What to do with good - but not great - leaders

Imagine if the CEO of a company pulled a group of employees together, say 1,500 people, and told them “we’ve decided all of you are going to work for some of our most mediocre leaders.” “Leaders who cannot be fully trusted, who don’t actually care about your development, who have favorites, and who are not willing to do the very things we are going to ask you to do.”

Everyone of those 1,500 people would be wise to immediately give their notice and find an organization who cares about their employees. Now, in reality, I don’t believe any CEO would do such a thing; however, it does actually happen: companies are, unfortunately, filled with mediocre leaders, and as such, large portions of the nation’s workforce is not being fully tapped into - leaving billions of dollars of value trapped inside these organizations.

If you are a parent, would you be ok if your child was assigned to a mediocre teacher? If you needed heart surgery, would you select a mediocre surgeon? You get my point.

Yes, every employee has a right to work for a great leader: someone who builds a vibrant and diverse culture, hires and develops talented people and invests in their future growth, and who inspires them to achieve excellence. And no, that’s not some utopian goal.

There are only two types of leaders that should ever be allowed in organizations: good and great. Mediocre leaders have no place in an organization that truly values its talent.

The key question is how long should be people be expected to work for a “good but not great” leader? For me, the answer is straightforward:

A “good but not great” leader should be allowed to continue to serve in their position if:

1. They are genuinely committed to continuous improvement of their own leadership effectiveness.
2. They internalize and act on feedback.
3. They are making steady and observable progress.

If they cannot consistently display all three of those attributes, they should be removed from leading others and placed in a role that aligns to their strengths.

For senior leaders, I believe the single biggest lever that can improve performance of your organization is to field the very best team of leaders that you possibly can. And if that isn’t the case, for whatever reason, I know exactly what should occupy the top spot on your to-do list. Frankly, the top 10 spots.

To turbo-charge the leadership effectiveness of your organization:

1. Clearly establish the expectation that everyone has a right to work for a great leader, and that average leaders won’t be tolerated.
2. If you don’t have one, implement a 360 degree feedback tool, and plot all leaders on their results achieved and relative leadership effectiveness. Immediately reach out to the leaders who are in the top 20 percent of both and let them know how much you value them.
3. For leaders not in the top 20 percent on both, create a development plan that offers a clear and cogent set of expectations and development opportunities, and a reasonable timeline for demonstrating improvement. For me, someone should be able to demonstrate they are committed to being better and show initial improvement inside of 90 days.
4. Become a destination employer for great leaders. Create big jobs, many growth opportunities, good compensation, and the freedom to try new things.

None of this is easy. But there is no other set of actions that can drive the level of performance improvement that upgrading leadership will. Please share your thoughts or experiences in the comments below.