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How to Work With People
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Table of Contents

LEADERSHIP

When a leader is good, people experience "we did it ourselves". They feel proud of their work. They feel good.
    As a manager you will often discover that time is short. You will feel that you would need more time to spend not only with your staff but also with planning and administration. To increase capacity you have to delegate tasks to your subordinates.

Development LEVEL
Delegation assumes that your staff has a high level of competence, which is not always the case. Another factor is commitment. Roughly we can divide our staff into 5 different groups of development.

    Each one of these categories will require a different style of leadership from you. You have to treat people according to what they know and according to their attitudes to their job.
    A person who does not yet know his job or a special task will require direction. He needs to be told how to do his job and to be closely supervised while doing it. A qualified staff member will become irritated with too many explanations and with somebody always checking on him.
    A staff member may, however, be very qualified but uninterested in his job, or uninterested in a special task. Different levels of commitment or motivation will therefore also require different levels of supervision but now of a different character. It is important but difficult to identify reasons for low motivation. What ever the reason might be it can usually, be compensated by a supportive encouraging supervision.

   We shall discuss more about different reasons for low motivation in the chapter "Psychology".

Leadership style
The different combinations of competence and commitment will require different styles of leadership.

• Directing leadership - D1
  For level D1, low competence and high commitment, a directing leadership style is required. The fact that the staff member is highly committed to his task will motivate him to absorb all the guidance you can give and his competence will develop rapidly.

• Coaching leadership - D2
  The D2 level is more difficult. Some competence combined with low motivation often creates a difficult attitude to work, the staff member might think that supervision is not necessary as he "already knows his job" and will be irritated with somebody checking on him all the time.
      As he already "knows the job" he might however be positive to discuss targets for his work. As he is not very competent the targets should not be put too high and the agreed time for inspecting should not be too long. To defend his prestige as somebody who knows his job, his commitment will rise and he will most probably work very much harder.
      Shorter intervals between inspections will give many opportunities for evaluation and constructive criticism. If your staff member's commitment to work is doubtful you must be very careful how you criticise. Give high attention to progress and give plenty of positive strokes for these. Avoid negative criticism as poor competence often goes together with bad self confidence which can backfire.

• Contracting Leadership - D3
     The competent but poorly motivated staff member (D3) has a similar profile as the previous one (D2). His high competence must however be respected. If he feels that even his competence is doubted his motivation may fall even further.
      "Contracting" is in this case a useful method. With contracting we mean that we discuss targets and set goals. If your staff member is aware of his competence he will set his targets high and go for it. Your leadership can therefore be limited to listening and supporting.
      If your contracting is successful your staff member might develop to level D4: competent and committed. He might however need some motivation to rise his commitment not to fall down to the D3 level again.

• Delegating Leadership - D4
     The competent and committed staff members (D4) will require very little from you as a manager. His work will advance without your interference and he will find his stimulation and motivation in what he is achieving through his work.
      What you will need to discuss with your competent and committed staff member is only general guide-lines and if you don't give them, he may request them himself or even help you to elaborate them.
      There is a risk however in just leaving the D4 working by himself. He may have gained his high motivation through your support. Leaving him alone he might lose it and fall to the D3 level.

• Low Competence and Low Commitment - D0
  This is the problem case for any manager: Not able and not interested.
      The D0 staff member should be moved from his present tasks to something he is able to do. He then becomes a D2 ready for a coaching leadership style.

Task Specific Leadership
We have now discussed different types of leadership styles related to different levels of competence and commitment.
    One of your subordinates may however be good at and interested in one field whilst bad at and uncommitted in another field of his job. He may therefore be treated as a D4 for one job and as a D2 for another.
    The obvious advice is consequently to try to give the right job to the right person. An incompetent builder might become a good promoter and a sleepy night guard might like to learn how to build.

 Promotion of Staff

It is common and a good rule to promote successful and reliable people, so called peak performers. Remember, however, that promotion leads to new tasks in which the person may be less competent and possibly less interested.
    A good builder does not always become a good foreman. He might become impatient with his less skilled builders, who as a result might lose their interest and motivation in their work.
    The best builder, earlier a D4, competent and committed, able to work completely by himself, may now become a D1 or D2 and will in his new position require a directive or a coaching leadership from you.

Summary
The keys to successful leadership should be:

1. Do not have the same leadership style with all your staff members. Try to vary your leadership style with the same person, your style of leadership should depend on his competence and commitment for each different task. The style you choose should depend on the staff members task-specific competence and commitment.
2. Pay plenty of attention in assessing your staff members and...
3. Be personal!