Blog Posts

By Dr. Scott.

Glad to have you back for another edition of the MSPD Wednesday Leadership Blog.  Over the past couple of weeks, we have been focusing our attention on visionary leadership.  In our first entry in the series, we focused on the 6 Characteristics of Visionary Leaders.  We then looked at how visionary leaders innovate strategically and inspire others through their communication styles in Strategic Innovation and Inspirational Communication. 

This week, we’ll look at what some people believe to be two incongruous leadership styles: visionary leadership and situational leadership and demonstrate why a blending might be the leadership technique that takes your leadership to the next level.

A Little Background

Two important visionary leadership characteristics relevant to our topic here are flexibility and resiliency.  As we noted in 6 Characteristics of Visionary Leaders, flexibility and resiliency are core components of visionary leaders.  Flexibility allows for innovation and unique solutions to complex problems.  Resiliency helps visionary leaders overcome setbacks and obstacles.  When we think about leadership from these two characteristics, though, we quickly realize that success in leadership often requires these traits, and more specifically, we could be describing both a visionary leadership style and a situational leadership style.

Situational leadership and visionary leadership, of course, are not the same thing, but as we will see, should not be thought of as completely incongruous. 

Some Comparisons

Situational leaders adapt their leadership style to meet the needs of the situation and the people involved.  Whereas visionary leaders are focused on driving innovation and change, situational leaders motivate people to perform at optimal levels by adjusting their own behaviors and leadership styles to navigate the situation. 

If we think in very general terms, then we can say, on the one hand, visionary leaders are focused on the future and overcome situational setbacks by revisiting the long-term goals and re-motivating their team.  While on the other hand, situational leaders—again thinking in general terms—seek to achieve long term goals by focusing on the present and finding value adding solutions to situational setbacks.

The Blending of the Two

Both visionary and situational leadership styles have their strengths and weaknesses.   We know that visionary leadership styles can produce amazing results and inspire small teams to accomplish incredible things.  We also know that situational leadership styles produce positive work environments and organizational cultures, satisfied employees, and high performing teams, both individually and collectively.

As for weaknesses, visionary leaders can sometimes, well, be hard to work with or for.  Visionary leaders are driven, but this drive can lead to high turnover or a loss of team buy in if demands are high and the rewards are low or delayed.  Situational leaders, though often much more pleasant to work with or for, can expend too much time and focus adjusting their leadership styles to meet everyone’s needs, undermining their overall effectiveness in achieving long range goals and benchmarks.

That being said, situational leadership—the ability to adjust your leadership style to the situation and lead effectively—has many strengths that make for effective leaders and strong organizational cultures.  And, one of the strengths of situational leaders is their ability to shift from one leadership style to another, including visionary leadership.

For visionary leaders to overcome some of the weaknesses identified above, taking a page out of the situational leader’s playbook is one key way to overcome temporary setbacks, reinvigorate teams and team buy in, and lead with flexibility and resiliency.  Visionary leaders who are also effective at developing team members, resolving conflicts, and leading with empathy and integrity increase their likelihood of success in achieving their vision.

Final Thoughts

For aspiring visionary leaders, then, a blending of the two leadership styles is a recommended best practice and the two styles should not be thought of as incompatible.  Studying both visionary leadership skills and situational leadership skills should remain a focus to help leaders overcome setbacks, maintain high morale, and achieve long term goals.

Dr. Scott Eidson is the Executive Vice President of the Madison School of Professional Development and holds doctoral degrees in both history and business.  When not thinking about leadership, he’s usually thinking about surfing or old Volkswagens.