Surgeons as Educators A Guide for Academic Development and Teaching Excellence

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• Quadrant 2: Informing—sharing evidence, explaining rationale, clarifying ideas,
  or giving advice


• Quadrant 1: Telling—teaching how to do a task, setting the goal and the perfor-
  mance standards, and setting expectations (roles, responsibilities)

The idea is that leaders become skillful in using these four tools to get work
done through other people. These tools enact both micro- and macroleadership
styles. In some situations the “telling” leader is more effective. In other situa-
tions, the “asking” leader is more effective. Effective leaders will become adept
at knowing which style to use when.
Leaders cannot fixate on one or two styles, but must adapt their style to the
people and the evolving situations. Leaders need to know and be able to use all four
macrostyles. For any given task, goal, or critical event, leaders will choose among
the four styles so that people will better understand the leader and view the leader’s
behavior as consistent with the situation.
Figure 20.3 is a representation of leadership situations, as matched to the four
leadership styles depicted earlier.

• Quadrant 1: a crisis requires more directive and authoritative leader behaviors,
  i.e., more task behavior than relational behavior.


• Quadrant 2: strategic problem solving requires more clarifying and democratic
  leader behavior, i.e., a high degree of relational and task behavior, with intense
  two-way communications.


• Quadrant 3: coordination or interpersonal problems require more participative
  leader behavior, i.e., lower on task but much higher relational behavior.


• Quadrant 4: a routine situation requires empowering and enabling self-reliance,
  or delegating leader behaviors, i.e., lower on both task and relational behaviors.

The four attention structures and leader roles in the preceding figure are mapped
to the specific leadership behaviors in Fig. 20.4. In each quadrant, the leader has
diagnosed the situation, identified the objective, and selected the appropriate leader
behavior. Effective leaders must always diagnose and then adapt their style, their
attention structure and their role (see Fig. 20.4).

Quadrant 3: Coaching

& interpersonal

problem-solving

mode

Listening

Asking Telling

Informing

Quadrant 2:

Organizational

problem-solving mode

Quadrant 1:

Crisis mode: clear

roles & expectations

Quadrant 4:

Routine procedure

mode

Low

High

High

Task behavior

Relationship

Fig. 20.3 Leadership
Situations Matched to
Leadership Style

J.A. Chilingerian