Situational Leadership — FirstLineCoach

Coaching Style by Leadership Level

The leadership style (S1–S4) determines whether the coachee receives training, coaching, or both.

Level	Training	Coaching	Coaching Style pointers for each leadership style based on staff need
S1	Yes	No	Provide specifics and examples Incremental instructions (KISS) Who, What, When, Where, How Extreme clarity on role specifics
S2	Yes	Yes	Re-enforce small improvements Explain any directions given — discuss but do not allow modification More 2-way dialogue than in D1
S3	No	Yes	Coach needs to listen very actively Support coachee risk-taking (controlled) Encourage coachee to make decisions Encourage input; allow some modification
S4	No	No	Provide the big-picture around discussions Re-enforce results to maintain performance Delegate more complex activities Do NOT withdraw from coaching

Note on S4: In a standard Situational Leadership model, S4 means "leave them alone." In our model, S4 means the coachee is the most experienced person in the team. They are at the frontier — exploring more effective ways the team can work together, make requests of other teams, and help others improve. Coaching is still important, but the coach's role shifts to being a reflective mirror and thinking partner. Do NOT withdraw from coaching.

Development Levels

The development level describes the coachee's current competence and willingness. It tells the coach how to run the session.

Development Level	Competent	Willing or Confident
D1	No	No
D2	No	Yes
D3	Yes	No
D4	Yes	Yes

D1 — Directive

This person needs clear direction. They may be new to the role or on a performance plan. The coaching session should be structured, with the coach providing specifics about what to do differently. The coachee may not yet have the experience to self-diagnose, so the coach needs to be more explicit about what they observe in the call review — while still respecting that the coachee must choose their own experiment.

D2 — Coaching

This person is willing to improve but hasn't yet built the skills. They need both direction and encouragement. The coaching session should balance showing them what to look for in the call with reinforcing what they're already doing well. Small improvements should be acknowledged — this person's confidence is fragile and needs protecting. The coach explains but should not yet invite the coachee to modify the approach.

D3 — Supporting

This person is competent — they can do the job — but something is holding them back. It might be low confidence, disengagement, difficulty with certain customers, or a reluctance to take risks. The coach needs to listen very actively in the session. The coachee should be encouraged to make their own decisions about what to change. The coach supports risk-taking in a controlled way and allows the coachee to modify the approach.

D4 — Delegating

This person is the most experienced in the team and is at the frontier of what the team can do. They handle customers well, often intuitively, and may understand the domain better than the coach. Coaching is still important — but it is different. The coach's role is to be a reflective mirror: creating space for the coachee to explore why things work, to surface tacit knowledge that can be shared with the team, and to experiment with new approaches to cross-team collaboration and more complex customer situations. The coachee designs their own experiment.

Setting Good GROW Experiments

The WILL is an experiment — a conjecture to be tested, not a promise to be kept. It is reviewed at the next monthly session.

S

Specific

The experiment describes a precise behaviour, not a vague aspiration. "I will ask one clarifying question before moving to an offer" not "I will listen more."

M

Motivating

The coachee must want to try this. If they don't believe in the experiment, they won't do it. The experiment should connect to something they noticed during the call review.

A

Attainable

The experiment must be something the coachee can realistically do in their next calls. It should not require permission, new tools, or other people to change first.

R

Relevant

The experiment should connect clearly to what was observed in the call. The coachee should be able to see a line of sight from the new behaviour to a better outcome for the customer.

T

Trackable

Both the coach and coachee should be able to identify whether the experiment was tried. Ideally it should be observable in a call recording.

Every experiment needs:

Trigger → When to do it

The moment in the call when the new behaviour should happen. Without a clear trigger, the coachee won't remember to try the experiment in the flow of a live conversation.

Action → What to do

The specific new behaviour. This should be concrete enough that a third party listening to the call recording would be able to identify it.

The Situational Leadership model was originally developed by Dr. Paul Hersey and Dr. Ken Blanchard. Situational Leadership is a trademark of Leadership Studies, Inc. SLII is a trademark of The Ken Blanchard Companies. The coaching framework presented here is an adaptation of situational leadership principles for the FirstLineCoach.com service environment and is not affiliated with or endorsed by either organisation.