Discover the Potential
As the economic recovery starts to take shape, albeit hesitantly, thoughts start to move away from immediate crisis management and towards planning for the future. As part of this, business leaders and managers face a critical challenge in motivating and engaging with a workforce that is just at the point of breathing a collective sigh of relief that they still have jobs!
One of the critical drivers for this will be the leadership shown by senior executives and, more importantly, the next generation of leaders who will shoulder the bulk of the responsibility for sustained future growth.
Worldwide, research shows that organisations are not very effective in finding and developing leaders. Our experience, and that of many coaching companies, is that resources (time, money etc) are focussed more on the existing Exco members than the level below. These future leaders have already grown through the organisation, proved that they have the skills and talent to perform and yet they are often ill-equipped to take on the very different mantle of leadership.
Leadership is not about the ‘doing’. They have proven capabilities at managing and getting their teams to perform. Leadership demands a different skill set – one that includes more global thinking, strategy and, often, charisma. The communication of a vision (meaning) and the ability to get others to buy in to that vision, and committed to doing their part to make it a reality are fundamental to the leadership role.
When viewed in the context of the difficulties that organisations continue to have in retaining skilled employees, high (and accelerating) staff turnover and the risks inherent in recruitment to senior roles, the cutting back on leadership development seen during the downturn has to be reversed.
Surely the wisdom of a strategic approach to leadership development is now evident and the time has come to invest in the next generation of leaders?
What are your experiences / thoughts?
