The data from a recent survey shows that no matter what which industry they may belong to, a leader will always be a leader.
An article in ccl.org says that most bosses across industries share similar beliefs about what competencies are most important to the success of their business.
The article lists out a few insights on what these findings mean for leadership development.
Building collaborative relationships, leading employees, strategic perspective, taking initiative, participative management, change management are the same 6 competencies that are used in every industry.
The insight is that HR and training teams would be well advised to track and build leader competencies in each of these 6 areas
*Most companies rate taking initiative as the most effective competency of their leaders.
The insight from this is that moving too fast — without buy-in and commitment from others — can lead to lower overall effectiveness and a smaller positive impact on the business.
*Data shows that among the top rated companies, leaders are least prepared to lead employees. A leader’s performance and reputation within the organization is only as strong as their team. That means leaders need to know how to recruit the right people and then motivate and develop them as they progress throughout their careers.
The insight from this is that developing skills to better lead employees should be a top priority for every organization.
*Leaders also lack vital skills for building collaborative relationships. In many organisations, the ability to build collaborative relationships with peers and external stakeholders simply isn’t practiced or rewarded regularly.
The insight given in this is that growing their formal and informal networks and developing political savvy can be effective tools in building more collaborative relationships.
*Another setback with leaders is that they lack important skills in change management. The article states that many organisations have mastered the operational or structural side of change, but give little effort to the people side of the equation. In fact, organizational change initiatives fall apart 50-70 per cent of the time.
The insight is that when implementing a new direction, system, or initiative, organizations need the benefit of change leadership along with change management.
