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Leadership models - customizing leadership development
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Competency models describe set of behaviours, knowledge and motivations required to accomplish a task. By this definition leadership competency models help in understanding the most critical competencies required for leaders to lead their organizations effectively. Though leadership is described as a common thread for sustainability across the industries, the leadership models differ significantly from one company to another. The set of leadership competencies that a company identifies for itself depends upon the business philosophy, core values, critical business needs or challenges.
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A competency is defined as set of behaviours that describes excellent performance in a particular context of work. These behaviours are applied to provide standards of expectations by means of which people deliver the work. Competency is simply the set of attributes or behaviours seen in superior performers. Competencies provide people performing similar tasks, a means to compare and assess them selves for their potential to perform effectively.
Context of leadership models
It is the environment with in and out side an organization that determines the competency requirement of leaders. During the times of massive organizational change, leadership competencies that are required might be analysis, design, conflict management and communication. The knowledge of political orientation and amenability of people to change may prove very critical for success in times of change. Similarly in times of ambitious growth phase of a company, crucial competencies required for leaders may include effective decision making and team building.
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Today more and more organizations believe that leadership is most important element in business. Organizations’ capability to develop leaders is considered ultimate source of sustainable competitive advantage. With this view companies are putting in lot of efforts to identify those critical competencies for leaders at all levels to ensure success both now and in future.
Framework for building a leadership model
Building leadership model is a rigorous learning activity through research and introspection. The process is as elaborated below:
Identification of key business processes
Identification of key business processes to achieve the organizational goals is the first step in the process. A cross functional star studded team of performers can be engaged to carryout the whole activity of building leadership model for the organization.
Identification of competencies
The team can use surveys, interviews with key people and their own experience in gathering leadership competencies required for driving the key processes identified at the first step. The team should make it very clear that while identifying the competencies, the focus is more on future, such strategic issues and organizational change rather than exclusively on current operational problems. Also the point to keep in mind is that leadership competencies are distinctly different from core competencies that are required for every individual in the organization and professional competencies that are required for the expertise you are contributing to your team.
Prioritization
In this phase the team might look for competencies felt important by most of the respondents and leave out others. This exercise needs to be carried out along with top management team.
Validation
The competencies identified for leaders in the organization should be shared with all participants of surveys and interviews, to validate the team’s findings. This also can be reviewed with departmental focus groups. Once validated these few competencies describe the most essential leadership behaviours that are required for fulfillment of company vision and goals.
Implementation
Once the competencies are finalized, it must be communicated across the organization in a way that positive and negative behaviours with respect to each of the competency identified are well understood by all. It should be ensured that leaders at all levels demonstrate these behaviours in day-to-day work. This can be ensured by integrating these competencies with all HR processes. Work design, recruitment, interviews, selection, orientation, developmental trainings and performance reviews are all standardized against these competencies. Further tools such as 360 degree feedback and leadership effectiveness surveys must be introduced to meassure leaders’ behaviour against the identified competencies, and give them feedback on areas where they need to focus and develop.
Follow-up - critically and continuously
Periodic assessment against the model and development programs, backed by the opportunities for leaders to take up challenging assignments are the key for success of the leadership model in an organization. A successful implementation of leadership model not only fulfills future leadership requirements of the company but also forms the core around which the culture of the company is recast.
Related articles:
Leadership Grid - a simple assessment tool for leaders
Leadership competencies - Johnson & Johnson
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