What does it mean to be a leader? What makes them a leader? Would you like to be a leader? What kind of leader would you like to be?
As Simon Sinek et el stated, “most successful leaders and organisation are continuing to learn to play the infinite field, not the finite one.” Leadership and business are an infinite pursuit where the rules change frequently, competitors come and go and there is no end point figuratively speaking.
In working with and alongside that infinite pursuit, organisation’s must consider not only past performance as prerequisites for identifying leadership potential but personal predispositions such as receptivity to feedback, propensity to lead, authenticity and emotional intelligence.
Three popular tools used to assess an individual’s readiness for leadership roles are performance appraisals, multi-rater or 360º feedback surveys and behaviour-based interviews.
Past performance can confirm the drive for achievement however, it is not indicative of whether a person would continue to grow or will make it as a senior leader in the longer term.
In the world of leadership optimising the talent pool is crucial. There are a limited number of people organisations can pick to accelerate their needs, possibly due to limited funds, resources, and a cultural divide that doesn’t include trust, engagement, change or resilience.
If organisations don’t spot leaders effectively and early enough, they run the risk of an empty bench: not having the right leadership talent to fill gaps or organisational needs is a risk mitigation strategy to consider.
Identifying leadership potential is paramount for all organisations. It is important to improve an organisations process of identifying leadership potential. The challenges HR professionals face in identifying future leaders are inconsistent in criteria, vision, values, or leadership expectations. Using the wrong assessment tools can result in a singular focus on strengths and being positive and does not consider the real development areas. If we force positivity “we aren’t dealing with the world as it is, only as we wish it would be,” Susan David.
“Leadership is service not position”
Organisations that lack a clear definition and vision of leadership will struggle to identify future leaders.
The leadership culture must be determined from the top. Executive teams can work with their HR partners to articulate what characteristics successful future leaders across the organisation will need. This will help illustrate the expectations. Boards also need to keep these expectations current as organisational goals and objectives change.
A mistake executives make is identifying potentials without subsequent diagnosis of development needs. Executives must understand a future leader’s strengths and areas for development to accelerate their organisational business growth.
Some organisations have an assumption that naming talent is equivalent to developing talent. The nomination process is only the first step of a succession management system. Organisations need to move quickly to develop the right people, at the right time for the right reasons, in the creation of more agile leaders.
To identify and gain insights into the ten leadership factors of future leaders, investigate, Jim Collins Good to Great, Morgan W McCall Jr’s Highflyers: Developing the next generation of leaders and Ann Howard and Doug Brays’ landmark 30-year study of professional and personal development.
Organisations that effectively identify leadership potential can focus their infinite investment on those individuals who then generate the highest ROI as they grow quickly and with greater bandwidth, right across the organisation.