The New Leader

In our own organizations, we regularly hear about someone being 'groomed' for a key role in the upper echelon of our organizations. We hear about how, when the big boss man retires, this person will be the one to assume the reigns and leading the organization into the future. This approach to succession planning - assigning one person to fill one role at some yet-to-be-determined time in the future - begs too many questions to count.

• If the incumbent leaves tomorrow, will this person be ready?
• What if the incumbent doesn't leave for 7 years, will this person still be right for the job?
• What if this future leader gets a great opportunity with another organization?
• How does this approach make the rest of the employees feel?

Consider a model of Leadership Development that goes beyond the concept of succession, that considers today's work to be just as important (perhaps more) as the work of tomorrow. Consider building a culture of leadership that has employees rethinking the idea that, "One day, I'd like to be a leader in this organization." in favour of the idea that, "I can be a leader TODAY in this organization."

Leadership Development is the approach of creating and growing a ‘leadership culture’ in your organization and believing that leadership can emerge wherever there is a passion to create it. It is the most holistic approach to development that considers the outcomes of Leadership development on 3 levels: improved organizational succession; improved organizational performance; and improved individual career outcomes.

If someone is a part of your organization, presumably you decided to hire them, you believe they are worth compensating and you trust them with your clients and your information. If we assume these ideas all to be true, then surely you must believe they are worth developing. From the front line workers through to executives and board members, we must believe that everybody is in a position to impact the organization in a meaningful way and therefore can all be in a position to demonstrate leadership.

In a recent workshop, I asked the participants to shout out words that come to mind when they hear the term 'Leadership'. The following represents a partial list of the responses:

• Organized, Honest, Transparent, Calm, Integrity, Create, Humble, Passionate, Problem Solver, Good decision maker, Intelligent, Brave, Inspiring, Genuine, Good listener, Empowering, Loves their job, Caring, Realistic, Determined

We soon realized that none of these responses represent competencies or behaviours that are reserved for a Senior Executive, nor can they only be performed by someone with substantial formal authority.

In a subsequent post, I will discuss some possible strategies to engage with different levels of employees to begin the leadership discussion and provide meaningful (but not costly) development opportunities.


Feedback on posts is always welcome.