WHY HERSEY AND BLANCHARD WERE CROWNED KING
Many theorists criticise Hersey and Blanchard because their theory has not been subject to rigorous academic research. So what? Situational theory has provided thousands of leaders with a simple and effective way to lead staff. Hersey and Blanchard’s books have been best sellers worldwide and every year thousands of training events are based on their ideas. The theory has proved its value in the toughest research environment possible – the marketplace. It’s easy to understand, easy to use and intuitively it feels and sounds right. Take it out for a spin and see what you think.
In any leadership situation there are two parties, the leader and their followers. The more you know about yourself and your followers the better leader you will be. Use MBWA (see Theory 7) and every interaction you have with staff to learn more about the people you work with. Listen and observe and you’ll quickly learn what makes them tick. This will help you to both lead and motivate them.
Learning about yourself is more difficult. We’re experts at hiding our true nature and motives from ourselves. We don’t even know what we look like because we have never seen a three-dimensional image of ourselves, so is it any surprise that we know even less about our personality and how we are perceived by other people? The only way to get an idea of what you are really like is to ask others. Use Johari windows theory (see Theory 96) to help you kick-start the process. Unless you understand yourself you can’t know what you believe in or what your principles are. This makes it impossible for you to identify the red lines in the management dust that you will never cross. But if you stand for nothing, you will be willing to stand for anything and to cross any red line when it becomes inconvenient.