A practical leadership model
You can be a great leader by excelling in three areas: diagnosing the current situation, adding value by deciding what to do and how to do it, and adjusting when conditions change.
The 3D Adaptive Leadership Model teaches you how to do all three, so you can help individuals and teams achieve better outcomes.
Why this book
As a sophomore at Ohio University, Paul walked into Professor Paul Hersey’s Managing Organizational Behavior course. It became the most influential course of his college experience.
Hersey taught that there is no single best leadership style. Effective leaders adjust their approach to the people and the situation. Paul carried that idea into coaching, college teaching, corporate leadership development, and more than 40 years of work with leaders.
“I achieved a C+ in Professor Hersey’s course—but an A+ in what actually stuck.”
Brief summary of Chapter 1
Great leaders don’t use the same approach in every situation. They diagnose what is happening, determine people’s needs, choose the best way to respond, and adjust as conditions change.
Drawing on what I learned from Professor Paul Hersey and from years of teaching, coaching, training, and interviewing successful leaders, I developed The 3D Adaptive Leadership Model.
Before taking action, understand the situation. Look at three things:
The better you understand the situation, the more likely you are to choose an effective leadership response.
Once you understand the situation, determine what needs to be addressed and how to proceed. People typically need one or more of three things:
Then choose the leadership approach that best fits the situation.
No single leadership style is best. The best approach depends on the situation.
The situation rarely stays the same. People develop new skills. Priorities change. Problems become more complex. Deadlines shift. New information emerges.
Effective leaders continually ask:
“What do my people need from me right now?”
Then they adjust their approach when the situation changes. Adaptive leadership isn’t about changing your approach whenever someone disagrees with you. It’s about changing your approach when the situation requires it.
Part II
Six case studies show how directing, discussing, and delegating change the outcome—and why leaders often need more than one style in the same situation.
How three leadership styles influence one employee issue.
A president addresses conflict, professionalism, and consequences.
A plant manager confronts avoidance and uneven standards.
A leadership team reduces bureaucracy and moves decisions closer to customers.
A careful diagnosis reveals that the process—not the employee—is failing.
Urgency without clarity produces discussion, but not an executable plan.
Part III
The final chapters examine the beliefs, needs, emotions, blind spots, communication problems, and delegation mistakes that can prevent a leader from diagnosing accurately and adjusting well.
The bottom line
The 3D Adaptive Leadership Model helps you become more effective in every leadership situation. You will make better decisions, achieve better results, and help people become more capable and independent.
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