational leadership comprises of wide range of behaviors and skills corresponding to such behaviors are not always present in individuals from birth. These skills need to be acquired during the career path. Experience plays an integral role in developing such skills. Like for instance Richard Lesser had started off his journey in BCG as a consultant. During his work life he had witnessed many things may that be strategic changes in system, success or failure. All these factors had led him to the CEO position in the organization. Like the way he was treated by his seniors is what he applies on his team members. These skills may that be supporting new comers or encouraging fellow members to participate in the decision making process has been acquired by him during his career at BCG. In order to be an effective situational leader the primary quality that should be present in an individual is to react on the basis of situation. Situational analysis can be done only when an individual has gained expertise in that particular field but willingness towards learning needs to be present from birth. Thus it can be stated that some of the qualities are present in an individual from birth but there are certain qualities that are developed with time. The way to handle team and those members who do not possess high level of competencies are some skills that are acquired by Richard Lesser while he was working with BCG as a senior consultant. He did possess the willingness to learn and as a result he was able to achieve success in short time period. The major natural skills that need to be present within an individual are patience and being focused (Daenzer, 2009). Apart from these skills the other set of skills needed for performing as a situational leader can be gained later. Richard Lesser is an example of an exceptional situational leader who has led his team towards a common goal. Conclusion Situational leadership is an innovative leadership style which states that there is no unique leadership approach. The situations arising in an organization guides the behavior of a leader. BCG or Boston Consulting Group, one of the renowned consulting groups is a prominent example in this context. Richard Lesser over the years through his dedication and hard work has built a team who are highly talented and innovative. This team comprises of individuals who possess high competencies as well as there are employees who have low competencies. As a leader he has directed and coached those team members who have willingness towards the job but do not possess required competencies. This is the reason behind the growth and success of Richard Lesser as well as his organization. References Bonnici, C. A. (2011). Creating a Successful Leadership Style. United Kingdom: R&L Education. Daenzer, B .E. (2009). Quantitative Correlation of Leadership Styles. USA: Proquest. Liverore, D. A. (2010). Leading with Cultural Intelligence. New York: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Lussier, R. (2012).Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. USA: Cengage Learning. Srinath, T.T. (2009). Team Development and Team Effectiveness. Hyderabad: ICFAI Book. Read More