Skill/Will Matrix for people management
Skill/Will Matrix
History
The Skill/Will Matrix is conceptually based on the Situational Leadership theory developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard in the late 1960s. Situational Leadership underscores the need for leaders to adapt their management style according to their team members' competence and commitment.
It was popularized by Max Landsberg, a British author and management consultant. He introduced this framework in his book "The Tao of Coaching" published in 1996.
The matrix
The matrix suggests that you can only delegate to people with ‘high motivation & high competence’ and you need to work hard to bring others to that state.
I added 2 things to the matrix to simplify its usage:
summary of actions that I believe leaders should take for the situation presented by the quadrant.
distribution of power during decision-making.
My experience tells me that newcomers:
start in the ‘high motivation - low competence’ quadrant as they do not understand the culture and processes of a new company/group, or lack some skills.
move to the ‘high motivation - high competence’ quadrant.
tend to move to ‘low motivation - high competence’ as their understanding of tasks that they need to do in the role improves and it brings less of a challenge and the leader's task is to find that optimal balance. ‘The Goldilocks Rule’ of optimal challenge explains it well.