Situational Leadership - in conversation with Anthony Glover
“It is better to solve one problem five different ways than to solve five problems one way.” George Polya
Anthony Glover, an inspirational and results-oriented collaborative leader, has a successful track record in managing businesses, sales management, relationship management, corporate development, and operations management. His expertise in revenue-generating positions and working with large groups of people, have made him an expert in problem-solving.
You told us you love solving big business problems. Can you share your approach to solving problems?
“I have recently been thinking about, and starting to document my approach — to analyze how I really think about things. I approach every situation differently. I would say I follow the path of situational leadership. Situational leadership is the most practical on-the-job tool. The fundamental principle lies in the fact that there is no single ‘best’ style of leadership. Efficient leadership is that which is task-relevant. I adapt my leadership style to the readiness and willingness of my team, and to the task, or job that needs to be accomplished.
“Every situation is unique and specific, so the only way to really thrive and combat a problem would be to tackle each aspect, which can only be done by approaching situations individually.
“I assess every situation and approach every complex situation in different ways. However, there are a few core things I believe and apply to almost all situations. They are the following.
“I think every problem is solvable — at least the kinds of problems we are dealing with. If not plan A, we can always resort to plan B. But nothing is ever impossible. I always say — don’t assume, assess.
“Assessing is important for finding the right person, with the right readiness level, to do the job. Has the person successfully done this task in the past? I would ask them how they would go about the task, what steps they would take, what would their course of thinking be, and so on. These are all an important part of the crucial assessing process before handing someone a task.
“The next is that most negative situations can be turned into a positive one. A good example of this is how we approached the pandemic. During the peak of the coronavirus, we did not want people at our branches getting sick. The problem arises when even one person at a branch is exposed, the entire branch had to be closed and quarantined. We put a plan in place — for each open branch we had an A team and B team who would work on different days. So if a team got sick, they were sent home and the other team would come in. This way there was always a backup and those branches were able to remain open with predictability throughout the pandemic. When a particular team was not working, they were sent to a branch that was closed to the public, and we had them use it as a call center. We were able to reach more people during the pandemic than we were before. Our capabilities actually increased during the pandemic — we turned the negative into a positive.
“The final is taking into consideration all the right stakeholders, keeping everyone involved, and making sure all voices are heard. All of this comes from my positive DNA, and applying a forward-thinking strategy.”
Thanks for sharing, Tony.
