Misunderstanding 2: Those skilled at their role will make great leaders

Taking successful and skilled employees and bestowing leadership upon them feels like a reward.?

People who are exceptionally skilled and perform above those around them deserve a reward. Often, the prize offered is a promotion. The natural assumption is that putting this individual in a leadership role will empower them to make others equally skilled and impactful.?

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Sometimes, this works out.?

More often, the idea is flawed.?

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Being good at your job doesn’t make you a leader. A great engineer needs a different skill set when dealing with people. What is logical in designing a bridge or machine will not be equivalent to the rather haphazard behaviours of human beings. Your best engineer might actually end up being your worst leader.?

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Even when you take a people-centred profession such as teaching, an impactful professional in the classroom might be dreadful at dealing with other adults. Inspiring young people is a different experience from managing the cynicism and stresses of the other teachers in the department. Where the young person might be angry because they haven’t eaten properly that day, the teacher could have a range of adult problems affecting their emotional state.?

While all human beings have the innate Character Qualities to help them be effective leaders, not all of us have these Qualities as strengths. We all have the capacity to be compassionate, vulnerable, encouraging, fair, honest, and influential; though not all of us know when or how to dial these Qualities up when they really matter.?

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Taking successful and skilled employees and bestowing leadership upon them feels like a reward. And it could also be the quickest way to make them ineffective in your workplace.?

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Before giving these people a leadership role, consider three questions:?

1. Do they have the Qualities of a leader??

1. How else might you reward their skill and productivity??

1. How can you prepare them for the role of leader before you give them the responsibility??

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Making the most of your effective people can feel like a dark art. While the common perception is that promotion into leadership is the best way to utilise the most talented professionals, this might not be true in many cases.?

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HR professionals may need to demonstrate more imagination when creating career progression pathways. It is also possible that L&D need to be responsible for developing a person into someone with the human Qualities to be a powerful leader of others.?

Author:? Racheal Smith - Head of Learning at Entelechy

Previous articles of this series:

• Misunderstanding 1: Only leaders or future leaders need leadership training