Practice Area

Management and Leadership

SLII® Concepts


  • Traditional Classroom: ½-day
  • Virtual Instructor-led: One 4-hour session; Two 2-hour sessions; One 3-hour session

The best leaders understand that individuals have different needs and that different situations call for different approaches. SLII® provides a leadership model that teaches leaders to recognize and respond to the varying leadership styles and job maturity levels found among team members. This course provides an introduction to the SLII model, including the four leadership styles (directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating) and when and how to apply them based on four development levels.

Participants will learn to think about and speak about leadership in a way that will increase their rapport with their team members and inspire others to bring their best to each task. This course will provide participants with the skills needed to immediately apply this flexible leadership model at their workplace.


Target Audience

Individuals who will benefit from this course include new and experienced managers, supervisors, team leaders, and individuals who want to increase their leadership understanding and ability and develop communication and collaboration skills to enhance performance.

Learning Objectives

  • Understand the SLII model.
  • Develop your ability to set SMART goals, coach others, and provide performance evaluations.
  • Engage in active listening and proactive problem solving.
  • Develop communication skills and build trust to participant in an effective alignment conversation on goal setting.
  • Collaboratively assess an individual’s competence and commitment on a specific goal or task.
  • Use a variety of different leadership styles comfortably and confidently, based on individuals’ needs and motivation.
  • Develop others’ self-reliance and morale and inspire confident, competent performance.

Course Outline

SLII Overview
  • Welcome and Introductions
  • The Three Purposes of SLII
    • A New Language of Leadership
    • Increase the Quality and Quantity of Conversations
    • Develop Others’ Self-Reliance
Undersupervision, Oversupervision, and Just-Right Leadership
  • Video and Discussion: Undersupervision
  • Video and Discussion: Oversupervision
  • Just-Right Leadership Using SLII
  • Alignment Conversations
The First Skill of a Situational Leader — Goal Setting
  • Video: Setting SMART Goals
  • SMART Goal Criteria
  • Evaluating Not-So-SMART Goals
  • Activity: Identify SMART or Not-So-SMART Goal Statements
The Second Skill of a Situational Leader — Diagnosing
  • Diagnosing Competence and Commitment
  • Competence
    • Demonstrated Goal- or Task-Specific Knowledge and Skills
    • Transferrable Skills
  • Commitment
    • Motivation and Confidence
  • The Four Development Levels
  • Activity: Development Level Descriptors
  • Situation Video
  • Activity: Development Level Needs Card Sort
The Third Skill of a Situational Leader — Matching
  • What Is Matching?
  • Flexibility and Leadership Style
  • Directive Leadership Behaviors
  • Supportive Leadership Behaviors
  • Four Leadership Styles — S1, S2, S3, and S4
    • S1, S2, S3, and S4 Videos
  • Situation Video
  • Activity: Matching Practice
  • Activity: Rescripting Three Leadership Style Conversations
SLII Concepts Wrap-Up

MDI1365b Course Code


For more information on this topic, as well as how Corporate Education Group can help power your organization’s performance, contact us via email or call 1.800.288.7246 (US only) or +1.978.649.8200. You can also use our Information Request Form!


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Management and Leadership Training Solutions Catalog

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