emerging leaders

Leaders at all levels can be daunted by the thought of moving from their present level to the next rung of the leadership level. Whether they are going to be leading a team for the first time, making the transition to mid-level management, or stepping up to lead a business unit, transitioning leaders can easily feel overwhelmed by the challenges they face.

Structured programs that address development needs at each level are the best way to address this. A leadership transition program includes hands-on learning, coaching and formal learning. Surprisingly, only 37% of organisations have a structured program to ensure smooth leadership transitions, according to the Global Leadership Forecast 2014/2051 by DDI and The Conference Board.

As well as increasing engagement and retention and improving the quality of future and current leaders, structured transition programs across all levels of the leadership ladder have a very significant effect on financial performance. The study found that companies with a leadership transition program performed 13% better than average.

We’ve taken a look at what helps to smooth the leadership transition. Some key findings are:

• Learning to lead must be handled differently for each level. First-level leaders, mid-level leaders and senior-level each require a unique approach.
• Hands-on learning in the workplace through setting tough challenges, with plenty of face-to-face contact, is preferred by 90% of transitioning leaders over technology-based and online learning, whether it is instructor lead or self-directed.

What does this mean for organisations that are developing structured first-level leadership programs?

Those who are going to lead teams for the first time do best when their leadership transition program involves three key elements:

• Developmental assignments
• Formal training
• Coaching

Developmental assignments are rated as the most effective method of growing new leaders. This involves the first-level leader taking on challenges such as handling new or different responsibilities, starting a new project or making strategic changes to an existing one,

Formal training in the hard skills and process capabilities, such monitoring, target setting and applying incentives is absolutely essential.  Mastering hard skills, whether through academic study or workplace learning,  is the most important factor in performance, according to the Study of Australian Leadership. As they put it, ‘Workplaces with better fundamental management systems and practices experience improved workplace performance and employee outcomes, above and beyond other leadership factors.’

Many institutions offer great courses in leadership, from managing staff in a small business to MBA-level learning in developing to senior management roles. Take a look at the AIM website for a wide range of leadership training options for each level, or Kaplan Professional’s aspiring and emerging leaders’ courses. There are plenty more too.

Coaching from the current manager is another effective way that first-level leaders learn, according to respondents in the Global Leadership Forecast, with coaching by others in the organisation and coaching from external coaches seen as less relevant at this level.

Identifying those with the potential to be leaders is vital. They can be identified using objective measures, such as those offered by Psychometric assessment team at Challenge People Services.

Identifying readiness to step up to a new level of responsibility is important as well, and is not the same as identifying potential. Simulations that present challenges that the high-potential might face in their new role give organisations the opportunity to measure whether they might be able to meet the demands of the new role within a shortened period of time.

Developing leaders at every level who are capable of taking the organisation on the strategic journey it has identified is at the core of business success. We have looked at what works best for first-level leaders: developmental assignments, formal learning and coaching. Future posts will look at what works for mid-level and senior-level leaders.

emerging leaders

This week’s blog post is by guest blogger Narelle Hess.

“The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. The great leader is he who the people say, ‘We did it ourselves.’” Lao Tzu

 I recently attended the Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA)’s leadership forum in Canberra for current and emerging leaders. During the course of the forum we examined the characteristics of leaders that had influenced our career. Our latest online poll ranked these characteristics very similarly to our group at the forum:

#1 = Empathetic, engaging and empowering of people – 38%

– Honest, clear and transparent communication – 31%

– Intelligent, confident decision-making – 13%

– Forward-thinking, proactive, innovative style – 10%

– Dynamic, charismatic, confident demeanour – 8%

So what does “empowering of people” actually mean?

During the leadership forum we had the pleasure of watching Benjamin Zander’s video ‘the art of possibility’* where, on leadership, Benjamin noted that after 20 years of being a world-class conductor of an orchestra he realised he is the only the person in the orchestra who doesn’t make a sound – his power depends on his ability to make other people powerful.

During the course of the forum, I was struck by a reflection by one of the participants which demonstrated her empowerment – “I never knew I could be a leader until I was invited to this forum”. Empowerment is about helping individuals realise a potential they didn’t even know was possible.

Once empowered, individuals need honest, clear, and transparent communication. Employee’s capabilities often live up to a supervisor’s expectations. But did you know that this has more to do with a Supervisor’s behaviour based on these expectations, rather than an employee’s actual capabilities? When a supervisor has high expectations they are more likely to assign difficult and specific goals to employees and also provide these employees with more learning opportunities, which results in employees being more engaged in the learning opportunities and improved performance accordingly**. What expectations of performance are you communicating to your team members, what self-fulfilling prophecy are you creating? Benjamin Zander began the term by assigning each class member an A, rather than a standard to live up to, the ‘A’ became a possibility to live into.

I have had the very good fortune of working with leaders that both empower and lead me with expectations of success. How do you ensure you are a leader who empowers – making other people powerful with expectations of success?

* Zander, B. (2009). Classical music with shining eyes. Retrieved July 25, 2010, from www.ted.com/index.php/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html

 ** Bezuijen, X.M., van den Berg, P.T., van Dam, K. & Thierry, H. (2009).Pygmalion and employee learning: The role of leader behaviors. Journal of Management, 35, 1248-1267.