Leadership Grid

Leadership Grid Definition

As an employee, you must have had the time to attend seminars and business conferences. You surely must have enjoyed attending such seminars, and probably want to keep attending more. Eventually, you might have got an inspiration to become an owner of a small business. Thus, a leadership grid, better known as management grid, comes handy in determining leadership styles in an individual.

The idea was developed by Jane Mouton and Robert Blake in 1960. This managerial grid model helps to analyze the leadership styles in managers. The technique behind this is better known as Leadership Grid.

In-Detail

The two dimensions for leadership evaluation as per the leadership grid meaning, are through concern for people in the ‘vertical’ axis and on the ‘horizontal’ axis, is the concern for production.

Concern for the people

This is the degree to which a leader considers the interests of team members, their needs and areas of personal development. It is done to decide the best possible ways to achieve a task.

Concern for production

This is the degree to which the leader puts forth the need for organizational Efficiency, objectives which are concrete, and a high level of productivity when the decision is to be taken to accomplish the task in the best way possible.

The model significantly identified 5 leadership styles by their position relatively on the grid:

• Impoverished
• Produce or perish
• Middle of the road
• Country club
• Team

How to Understand the Leadership Grid?

The leadership grid emphasizes that placing undue importance on one area, and just overlooking the other area, leads to reduced productivity. The model states that team leadership trait displays a high level of concern for production and people as a whole. This will eventually boost the productivity of the employee.

Organizations and businesses continue to use the grid in order to analyze their own level of leadership styles. However, there are some limitations to the leadership grid. It may sometimes offer a flawed self-assessment. Moreover, the model is sometimes known as not taking into account an array of factors. Such as the internal and the external variables, and work environments.

Types of Behaviors Seen on the Leadership Grid

The indifferent or the impoverished style in the leadership model shows the style which refers to little regard for the overall production and the team. Such leaders dwell on self-preservation. This also includes how their progress should not be hindered at any cost.

The produce or perish style does not take into account the well-being of the workers in the team. The leader may show a very high attrition rate as they want to be in control and eventually neglect the needs of the team as a whole.

The middle of the leadership approach leads to a very average or below average results in the satisfaction and performance of the team. The country club leadership style keeps in mind the team’s need first and foremost. The assumption of the leader is that - happy teams make good progress.

The team approach leadership style is known to be the best approach. The leader encourages the workers of the team, and the result is better productivity as they are motivated to accomplish the most.

So, make the most of the leadership grid to adopt the right leadership skills.