The situation can influence the leadership behavior or style a leader emphasizes. The essence of a contingency approach to leadership is that leaders are most effective when they make their behavior contingent on situational forces, including group member characteristics. Both the internal and the external environment have a significant impact on leader effectiveness.

A useful perspective on implementing contingency leadership is that the manager must be flexible enough to avoid clinging to old ideas that no longer fit the current circumstances. Being stubborn about what will work in a given situation and clinging to old ideas can result in ineffective leadership. The effective leader adapts to changing circumstances. The leader needs to take into account the major situational variable of organizational culture when choosing which approach to leadership will lead to favorable outcomes.

A command-and-control leadership style may not be effective in a company with a collaborative, friendly organizational culture. If the culture does not fit what a leader wants to accomplish, they may attempt to change the culture. Organizational effectiveness is affected by situational factors not under leader control. The leader might be able to influence the situation, yet some situational factors are beyond the leader’s complete control.

Contingency theorists believe that forces in the situation are three times as strong as the leader’s personal characteristics in shaping his or her behavior. How the leader behaves is therefore substantially influenced by environmental forces. Situations influence the consequences of leader behavior. Popular books about management and leadership assume that certain types of leader behavior work in every situation.

Situational theorists disagree strongly with this position. Instead, a specific type of leadership behavior might have different outcomes in different situations. A general approach to being aware of all these factors is for the leader to be mindful of events in the environment.