A few years ago I participated in a training on Situational Leadership, an approach developed by Kenneth Blanchard and Paul Hersey. Situational Leadership is when a leader takes an adaptive approach to developing the people on her team. Specifically, the leader makes an assessment of the skill and motivation levels of an individual and tailors how she provides support or direction based on what the individual needs. 

So, someone with low skill but high motivation might be the college intern who is shadowing your work for the summer. She needs a lot of direction, but not a ton of emotional support as she’s already so pumped to be there learning. 

Someone with a lot of skill but low motivation is likely struggling with burnout, or may be distracted due to personal issues at home. This person knows the job and has proven that she can do it well, but her performance may be slacking lately. She would benefit from support from her manager, not necessarily direction. 

Someone with low skill and low motivation might be the consequence of a bad hire. This person will require a ton of support and training, a corrective action plan, or an escort to the door. 

Finally, someone with both a lot of skill and motivation is a rockstar! You can delegate more to her and she can perform well with little supervision from you.

Of course, it would be great if everyone on your team was always highly skilled and motivated. While some managers work towards this goal, I don’t think it’s necessarily that important for everyone to maintain that status. I think skill is something that can be consistent. However, the motivation piece is subjective to much more than a manager’s leadership style. Therefore, I think it is natural for a person’s motivation to fluctuate based on work related stuff and personal stuff. We’re not robots. Sometimes work is hard, and sometimes families are hard, and life is hard. It’s human for these things to impact our motivation at work. These moments in time do not indicate poor leadership or a bad employee. Therefore I would argue that the challenge is not to have high motivation all the time, but instead to be mindful of our natural ebbs and flows in motivation, and to tailor our approach to our teams based on the kind of support they need at any given time. 

How do you deal with varying levels of skill and motivation on your team? Share with us in the comments below.