Authors: Kenneth Blanchard, Ph.D.
Patricia Zigarmi, Ed.D.
Drea Zigarmi, Ed.D.

Much of management orthodoxy assumes that employees must all be treated exactly the same way. The idea is to maintain the image that no employee is getting special treatment. Ken Blanchard, Patricia Zigarmi and Drea Zigarmi present a different point of view in their book Leadership and the One Minute Manager.

While the book does not endorse playing favorites, it does state the importance of managers getting to know the individual differences in development, personality and talents among the employees. Knowing these differences an how to act upon them are the basis for “Situational Leadership”, the main conceptual idea behind the book.

Format, Style and Purpose

This book is short and to the point. It is 111 pages long, divided into twenty-five brief chapters. There is a two page introduction that describes the acceptance of the idea of situational leadership and puts the book into perspective as one of a continuing series.

The end of the book contains short biographies of the authors and information about Blanchard Training and Development Inc., a leadership training center founded by the author. The book uses a handful of simple graphs and charts to illustrate key concepts. In some places, phrases of well-known sayings are set alone on a page to induce a new concept.

Situational Leadership

Managers are trained to watch the clock, promote efficiency and treat the employees essentially as they would any other business asset. A mindset can develop over time that dehumanizes the employees and, the authors argue, defeats the ultimate purpose. A quote from the first chapter sets the stage through the eyes of the “One Minute Manager”:

While I think the amount of time and effort you put into work is
important, I’m afraid too many people think there is a direct
relationship between amount of work and success…
(Blanchard, 1985, p.14)

Following along those lines, the book proposes that there is no one “best” style of leadership. True leadership involves a lot more than being a dictator. A leader must be able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the employees as well as their own. The leader is a teacher, motivator and team member. The authors make a strong point in suggesting that all contacts with employees should be positive and productive in some way. This means the manager must be open, give compliments when they are earned and learn how to criticize constructively.

Near the halfway point in the book, the authors define four leadership styles: supporting, coaching, delegating and directing (p.47). These are not meant to be mutually exclusive styles. The job of the manager is to figure out which style to draw upon, with which employee at what given time. If situational leadership could be defined in one word; that word would be flexibility. This does not only mean flexibility in terms of reacting to situations, nor does it relieve the manager from the tasks of planning, assessment and reflection.

Situational leadership reminds us that people are not faceless automatons. In the end, the best way to ensure efficiency and productivity is to know how to capitalize on the strengths and talents of each individual. No one will resent an employee getting special treatment if the manager is astute enough to know who needs what. Finding this out requires a constant process of communication, assessment and reflection on the part of the manager.

Beginning on page 59, the authors draw a nexus between The One Minute Manager and the concept of situational leadership. In this context, the leader must help to set goals for individual employees. Assessing progress must then be done in context to each individual. In other words, the authors propose that managers must realize that people more in different ways and different directions toward their goals. This implies that having blanket progress standards for every worker is ineffective.

At first this would seem to be a permissive style that is accepting of failures. Instead, recognizing individual developmental differences is the first step toward moving the employees to self-directed learning. The idea is summarized by the authors in the following way:

…if a person doesn’t have competence on a particular task, then
someone has to direct, control and supervise that person’s behavior
and if that person’s commitment is low, you also have to provide
support and encouragement.  (p. 66)

This is an example of how the manager has to be able to draw upon many styles, adjusting to each individual situation. The work force is not one monolithic thing. It is a collection of individuals with differing life situations, talents, goals and motivations. In the long run it is less costly for the manager, whenever possible, to learn how to encourage maximum production from each employee rather than continue a rotating door of hiring and firing.

For a manager uncomfortable with the concept of flexibility, the authors provide some structure with a leadership flow chart on page 94-95.

Assessment in the context of Situational Leadership extends well beyond the typical periodic reports generated for the employees. It is part of an every day process for everyone, especially the manager. From the book:

When you are training someone, besides praising, you have
to be good at admitting you made a mistake.  (p.77)

Assessment is ultimately the key to Situational Leadership. The lack of it will separate the manager from his or her staff over time. Then, the manager is no longer in the position to get the best out of his or her employees.

About the Authors

Kenneth Blanchard is a well-known speaker, author and consultant. He is the founder and director of Blanchard Training and Development Inc., a California firm that specializes in leadership training. In addition to his business background, Blanchard has a Masters degree in sociology and counseling from Colgate University.

Patricia Zigarmi is the vice president of Blanchard’s firm as well as her own firm, Zigarmi Associates, Inc. She works in the areas of product development and leadership training. Zigarmi received a doctorate degree in organizational behavior from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Drea Zigarmi also works with Blanchard’s firm as a product developer, author and consultant. He is given a great deal of credit for the success of Blanchard’s firm and for assisting a number of large, growing companies. He has created a number of products that can be used to implement the Situational Leadership model. In addition to his business education, Mr. Zigarmi has degrees in science and philosophy.