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Situational leadership

As explained in Think Like a Software Engineering Manager

Situational leadership is a leadership approach that adapts guidance and support to the circumstances and needs of the people involved.

Situational leadership adapts guidance and support to the circumstances and needs of the people involved. For an emerging engineering manager, it means practicing responses to unexpected and ambiguous situations rather than relying on one fixed management style. section 2.4.1

Build the judgment needed for situational leadership by:

  • Exploring different management styles with multiple mentors and relating conflicting advice to your situation. section 2.4.1
  • Working through realistic scenarios with your manager to stretch your thinking before facing them at work. section 2.4.1
  • Starting with manageable people responsibilities, such as mentoring interns or onboarding new hires, before taking on broader management work. section 2.4.1

A difficult employee situation

Imagine managing an underperforming employee who stops responding to messages or email. Working through this scenario with your manager helps you practice adapting your response to an unexpected, ambiguous situation. section 2.4.1

How Think Like a Software Engineering Manager covers it

How deep it goes
Defines adaptive leadership briefly and practices it through scenarios; stops short of presenting a formal model or decision framework.
Examples
Uses an underperforming employee who stops responding to messages or email as a practice scenario.
What it assumes
Assumes interest in moving from individual contributor to engineering manager and builds experience through small people-focused responsibilities.
What you can do after
Practice/perform adaptive responses to ambiguous employee-management situations with guidance from a manager.
How it connects
Connects situational leadership with mentoring, engineering management, and stakeholder management.
Cover of Think Like a Software Engineering Manager
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Related concepts

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Think Like a Software Engineering Manager. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.