Sharing leadership influence: a life-cycle model.

We have described the effective leader in terms of several concepts: (1) leadership style as a means of sharing the influence of leadership with a ready group; (2) the readiness of a group to successfully exert influence on the practice; (3) the matching of leadership styles with group readiness; and (4) the impact of the environment on the readiness of a group. We have described how all of these elements combine to determine a leader's effectiveness. All elements interact and present the leader with a situation for which he must adopt an appropriate leadership style (Table 1). Several elements combine to change the readiness of a group through four phases - unready, ready, mature, and professional. The leader then matches leadership styles I through IV to these levels of readiness. We believe a dentist will be effective as a leader in proportion to his success in matching an appropriate leadership style to the readiness of his group to perform in its particular environment.