Planning Leadership Development

There are at least a hundred (if not more) desirable traits and competencies of leadership. But which of these are right for your organisation?

An effective leadership development strategy takes deliberate thought and planning because the type of leadership needed varies according to the nature of business. For example, in a highly competitive industry where there is little by way of product differentiation, customer-centricity and relationships become a critical factor of success. In such an organisation, key leadership competencies will need to be developed around those two factors.

On the other hand in tech-related businesses, critical success factors might revolve around innovation and analytics. Leadership development in such an environment will need to focus on things such as facilitating ideas and creating an environment that is conducive to innovation. Be skeptical about any simplistic approach to leadership development with claims such as "The 5 secrets of successful leadership" or "8 skills that all leaders need"

I would like to share a simple process that I have used over the years to plan leadership development for any type of business. I will use the Thinking Styles suite of assessments to illustrate my approach.

1. Know What Your Business is About - this is the critical starting point. Being clear about this provides information about the right type of leadership needed for your business. Businesses that rely on perfection (because a small error could result in huge losses) will need a leadership culture that is committed to (Green) accuracy and structure. So too, the leadership culture would need to be one where policies and procedures are tight and adhered to. Think military, ombudsman or manufacturing as examples
2. Know the Type of Leadership Culture Your Business Needs - another example: if your business is driven by (Blue) factors such as speed and urgency, your leadership culture will need to be rooted in speed of response. In this case, building a leadership culture that is dependent on (Green) compliance and a lengthy process of approval will not do. Do you see why it is so critical to first identify the key drivers of your business?
3. Compare Your Existing Leadership Culture and Business Drivers - this will give you a reasonably accurate assessment of where the current gaps are. Only with this knowledge can you proceed with putting together a template for content.

Some simple tips to bear in mind as you do this exercise:

• Identify no more than 5 - 8 really important business drivers. Anything more than that and you are likely to lose focus
• Elements of leadership culture should be scrutinised so that they are truly aligned to business drivers. If it's a 'nice to have' or because Harvard says you should have it, leave it out

Be pragmatic - some departments within your organisation will need to have different elements of culture because of the function that they serve. Finance and credit control for example, are functions that operate on adherence to (Green) SOPs to safeguard the interests of the organisation

Know which elements of culture should be common throughout the organisation and where variations are necessary

There are several other elements that go towards shaping content for an effective leadership development strategy. This approach that I have illustrated are the initial pieces of the jigsaw. Get this right and you will be able to take a lot of the guesswork out of your leadership development strategy.

Pete Pereira and Helen Langhammer designed the suite of Thinking Styles assessments. This article refers to the use of the Business Drivers, Culture Diagnostic as well as the Leadership Role Diagnostic assessments