Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Validation of Leadership by Erica Elliott

Validation of a Leader
"I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow." (Woodrow Wilson)
Leadership is not a one dimensional aspect of an organization, what works for one company may not work for another.  Differences need to be accounted for and taken into consideration when a company builds leaders from within their organization or actively looks for one.  A competency model can be developed within an organization which encompasses individuals in the development and implementation of the model.
The competency model focuses on five stages:
Stage One: Assemble Focus Team and create a list of processes
The focus team should include a diverse mix of senior leaders as well as first-line and lower leaders with a company; they should be experts in their field, show strong leadership qualities.  Utilizing interviews, surveys, and observations, this will produce a list of major requirements needed to be a leader in that field.
Stage Two: Build behavioral indicators for each process
This stage is used for analyzing the data and coming up with what major behavioral indicators are needed in order to produce desired output. The major behavior indicators are then listed. The major behavioral indicators are: skill, knowledge, and attitude. These indicators must excel in performance.  The behavioral indicators need to be:
  • “Future-focused, rather than need or problem-focused, as they are creating a powerful tool to guide the organization” (Clark).
  • “Part of a strategic planning or organizational change process model. The best results are often achieved when built in tandem with other processes” (Clark).
This is an example of how the information gathered in stage two can be put into a model that that is easier to follow.  For each category the behavioral indicators are listed.  The core competencies are what is expected from everyone in the organization, while the leadership competencies are geared towards management and supervisors.  Professional competencies are detailed oriented for each position. It is important that with professional competency that each behavioral indicator are what is really required. One does not want to over look and individual whom may bring fresh eyes to the organization.   This pyramid is to only give an idea of how competencies should be aligned; it does not necessarily have to be organized like this.

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