Real situational leadership examples that transform employee experience

Why situational leadership matters for real employee experience

Why flexible leadership makes or breaks employee experience

When employees describe a great day at work, they rarely mention a leadership theory. They talk about a leader who understood their situation, gave the right level of support, and did not use a one size fits all approach. That is exactly what situational leadership is about : adapting your leadership style to the performance readiness and needs of each team member, for each task, in each moment.

In practice, this means leadership is not a fixed personality trait. It is a set of leadership skills and relationship behaviors that shift depending on the situation. A situational leader reads the context, the job to be done, the level of confidence and competence of the team member, and then chooses the most effective leadership style. This is where employee experience becomes real, not just a slide in a management presentation.

From abstract leadership theory to daily work reality

Situational leadership started as a leadership model in management research, but its real power shows up in everyday work. The core idea is simple : no single leadership style works for every person or every task. Some team members need clear direction on a new task. Others need space, trust, and light touch support to grow.

In this leadership approach, leaders move along two main dimensions :

• Task behavior : how much structure, guidance, and direction the leader gives on the work itself.
• Relationship behavior : how much the leader focuses on listening, coaching, encouragement, and emotional support.

Different combinations of these behaviors create different leadership styles. Situational leaders do not lock into one style. They adjust as team members develop, as jobs change, and as the business context shifts. This is especially visible in moments like onboarding, change, performance issues, and feedback conversations, which we will explore through concrete leadership examples in the rest of the article.

Why employee experience depends on situational leaders

Employee experience is shaped less by big corporate programs and more by daily interactions with leaders. A situational leader can turn the same policy or process into a very different lived experience for each team member. The difference often comes down to emotional intelligence and the ability to adapt leadership in real time.

Here is how a situational leadership style directly impacts experience at work :

• Psychological safety : When leaders adjust their style to the performance readiness of each person, employees feel seen rather than judged. They are more willing to admit what they do not know, which improves learning and reduces errors.
• Fairness and trust : Situational leadership does not mean treating everyone the same. It means being transparent about why a certain approach is used in a given situation. This clarity builds trust, even when expectations are high.
• Growth and development : As team members gain skills, situational leaders gradually reduce task direction and increase autonomy. This visible shift signals growth and reinforces a sense of progress in their jobs.
• Resilience during change : In times of change, some people need more structure, others need more space to process. Leaders who can flex their leadership styles help teams navigate uncertainty without burning out.

Research on leadership management and employee engagement consistently shows that the immediate leader is one of the strongest predictors of how people feel about their work environment, their development, and their future in the business (for example, see meta analyses published in journals such as The Leadership Quarterly and Journal of Organizational Behavior).

Situational leadership as a driver of performance and growth

Situational leadership is not only about being nice or supportive. It is a performance oriented leadership model. The goal is to match leadership style to the combination of skill and motivation for each task, so that both results and experience improve.

Consider how this plays out across different levels of performance readiness :

These examples situational show how leadership styles can either unlock or block performance. When leaders misread the situation, they often over manage capable people or under support those who are still learning. Both scenarios damage employee experience and long term development.

What distinguishes effective situational leaders

In real organizations, the most effective situational leaders share a few patterns in how they work with their teams :

• They diagnose before they act : They ask about the task, the context, and how confident the team member feels, instead of assuming a single leadership style will work.
• They talk openly about style : They explain why they are being more hands on or more hands off in a given situation, which turns leadership into a shared language rather than a mystery.
• They invest in emotional intelligence : They notice signals of stress, disengagement, or frustration, and adjust their relationship behavior accordingly.
• They see leadership as a partnership : They invite team members to say when they need more guidance or more autonomy, which supports ownership and accountability.

Over time, this approach builds a culture where adapting leadership is normal. It also prepares the ground for practices like coaching based leadership and servant leadership, which are increasingly used to support employee growth and well being. For a deeper dive into how coaching behaviors reinforce this kind of flexible leadership, you can explore this analysis on the role of coaching in servant leadership.

Connecting situational leadership to the rest of the employee journey

The real test of any leadership theory is how it shows up across the full employee journey. Situational leadership becomes especially visible in key moments :

• When a new team member joins and has a different learning speed or background.
• When the business goes through change and uncertainty, and people react in very different ways.
• When performance issues appear and leaders must protect trust while raising the bar.
• When feedback is needed for growth, but the person’s confidence is fragile.
• When teams are hybrid or remote and the usual signals of engagement are harder to read.

In the next parts of this article, we will look at concrete leadership examples in each of these situations. The goal is not to memorize a theory, but to see how situational leadership can transform everyday work into a more human, fair, and growth oriented experience for every team member.

Onboarding a new hire with different learning speeds

Why one onboarding style never fits every new hire

On paper, onboarding looks like a simple management task. You give the new team member a checklist, a buddy, some systems access, and you are done. In reality, this is one of the clearest examples situational leaders face in daily work. The same onboarding plan can feel energizing for one person and overwhelming or boring for another.

This is where situational leadership becomes a practical leadership model, not just a leadership theory from a textbook. The core idea is simple : you adapt leadership to the performance readiness of each new hire for each task, instead of using one leadership style for everyone.

Performance readiness combines two things :

• Ability : skills, knowledge, and experience for the job and specific tasks
• Willingness : confidence, motivation, and comfort with the situation

Different combinations of ability and willingness call for different leadership styles. During onboarding, those combinations change fast, sometimes week by week. Effective situational leaders track that change and adjust their leadership approach in real time.

Reading learning speed and performance readiness in the first weeks

Two new hires can start the same day, in the same team, with the same job description, and still need very different leadership styles. One may have high technical skills but low confidence in the new business context. Another may be new to the field but very eager to learn and experiment.

To apply situational leadership well, leaders need to observe a few signals during the first days :

• How quickly they grasp tasks : Do they need step by step guidance, or do they connect the dots on their own ?
• How they react to uncertainty : Do they freeze, ask questions, or explore options independently ?
• How they talk about their own learning : Do they say “I have done this before” or “This is all new to me” ?
• How they handle feedback : Do they become defensive, curious, or proactive about change ?

These observations help a situational leader decide which leadership style to use for each task : more directive, more coaching, more supporting, or more delegating. It is not about labeling the person. It is about matching the leadership style to the specific situation and task.

Adapting leadership styles to different learning speeds

Situational leadership theory suggests that leaders flex along two main dimensions : task behavior and relationship behavior. In onboarding, this translates into how much structure you give and how much emotional support you provide.

Below is a simplified view of how a situational leader can adapt leadership styles to different levels of performance readiness during onboarding :

This is not a rigid management recipe. It is a practical way to think about how to adapt leadership in real onboarding situations, especially when team members learn at different speeds.

Using emotional intelligence to fine tune your approach

Onboarding is not only about tasks and processes. It is also about emotions : excitement, anxiety, doubt, and sometimes imposter syndrome. Emotional intelligence is what allows situational leaders to notice these signals and adjust their leadership style without making the team member feel judged.

Some concrete behaviors that show emotionally intelligent leadership during onboarding :

• Checking in on feelings, not only tasks : asking “How are you experiencing the workload so far ?” instead of only “Did you finish the task ?”
• Normalizing the learning curve : reminding new hires that different learning speeds are expected and accepted in the team
• Adapting communication style : some people prefer written instructions, others prefer live walkthroughs or screen sharing
• Reading non verbal cues : noticing when someone says “I am fine” but looks stressed or confused

Leaders with strong emotional intelligence can shift from a more directive leadership style to a more supportive one at the right moment, which protects trust and psychological safety. This is essential for long term growth and performance.

Designing onboarding journeys for different learning profiles

At a team or business level, situational leadership can shape how onboarding programs are designed. Instead of a single standard path, leadership management can create flexible journeys that match different learning profiles and jobs.

Some practical ways to do this :

• Modular learning paths : core modules for everyone, plus optional deep dives for people who move faster or have higher initial ability
• Different task complexity levels : starting some team members with simpler tasks while others take on more complex work earlier, based on readiness
• Peer learning and mentoring : pairing new hires with team members who have complementary strengths and leadership skills
• Regular readiness reviews : short check ins where the leader and team member discuss what feels too easy, too hard, or just right

This approach respects individual differences while still keeping a coherent employee experience across the team. It also supports faster development, because people are not held back or pushed too hard just to fit a single template.

Connecting onboarding to long term leadership and growth

How leaders handle the first weeks sends a strong signal about the leadership culture of the organization. When situational leadership is visible from day one, new hires learn that :

• Different leadership styles are normal and intentional, not random
• Performance discussions will consider both ability and willingness, not only results
• Adapt leadership is part of how the team works, not a special exception

Over time, this shapes how team members themselves lead projects, mentor others, and handle change. Situational leadership during onboarding becomes a foundation for later stages of the employee journey, from navigating change to handling performance issues and giving feedback that supports development.

If you want to explore a more visual and symbolic way to think about presence and leadership style during onboarding, you can look at how organizations use color and space to signal support and authority. A useful perspective on this is shared in this article on how to choose the right color for a mentor's presence. It may sound simple, but these design choices can reinforce or weaken the leadership approach you are trying to build.

In the end, situational leadership in onboarding is not about a perfect theory. It is about leaders paying close attention to each situation, each task, and each person, then choosing the leadership style that gives the new hire the best chance to succeed and grow.

Supporting employees through change and uncertainty

Why change is the real test of situational leadership

Change and uncertainty are where situational leadership stops being a theory and becomes a daily survival skill. New tools, reorganizations, shifting priorities, or a sudden crisis all put pressure on people’s confidence, energy, and trust in leadership.

In these moments, one leadership style rarely works for everyone. Some team members want clear direction on each task. Others need space to experiment. Some are worried about their jobs. Others are excited about the growth potential. A situational leader reads this mix and adjusts the leadership approach instead of forcing a one size fits all model.

Research on change management and employee experience consistently shows that people do not resist change itself as much as they resist feeling ignored, confused, or left alone in the dark. Situational leaders use emotional intelligence to reduce that uncertainty and keep performance and engagement at a high level, even when the environment is unstable.

Reading performance readiness during uncertainty

Situational leadership theory suggests that effective leaders adapt leadership styles based on the performance readiness of each team member. During change, readiness can shift quickly. Someone who was confident yesterday may feel lost today because the task or situation has changed.

To understand performance readiness in a changing context, leaders can look at three simple signals:

• Competence for the new task – Do team members have the skills and knowledge for the new tools, processes, or expectations ?
• Confidence and motivation – Are they willing to take on the new work, or do they seem hesitant, anxious, or disengaged ?
• Clarity of the situation – Do they understand why the change is happening and what success looks like at a practical level ?

Situational leaders do not assume that past high performance automatically means high readiness for every new situation. A top performer in the old system may need more guidance when the business model or technology changes. This is where leadership skills and relationship behavior matter as much as technical expertise.

Matching leadership styles to different reactions to change

Situational leadership offers a practical leadership model for choosing the right style in each situation. During change, you will usually see four broad reactions inside the same team. Each reaction calls for a different leadership style.

These are not rigid categories. They are examples situational leaders can use as a mental map. The same team member may need a more directive leadership style for a new system rollout, and a more delegating style for their usual core tasks.

Concrete leadership examples during a major change

To make this more tangible, consider a typical change scenario in many organizations : a new digital tool is introduced that reshapes daily work. The leadership management team wants faster decision making and better data, but employees worry about workload and job security.

Here is how a situational leader might adapt leadership styles across the team.

• For the overwhelmed team member
  This person has low performance readiness for the new tool. The leader uses a directive style at first : short training sessions, step by step guides, daily check ins. Relationship behavior is still respectful and supportive, but the focus is on clear instructions and structure.
• For the skeptical but capable expert
  This person has the skills but doubts the value of the change. The leader shifts to a coaching style : explaining the business rationale, connecting the change to long term growth, asking for input on how to adapt workflows. Emotional intelligence is key here to avoid defensiveness.
• For the early adopter
  This team member quickly reaches high competence and confidence. The leader uses a delegating style : asking them to lead a mini project, mentor others, or test advanced features. This not only supports the change but also creates development opportunities.
• For the quiet steady performer
  This person is not vocal but delivers solid work. The leader uses a supporting style : checking how they feel about the change, inviting feedback in one to one meetings, and recognizing their reliability. This protects engagement and prevents silent frustration.

These leadership examples show how situational leadership is less about a fixed personality and more about reading the situation and adapting leadership behavior. Over time, this flexible approach builds trust because team members feel seen as individuals, not as generic roles.

Using emotional intelligence as your early warning system

During uncertainty, emotional intelligence becomes a core part of any leadership theory that claims to be practical. Situational leaders pay attention not only to tasks and performance, but also to emotions, energy, and informal signals inside the team.

Some simple but powerful practices include :

• Listening for changes in tone and body language during meetings
• Asking open questions about how people experience the change, not only whether they understand it
• Normalizing mixed feelings instead of pushing forced positivity
• Checking in more often with people who are usually quiet or independent
• Sharing your own uncertainty at a reasonable level to make it safe for others to speak

These behaviors help leaders spot drops in performance readiness before they show up in metrics. They also support a healthier employee experience, where people feel that leadership is present and responsive, not distant.

Connecting situational leadership to broader governance and trust

Change and uncertainty are not only operational issues. They are also questions of governance, trust, and how decisions are made at the highest level. When employees see that leadership styles are flexible and that leaders are accountable to clear values, they are more likely to stay engaged through difficult transitions.

Organizations that strengthen their governance, for example by using independent perspectives in oversight roles, often create a more stable environment for situational leadership to thrive. If you want to explore how this connects to employee experience and trust, you can look at how independent board members can strengthen your organization. Strong governance and adaptive leadership approaches reinforce each other.

What this means for employee experience

When leaders treat change as a shared journey instead of a top down announcement, the employee experience improves even if the change itself is challenging. Situational leadership gives a practical leadership model for doing this : assess the situation, understand each team member’s performance readiness, and adapt leadership style accordingly.

Over time, this approach supports :

• Higher trust in leadership during difficult periods
• More sustainable performance, not just short bursts of effort
• Better alignment between individual development and business needs
• A culture where people feel safe to learn, experiment, and grow

In other words, situational leadership turns change from a threat into a structured opportunity for learning and development, both for leaders and for team members.

Handling performance issues without damaging trust

Why traditional reactions break trust fast

When performance drops, many leaders fall back on a single style of management. They push harder, add more control, or start micromanaging. It feels logical in the moment, but it often damages trust and motivation.

Situational leadership offers a different lens. Instead of asking “How do I fix this person ?”, a situational leader asks “What is happening in this specific situation, and what does this team member need from me right now ?”

This shift matters for employee experience. People do not remember the performance review form. They remember how their leader behaved when things were not going well. That memory shapes how safe they feel to take risks, learn, and grow.

Diagnose the real performance situation first

Situational leadership theory says you cannot choose the right leadership style until you understand two things :

• The task – How clear, complex, or new is the work ?
• The performance readiness of the team member – Their current level of competence and confidence for this specific task.

Performance readiness is not a label on the person. It is about the situation. A high performer in one job can struggle when the task or context changes. That is why “one size fits all” leadership styles fail.

Before reacting, effective situational leaders slow down and explore :

• Is the goal or task actually clear ?
• Has the person done this type of work successfully before ?
• What has changed recently in the team, tools, or business environment ?
• Is this a skill gap, a motivation issue, or a mix of both ?

This diagnosis is not just a management technique. It is an act of respect. It shows that leadership is about understanding the situation, not just judging the person.

Match your leadership style to readiness, not to your comfort zone

Once the situation is clear, the leader can adapt leadership behavior. The classic situational leadership model describes four broad leadership styles, based on how much direction and relationship behavior the leader provides :

In real leadership examples, the problem often comes from a mismatch :

• A leader uses a highly directive style with a high readiness team member, who then feels controlled and disengaged.
• Or the leader stays hands off with someone who actually needs structure and coaching to succeed.

Situational leaders practice emotional intelligence to notice these mismatches. They pay attention to tone, body language, and energy in the team. Then they adjust their leadership approach, even if it feels uncomfortable at first.

Use conversations that protect dignity and clarify expectations

Handling performance issues without harming trust is mostly about how the conversation is handled. A situational leader prepares for that discussion with both clarity and empathy.

A simple structure that aligns with situational leadership theory :

• Describe the situation – Focus on facts and specific tasks, not on personality.
• Share the impact – On the team, customers, or business goals.
• Explore causes together – Ask open questions, listen more than you speak.
• Assess readiness – Is this about skill, will, or external constraints at work ?
• Agree on a tailored plan – Match your leadership style to what they need now.

For example, if the team member is new to a complex task and their performance readiness is low, the plan might include :

• More frequent check ins
• Clear step by step guidance
• Shadowing a more experienced colleague
• Short, focused development goals

If they are experienced but disengaged, the plan may focus more on relationship behavior :

• Reconnecting their work to the bigger purpose of the team
• Discussing workload, autonomy, and decision making
• Clarifying expectations on both sides

This is where leadership skills and emotional intelligence meet. The same performance gap can call for very different leadership styles, depending on the underlying situation.

Balance accountability with genuine support

Situational leadership is not about avoiding tough calls. It is about making them in a way that keeps the door open for learning and growth.

To keep trust high while addressing performance, situational leaders :

• Set a clear level of accountability – Deadlines, quality standards, and what success looks like.
• Offer concrete support – Training, tools, time, or pairing with another team member.
• Check in at the right cadence – More often when readiness is low, less when it is high.
• Adjust the approach as readiness changes – Move from directive to more empowering styles as skills and confidence grow.

Over time, this creates a culture where performance conversations are not feared. They become part of normal leadership management and everyday work, just like in onboarding or change situations. People know that if they struggle, the leader will look at the situation, not just the symptom.

Turn performance issues into development opportunities

Handled through a situational leadership lens, performance issues can become powerful moments of development. They reveal where the leadership model, the job design, or the support systems are not aligned with what people need to perform at a high level.

Leaders who treat these moments as learning opportunities often see :

• Better alignment between tasks and strengths
• More honest dialogue about workload and priorities
• Faster skill growth and clearer career paths
• Higher trust in leadership and in the overall management system

Across different leadership examples, one pattern stands out. Situational leaders do not rely on a single leadership style. They adapt leadership to the person, the task, and the moment. They accept that no single style fits every situation, and they keep adjusting as the team and the business evolve.

This is demanding work for any leader. It requires self awareness, emotional intelligence, and a willingness to question your default leadership approach. But when performance issues are handled this way, they stop being a threat to trust and start becoming a driver of real employee experience and long term growth.

Giving feedback that actually helps people grow

Why feedback is the real test of situational leadership

Feedback is where any leadership style becomes very real for a team member. You can talk about leadership theory all day, but the moment you sit down with someone to discuss their work, your approach either builds trust and growth or creates fear and disengagement.

Situational leadership is powerful here because it treats feedback as something you adapt to the person, the task and the moment, not as a one size fits all ritual. A situational leader looks at performance readiness, emotional state, confidence level and the complexity of the job before deciding how to respond.

In practice, this means leaders shift their leadership styles depending on the situation. Sometimes feedback is very directive and task focused. Sometimes it is mostly about relationship behavior and encouragement. The key is to match your leadership approach to what the team member needs to move forward, not to what feels most comfortable for you as a leader.

Linking feedback to performance readiness, not personality

One of the most useful ideas in the situational leadership model is performance readiness. It combines two things : ability and willingness. When you give feedback through this lens, you stop labeling people as good or bad performers and start asking a better question : what does this person need at this stage of their development on this specific task ?

This is where emotional intelligence becomes a core leadership skill. Situational leaders read the room, listen for what is not said and adapt leadership in real time. They notice when a team member is anxious about change, when they are ready for more responsibility or when they are quietly disengaging from their work.

Practical feedback moves for different situations

To make this concrete, here are leadership examples of how situational leaders adjust their feedback style in everyday management.

• When someone is new to a task
  Use a more directive leadership style. Break the task into clear steps, show what good looks like and give feedback very close to the work. Focus on teaching, not judging. The goal is to build basic competence and reduce anxiety.
• When someone is stuck and losing confidence
  Shift to a coaching style. Ask what they tried, where they feel blocked and what support would help. Your relationship behavior matters here : show that mistakes are part of development, not a threat to their job.
• When someone is capable but underperforming
  Use a collaborative leadership approach. Explore what has changed in their situation, workload or motivation. Co create a plan that connects their goals, the team goals and the wider business needs. This keeps trust high while still addressing performance.
• When someone is a high performer
  Move towards a delegating style. Feedback is less about how they do the task and more about strategic alignment, impact and future growth. Ask what stretch assignments or development paths excite them.

Across all these situations, the same leadership theory applies : adjust your style to the readiness of the team member for that specific task. The difference is in how you show up in the conversation.

Designing feedback conversations that feel safe and useful

Even with the right leadership model in mind, feedback can go wrong if the environment feels unsafe. Situational leaders pay attention to the emotional climate as much as to the content of the message.

• Start with clarity about the task and expectations : Many performance issues are really expectation issues. Before you evaluate, check that you both share the same understanding of the work and the standard.
• Separate behavior from identity : Talk about specific actions, not about the person. This keeps the door open for change and development.
• Balance challenge and support : High challenge without support creates fear. High support without challenge creates stagnation. Situational leadership is about finding the right mix for each situation.
• Invite their perspective first : Ask how they think the task went, what they are proud of and what they would change. This turns feedback into a two way conversation, not a verdict.
• End with a concrete next step : Effective feedback always leads to a clear action, whether it is a new practice, a training opportunity or a change in how you as a leader will support them.

Over time, this approach shifts how the whole team experiences feedback. It becomes part of normal work and development, not a rare event linked only to problems or annual reviews.

Using feedback to grow leadership skills on both sides

Feedback is not only about improving the performance of team members. It is also a mirror for leadership management. Situational leaders regularly ask for feedback on their own leadership styles and how their behavior affects the team.

Simple questions can reveal a lot about your leadership style and its impact on employee experience :

• When I give you feedback, what helps you the most ?
• When does my approach make it harder for you to learn or change ?
• Do you feel you can be honest with me about mistakes or concerns about your work ?

This kind of dialogue builds trust and shows that leadership is also a development journey. It reinforces the idea that no single style fits every situation and that adapting is a sign of maturity, not weakness.

In many ways, the most powerful leadership examples are not the big speeches or dramatic decisions often associated with famous business figures. They are the quiet, consistent moments where a leader adjusts their approach to meet a team member where they are, helps them navigate a difficult task and supports their growth without sacrificing accountability.

When feedback is handled through a situational leadership lens, it stops being a feared event and becomes a core part of how people learn, how teams improve and how the organization stays responsive to change. That is where employee experience truly shifts from slogans to lived reality at every level of the team.

Leading hybrid and remote teams with flexible styles

Why hybrid and remote work expose your leadership style

Hybrid and remote work do not create new leadership problems ; they simply make existing ones impossible to hide. When people are not sitting next to you, your leadership style shows up in calendar invites, chat messages, response times, and how you run video calls.

This is where situational leadership becomes very concrete. The leadership model says you adapt leadership to the performance readiness of each team member for a specific task. In a hybrid context, that means you cannot rely on one size fits all rules like “everyone in the office three days a week” or “cameras on for all meetings”. You need a more thoughtful approach.

Situational leaders look at three things before choosing a leadership style :

• The task : How complex is the work and how visible are the outcomes ?
• The team member : What is their current level of skill and confidence for this task ?
• The situation : What constraints exist around time zones, tools, and business priorities ?

Only then do they decide whether to be more directive, more coaching, more supportive, or more delegating. This is not theory for theory’s sake ; it is what keeps hybrid teams aligned without burning people out.

Matching leadership styles to remote performance readiness

In a colocated office, you can often sense how someone is doing just by walking past their desk. In remote or hybrid jobs, you need a clearer mental map of performance readiness and how your leadership approach should change.

A practical way to use situational leadership with distributed teams is to combine performance readiness with communication rituals :

This is where emotional intelligence becomes a core leadership skill. You cannot see body language as easily, so you listen more carefully to tone, delays in responses, and changes in participation. Situational leaders use those signals to adjust their leadership management style before performance drops or frustration grows.

Designing rituals that let you adapt leadership in real time

Hybrid and remote teams need structure, but not rigid control. The goal is to create a leadership system where you can adapt leadership style without confusing people. That means designing a few stable rituals and then flexing your behavior inside them.

Some practical examples situational leaders use :

• Layered one to ones : Short weekly check ins for people with new tasks or lower performance readiness, and longer monthly sessions for high autonomy team members focused on growth and development.
• Clear channel for each type of work : Synchronous calls for complex, ambiguous work ; asynchronous documents or project tools for well defined tasks. Your leadership style changes with the channel you choose.
• Visible decision logs : When decisions are written down and shared, you can be more delegating without people feeling lost. They see how the leadership approach connects to the bigger business context.
• Rotating meeting roles : Let different team members facilitate, take notes, or summarize actions. This builds leadership skills across the team and shows that leadership is a shared practice, not a job title.

These rituals make it easier to move between leadership styles without looking inconsistent. People know when to expect direction, when to expect coaching, and when they are trusted to run with a task.

Balancing fairness and flexibility across locations

One of the hardest parts of hybrid leadership is the perception of fairness. If some people are in the office and others are remote, any change in leadership style can be misread as favoritism. Situational leadership theory helps, but only if you are transparent about your criteria.

Leaders can reduce tension by making their leadership model explicit. For example :

• Explain that leadership styles are linked to the task and the person’s current readiness, not to where they sit.
• Share how you decide when to be more directive or more delegating, especially for high visibility projects.
• Invite team members to tell you when the current style is not helping their performance or wellbeing.

This is not about copying famous leadership examples from high profile business figures. It is about building a consistent, human centered leadership theory inside your own team. When people understand the logic behind your approach, they are more likely to accept different treatment as fair, even if it is not identical.

Raising the leadership level in a distributed world

Hybrid and remote work raise the bar for leadership. You cannot rely on charisma in a room or spontaneous hallway chats. You need a more deliberate leadership approach, grounded in situational leadership and emotional intelligence.

For employee experience, the impact is direct. When leaders adapt leadership to the situation and to each team member, people feel seen as individuals, not as interchangeable resources. They understand why expectations change from task to task. They see how their own growth and performance readiness influence the amount of guidance or freedom they receive.

Over time, this creates a culture where leadership is not a fixed style but a shared language. Team members start to recognize when a colleague needs more structure or more autonomy. They mirror the same relationship behavior in peer support, not only in formal management. That is how situational leadership moves from a leadership theory on paper to a lived experience in everyday work, even when the team rarely shares the same room.

Embedding situational leadership into everyday culture

Turning flexible leadership into daily habits

Situational leadership only changes employee experience when it moves from a leadership theory on a slide to a shared habit in everyday work. A single situational leader can make a difference for a few team members. A whole culture of situational leaders can change how people feel about their jobs, their growth, and their long term relationship with the business.

That means leaders at every level need simple routines, not just a leadership model in a handbook. The goal is to make it normal for a leader to ask "What does this person need in this situation ?" before choosing a leadership style, instead of using one favorite style for every task.

Make performance readiness part of every conversation

Situational leadership is built on one core idea : your leadership approach should match the performance readiness of each team member for a specific task. In practice, that means you do not just talk about results. You also talk about confidence, skills, and context.

To embed this in daily management, leaders can use a simple structure in one to ones :

• Task clarity : "What is the exact task or situation we are talking about ?"
• Skill level : "How confident do you feel doing this on your own ? What feels easy, what feels hard ?"
• Support needs : "Do you need more direction, more coaching, or just space and trust ?"
• Leadership style match : "Here is the leadership style I will use for this task and why. Does that work for you ?"

Over time, team members start using the same language. They tell their leader "For this new project, I am low on experience, I need more guidance" or "On this recurring task, I am ready for a more delegating style". That shared vocabulary makes situational leadership a living leadership model, not just a leadership theory.

Build emotional intelligence into leadership routines

Situational leaders need strong emotional intelligence. They read the situation, not just the plan. They notice when a high performer suddenly hesitates, or when a quiet team member is ready for more responsibility. Without that, even a well designed leadership model turns into a mechanical checklist.

To make this part of culture, organizations can :

• Train leaders on emotional cues : not only on tools and processes, but on how to listen, ask open questions, and observe stress or disengagement.
• Use reflection questions : after key meetings or change announcements, leaders ask themselves "Who reacted differently than expected ? What might that mean for my leadership style with them ?"
• Normalize vulnerability : leaders share when they misread a situation and how they will adapt leadership next time. This shows that no leadership style is perfect and that learning is part of leadership management.

Research on leadership skills and emotional intelligence consistently shows that leaders who adjust their relationship behavior to the person and the situation create higher engagement and better performance. Embedding that expectation in leadership development programs helps move from isolated leadership examples to a consistent culture.

Use real work as the training ground

Situational leadership is easier to understand through examples situational than through theory alone. Instead of long generic workshops, organizations can use real work as the main training ground.

Some practical approaches :

• Live case reviews : in leadership team meetings, each leader brings one current team member situation (for example a change in role, a performance issue, or a stretch assignment). Together, they identify the person's performance readiness and discuss which leadership style fits best.
• Shadowing and debrief : a new manager observes a more experienced situational leader running a one to one or a feedback conversation. Afterward, they debrief which leadership styles appeared and why.
• Micro experiments : leaders pick one team member and one task each week where they consciously adapt leadership. They then ask for feedback : "Did this approach help you ? What would you change ?"

This kind of on the job practice turns abstract leadership theory into concrete leadership skills. It also shows that no one size fits all style exists, and that adapting is expected, not a sign of weakness.

Align systems so they do not push one single style

Even the best situational leaders struggle if the wider management system rewards only one leadership style. For example, if performance reviews only value tight control and short term results, leaders will hesitate to use a more empowering style, even when team members are ready for it.

To embed situational leadership into the system, organizations can review :

• Leadership expectations : job descriptions and leadership frameworks should explicitly mention adapting leadership style to performance readiness and situation.
• Evaluation criteria : performance reviews for leaders should include how well they match their leadership approach to different team members, not just what results they deliver.
• Learning paths : leadership development should offer different paths for different levels of experience, modeling the same flexibility expected from leaders with their teams.
• Recognition : highlight leadership examples where a leader changed style to support growth, handled a difficult change with empathy, or protected trust while addressing low performance.

When systems reward flexible leadership styles, situational leadership stops being an individual choice and becomes the default way of working.

Make situational leadership visible to employees

For employees, trust grows when leadership feels transparent. If a leader suddenly becomes more directive without explanation, it can feel like a loss of autonomy. If the leader explains the leadership model behind the choice, the same action can feel supportive.

Simple habits help :

• Explain the "why" : "Because this task is new and critical, I will use a more hands on leadership style for a while. As your confidence grows, I will step back."
• Invite negotiation : "Here is the style I propose for this project. Does that match how ready you feel ?"
• Review and adjust : in project retrospectives, include a question : "Did my leadership style fit the situation ? What should we change next time ?"

When team members see that leadership styles are chosen deliberately, based on their readiness and the situation, they are more likely to view changes in style as part of their own development, not as inconsistent management.

Connect situational leadership to career and growth

Finally, situational leadership should be clearly linked to growth opportunities. Employees are more engaged when they see how adapting to different tasks and situations helps them progress in their careers.

Leaders can :

• Use the performance readiness idea to design stretch assignments that are challenging but not overwhelming.
• Show how moving from a highly directive style to a more delegating style over time is a sign of growth, not abandonment.
• Discuss leadership styles in development plans : "For this next level role, you will need to flex your own leadership approach. Let us practice that now in your current work."

In this way, situational leadership becomes more than a management tool. It becomes a shared language for development, a way to talk about how people learn, take on new jobs, and contribute to the business at a higher level. When that language is used every day, across teams and functions, employee experience shifts from static roles to dynamic, supported growth.