What is a Telling Leadership Style?

What Is a Telling Leadership Style?

Let’s start here … words mean different things to different people! Put another way, our founder, Dr. Paul Hersey, used to say that “words … are simply packages of ideas.”

With that in mind, it is safe to say that we at The Center for Leadership Studies have received more push-back and reaction over the last 55 years to the term telling in the Situational Leadership^® Model than any other:

• “I would NEVER tell anybody to do anything!”
• “If you are TELLING … you certainly aren’t LEADING!”
• “ETC.”

What we have come to find out (again and again) is that those individuals don’t have a problem with a directive approach—they have a mental block with its packaging.

So, let’s be clear … a TELLING style of leadership is defined by the leader using moderate to high amounts of task behavior in combination with moderate to low amounts of relationship behavior. The approach is intended (when used appropriately) to create positive movement with followers who are either intimidated or unmotivated (or both) to initiate with tasks they have no proven track record of performing. Synonymous terms for telling in the context of the Situational Leadership^® approach are guiding or structuring or directing.

A leader who employs this style of leadership is highly focused on providing the necessary detail of what needs to be accomplished, and how it needs to be done. In that regard, a telling leadership style is a “short-term approach.” If a follower lacks task specific experience or skill, as well as the confidence or commitment necessary to act, the leader needs to provide an instructive path to success. When the follower implements that guidance, the leader needs to be close by (physically or virtually) to provide feedback, recognition and reinforcement for tangible progress and development.

What Does a Telling Leadership Style Look Like?

There are many misconceptions about “telling.” First and foremost, “telling” is NOT “yelling.” It simply means the leader is making decisions regarding the task to be completed and is probably doing ~80% of the talking. There are any number of ways to do that. Here are two for your consideration:

• With a new employee who has limited (if any) experience with the task to be completed and is noticeably apprehensive (i.e., concerned about making a mistake):
  • “OK … let’s make sure you get pointed in the right direction on this. Here is a sequenced list of steps I want you to take. We will review each in detail as we move forward, and I am going to be right here if anything comes up that throws you for a loop. Let’s go ahead and get started.”
• With a tenured employee who has openly resisted implementing a mandated change and appears to have no intention of complying.
  • “Let me be very clear on this, the change in protocol that has been announced and reviewed isn’t going away. We do not have options on ‘doing it the way we have been doing it’ or conforming to this directive. So, I am going to work through each of those steps with you now. If you have questions about what to do along the way, please ask. OK … let’s go ahead and get started.”

From that point forward (with either discussion) the role of the directive/telling leader is to:

• Define the Action(s) to Be Taken – Communicate specific expectations on what needs to be done and how it needs to be accomplished
• Ensure Understanding – Limit the degrees of freedom when it comes time for discussion with the employee (i.e., Ask questions like, “Do you understand the importance of completing Step 1 before you take Step 2?” or, “Are you clear on what I’ve asked you to do here?”)
• Provide Feedback – Look for opportunities to encourage continued progress and development by providing timely and specific observations of compliance and/or achievement.

The Situational Leadership^® Model and Telling/Directing

At The Center for Leadership Studies, we believe that a leader needs to adapt their approach based on the current performance of the person they are trying to influence. Situational Leaders routinely shift between one of four styles (S1 – Telling; S2 – Selling; S3 – Participating; and S4 – Delegating) with each person they influence on a task-by-task basis.

In that context and as previously mentioned, the S1 telling style of leadership typically has a high probability with followers that have yet to demonstrate ability (task specific knowledge, experience and skill) and are also struggling with willingness (task specific confidence, commitment and motivation). Those struggles can present themselves with followers that are either developing, or regressing. Here are a few examples:

• Follower is new to a task, has a limited (or non-existent) track-record of success and is clearly apprehensive about diving in and getting started (developing confidence)
• Follower started out with a high level of enthusiasm on a task, learned more about the particulars associated with successful completion and has become increasingly insecure and disillusioned (regressing)
• Follower does not have a record of consistent performance on a task, nor have they provided evidence they are willing to learn what to do or how to do it (developing motivation/commitment)
• Follower is visibly losing commitment or motivation to perform key tasks because of being passed over for a promotion they felt they deserved (regressing)

Telling/Directing Leadership Training

Understanding the benefits of a highly directive style are relatively straightforward. Knowing both how and when to “tell” a follower what to do and how to do it is significantly more difficult! In that context, the real job of any leader is to identify what style of leadership a follower needs for a given situation. Consider the Situational Leadership^® framework as a timing mechanism that helps leaders determine when to do what in that regard. Also consider that effective leadership that delivers results and enhances engagement is more important now than ever before!