Leadership DNA
The secret of leadership is to ensure your team is smarter than you are. Jack Welch former CEO of General Electric on a recent visit to London Business School told his audience "that it was vital to develop and hire great people - people who are smarter than you are" describing this ability as a core competency. He said that "the leader who is the smartest person in the room is a jackass".
Leadership can be developed but you need to know what competencies and abilities need developing, thus our description: leadership DNA. What's more interesting is that you can measure it - read on.
You can transform good managers into extraordinary leaders. The difference between effective leaders and non-effective leaders is startling. Before describing how you can measure this, just look at the difference between managers that can perform and those that can't.The most effective leaders (top 10%) are twice as good at keeping their staff than the least effective (bottom 30%).
The most effective leaders have a customer satisfaction rating 75% better than the least effective (bottom 20%).
The most effective leaders (top 10%) are 4 times more effective at engaging their employees than the least effective (bottom 10%). That is poor leaders cause disengagement which means employees switch off, become disaffected and ultimately leave.
But most importantly:
The most effective leaders (top 10%) generate twice as much net profit than average or acceptable managers. The least effective (bottom 10%) generate losses.
If you can improve the performance of your managers then the impact on the financial performance of your organisation is going to be significant.
so what makes effective leaders
Research at Profiles began in 1992 when an impressive team of clinical and occupational psychologists were assembled to identify the behaviours and attributes that make effective and superior leaders.
The first study involved 3600 leaders which provided remarkable results. Over the last 13 years this initial study has been refined as more than 500 000 leaders have been assessed. The most effective leaders demonstrated strengths in 8 key areas. These are:
Communication Development of others Getting results Task management Leadership Adaptability Relationships Personal development These were then broken down into 18 skill sets. Further refinement produced 70 competencies. This was then developed into the Checkpoint 360º feedback appraisal system.
Taking a closer look at skill sets and using communication as an example:
Communication has 3 skill sets:
- Listens to others
- Processes information
- Communicates effectively
Then take ‘Listens to others', this is made up of a further 5 competencies:
- Solicits ideas from others
- Creates a comfortable climate to air concerns
- Listens to all points of view with an open mind
- Listens carefully without interrupting
- Summarises input and then checks for understanding
The measurement of all 70 of these factors produces a comprehensive overview of an individuals leadership DNA. This is carried out using the Checkpoint 360º feedback system.
Once strengths and development areas have been identified, individuals can address the latter using the SkillBuilder series. This is a framework which allows the individual to build up an action plan over a period agreed with his/her boss and/or mentor to develop specific areas. This is carried out in-house making it very cost effective.
Contact us for further discussion, have a look at a sample report or to arrange a meeting during which we can take you through the whole process which, once set up can be carried out online. The reports produced are comprehensive and in full colour.
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