Assessing, developing, and rewarding leadership skills are a high priority among great organizations.
Yet many enterprises lack programs and policies to develop their future leaders. Such expenditures of time and money are too easily labeled "optional," or "nice to have," particularly when budgets are tight.
Without such programs, they promote their people to positions of management and leadership based on technical merit; when someone does a good job as an individual contributor or manages business, projects or small teams well, they are rewarded with promotions. With more responsibility they are operating as they did before, but with new and unspoken demands on them. It's as if the organization hopes the new skills will materialize spontaneously.
As a person is given more responsibility--whether they notice it or not--in addition to doing a good job, they need to operate well leading others, and navigate well the culture and politics of the organization. Doing so can make the difference between thriving, and barely surviving, in a leadership role.
I'm all for individual responsibility. As a leader I take my own development very seriously, and continue to find ways to work on it myself. When I worked in larger organizations, I didn't expect the mother ship to provide everything for me, and took my own initiative.
Yet world-class organizations of all sizes take a systematic and supportive approach to grooming potential leaders. They provide training and/or coaching and/or mentoring for rising stars, high potential people, and those simply making the transition from worker to manager or leader. They understand that doing so is key for organizational effectiveness.
In short, they consider leadership skills to be critical to sustainable success, effectiveness, achievement, and winning.
Enterprises that don’t make deliberate efforts to develop their leaders end up with ineffective management styles and lower loyalty among their best, most promising people. Whether you are a current or aspiring leader, CEO or an ambitious individual contributor, ask yourself a few questions:
- What are you doing, and can you do more effectively, to develop your own leadership skills on an ongoing basis?
- How does your organization approach the continuing development of its leaders?
- Does it encourage existing leaders to act as coaches or mentors?
- Are the enterprise's leadership competencies and expectations clear and well-defined?
Investing in a strong program to foster leadership skills will make developing the next generation an integral responsibility for current leaders, and place a high priority on leadership competencies when reviews and promotions are done.
Doing so will help ensure the growth, sustainability, and success of your organization well into the future.
