Leadership Competencies in Talent Management
It is predicted that more companies will go out of business over the next decade than in any other period to date. This is only partially due to the economic recession the world is facing. Other factors such as globalization, innovation, and technological advancements will also play a significant role in the re-composition of the marketplace.
There is no shortage of advice for leaders when it comes to what one should do to survive in these tough times. The tactics include strategic ideas, marketing approaches, leadership philosophies and execution methodologies, to name a few. Most often those tactics, when approached in isolation are futile. We suggest there is no silver bullet, but instead sustainable organizations must balance and excel in three key business dimensions.
1. Strategic/Systems Capability: Purpose orientation
2. Operational Excellence: Process orientation
3. Emotional Intelligence: People Orientation
Excelling in these arenas requires organizations to build strong competence within the company-wide leadership team. To achieve this, progressive organizations are implementing competency-based leadership structures. They create a HR Talent Management system (TMS) that guides them in hiring, evaluating, developing, and rewarding the critical behaviors that will drive high performance in their unique organization.
What are competencies? According to Wikipedia, they are the standardized requirements for an individual to properly perform a specific job. When integrated into a HR Talent Management system, they encompass a combination of knowledge, skills and behavior that differentiate superior from average performers.
Here are some examples of common leadership competencies categorized by business dimension:
Strategic/Systems Ability
* Strategic Planning
* Networking and Partnering
* Conceptual Thinking
* Innovation/Creativity
* Managing Change
* Planning and Organizing
* Decision Making
* Continuous Learning
* Customer Focus
Operational Excellence
* Initiative
* Personal Accountability
* Informing
* Goal Management
* Performance Management
* Results Orientation
* Problem Solving
* Resiliency
* Continuous Improvement
Relational Intelligence
* Self Management
* Communication Skills
* Interpersonal Ability
* Influence
* Accountability for Others
* Leading Others
* Developing Others
* Team Building
* Conflict Management
*Talent Journey’s assessment tools can be used to evaluate leadership competency in hiring, performance feedback, development and succession planning. Go to www.thetalentjourney.com
Determining and evaluating staff against a strategic view of competencies yields the competitive advantage to survive and thrive in the 21st century.
Making The Shift
So, how would you develop a competency model? In exploring several different sources of research around framing leadership competencies for organizations, a commonality is found. Although the nomenclature may differ from organization to organization, most leadership competency structures narrow down to a nearly universal set of core competencies (see our list of competencies above). These universal competencies can be customized to the unique strategy, mission, and culture of your specific organization.
Here are some easy first steps when considering a shift to a competency based leadership TMS within your organization:
1. Make a list of the most important leadership competencies for your organization.
2. Survey the executive staff. Ask the executive staff to identify which 9-12 competencies are most essential to driving strategic success.
3. Identify the current level of proficiency by inviting the executive staff to rate the leadership team’s proficiency in each competency.
4. Determine gaps and plan for improvement.
This simple methodology provides the architectural framework needed to develop competency based behavioral interview questions, a performance appraisal structure, and training & recognition systems. It links all stages of your leadership Talent Management System into one cohesive system.
Identifying and capitalizing on the existing competencies of an organization in addition to investing in developing deeper competencies within a firm is foundational for organizational success. Focusing on a few important core competencies enables an organization to shape the growth and development of their leaders around business requirements and talent gaps.
Diane Brown, Talent Journey, Copyright protected 2009
www.thetalentjourney.com
