Maverick Mastery®

One of the overriding problems faced by companies is that they struggle to effectively develop talent. Either preferring a one size fits all management style or employee reward package. In this blog I discuss whether employees should be groomed for management responsibilities.

Despite McKinsey’s War on Talent report 10 years ago – talent management in all its guises are still a strategic priority for many companies across numerous industries even now!

One of the dilemmas facing HR Directors today is whether they should groom employees from the beginning or whether they should allow the employee to feel their own way into management positions. The company’s talent management/succession plan will be decided based on the conclusion they reach. It is not an exaggeration to say that the future of the company can depend on the position that the HR Director takes.

Where do leadership competences come from?

Are leaders born or are they made? Dynamic Transitions believes that leadership skills and techniques can be learnt, transforming a poor manager into a good leader. Great leaders have been exposed to leadership concepts that they practice and demonstrate from early childhood. This early experience enables them to become great leaders in the workplace years later. HR Directors can design their performance reviews and training interventions to nurture or further develop these ‘early learnt’ competencies.

Dynamic Transitions believes that leadership is ‘trusted influence’ that has its basis in the credibility and reputation of the leader. The leader requires the trust and goodwill of his team to function well and that can only be secured if he has integrity and a flexible range of leadership styles which can be effectively implemented.

On the basis that employees remain loyal to individuals not the company it’s imperative that good leadership is demonstrated throughout the organisation. Talent management demands that talent is nurtured so that the company is able to fulfil its objectives and that talent is dispersed throughout the company. Both these concepts require the employee to have a persona that has high reputational value and a character that is ‘trusted’.

Grooming for management responsibilities?

In this changeable climate there is a requirement for workforces to be flexible and companies to be agile to survive. Therefore companies should be encouraging leadership competences in all its employees. The ability to think for themselves, make decisions that are perhaps beyond ‘their pay level’, developing into lateral thinkers with the confidence to challenge the status quo soon becomes a survival imperative. Demonstrating ‘traditional’ leadership competences then becomes the norm within the company with performance reviews and reward systems based, on some level, around leadership.

All employees should be provided with plenty of opportunities to develop leadership competencies in their normal day to day work. Talent Management strategies should groom all employees for management responsibilities, self leadership and self determination can bring depth to job roles and pride in one’s abilities. This is particularly important in environments where flat structures can inhibit upwards movement and economic climate can depress salary increments.

By establishing an environment where (self) leadership development is the norm it is easier and cost effective to identify those with management potential. It has the additional benefit of continuously improving the agility and competence of the company as a whole making it more likely for it to reach growth and financial targets.

Real leaders seem to possess inherent knowledge of people and it is this knowledge demonstrated as social intelligence, reputation (character and intent) and credibility (competence and track record) that can distinguish leaders from managers. Performance reviews and reward structures should be designed to nurture and develop these competencies, thus allowing those with management potential to be easily seen by management (for further development) and enable them to identify themselves as future managers. This is more effective than just following a strategy that requires individuals to feel their own way into management.

How can HR directors spot and develop potential managers without alienating the other members of the workforce?

If the company’s strategy is to nurture talent within its workforce by encouraging all employees to develop self leadership competencies, amongst other task specific skills, employees are less likely to resent the company developing others. This is especially true where reward strategies are transparent and fair to all.

Employees that demonstrate the ability to influence and motivate others, and knowledge of human behaviour to effect better performance, should be identified for potential management. This can be done by one-to-ones with their managers, performance reviews and succession plans.

Development can include coaching, mentoring and bespoke leadership courses designed specifically to fulfil the leadership deficit of the individuals. This should not be at the detriment to more general training interventions for the rest of the workforce.

HR Directors should ensure that all employees are encouraged to develop leadership competencies, thus creating a richer pool of talent, allowing the identification of those that have management potential to be simpler and more effective.

Many small businesses are putting their business and earning capacity at risk by investing in expensive marketing activity that increases visibility but does nothing for brand reputation, the ultimate decision making factor used by businesses during turbulent times, according to networking strategy specialists at leadership consultancy Dynamic Transitions.

In a recent whitepaper by Dynamic Transitions MD Judith Germain entitled ‘building reputation and credibility for your business’, Germain suggests that potential clients will only buy ‘high ticket value’ services from those they trust and that SME’s need to focus on how they can develop, nuture and maintain that trust, particularly during the credit crunch when spend is often limited.

Germain suggests that businesses should consider forgoing expensive marketing activity that only increases the business’ visibility but does nothing to lessen the ‘risk’ of hiring the company, arguing that those who rely on referrals or social networking to secure work instead will realise that the most cost effective way to gain new clients is to use ‘pull’ rather than ‘push’ marketing techniques.

“Reputation is personal in its nature, concerning itself with the character of the business (or person) and the intention of its (their) actions. It is essential that you are consistent with what you say and do, especially on the internet where everything that is recorded there is of a permanent nature. Inconsistency can be the biggest killer of reputation because it undermines the trust that is being established between the two parties”, explains Germain.

Germain strongly believes that freely providing advice to others without expectation of a return helps to build your reputation as an expert and provides an informative view on your character, and ironically the return on this activity can be immense.

Germain adds, “with the credit crunch still impacting most industries, you need to ensure that you focus your energies on delivering a consistent and compelling reason for clients to work with you and a well defined networking strategy will help you to achieve this for very little cash outlay. It is a solid, credible reputation (not just increased visibility) that will carry you and business out of the crunch and beyond. So, look at the way your brand is seen by others and ask yourself this…based on the information available about me, would I hire me?”

You can download the free whitepaper ‘building reputation and credibility for your business’ from www.developing-leadership.com/leadership-whitepapers.html. For further information or to find out more about Dynamic Transitions visit www.developing-leadership.com or telephone +44 (0) 208 288 0512.