Leading Effectively e-Newsletter - November 2009

No Time to Waste: How to Develop the Leadership You Need

Every leader is aware of the value of a well-defined business strategy. Few, however, give thought to a leadership strategy.

A leadership strategy connects the business strategy with the capabilities that are required to succeed. Without proper leadership, even the best and boldest strategies die on the vine, their potential never realized. Without a solid leadership strategy, the most sophisticated talent management and development efforts will be weakened or, worse, a drain on time and money.

Like business strategies, leadership strategies are based on a thorough analysis of the current situation and an informed view of the future, says CCL's Bill Pasmore.

"Leadership strategies make explicit the number of leaders that are needed, of what kind, where and with what skills," Pasmore continues. "They go one step further to clarify how leaders need to behave — individually and collectively — to achieve success."

To understand and develop the leadership of an organization, several factors should be addressed:

• The quantity of leaders needed, as indicated by current and projected formal leadership positions depicted on an organization chart (i.e. number, level, location, function, business unit, reporting relationships).
• The qualities desired in selection — demographics, diversity, background, experience level.
• The skills and behavior that are needed to implement the business strategy and create the desired culture (skills, competencies, knowledge base).
• The collective leadership capabilities of leaders acting together in groups and across boundaries to implement strategies, solve problems, respond to threats, adapt to change and support innovation.
• The desired leadership culture, including the leadership practices in use, such as collaboration across boundaries, engagement of employees, accepting responsibility for outcomes, creating opportunities for others to lead, developing other leaders and learning how to learn.

In much of the work on talent and leadership bench strength, the focus has been on only the first three of these ways of describing an organization's leadership. By leaving out collective leadership and leadership culture, we have overlooked what makes leadership come alive in organizations and the factors that often determine whether strategies and plans will actually be achieved.

A good leadership strategy takes all of these factors into account.

Very few organizations have an explicit leadership strategy. Is it any wonder that without one, CEOs find that they don't have the leadership talent they require?

To learn more about creating a leadership strategy, download the CCL white paper: "Developing a Leadership Strategy: A Critical Ingredient for Organizational Success."