We had just finished completing a strategy session for a client, and when they asked us what was next, we told them that now they had to build a leadership strategy to make certain that the heads of the organization knew how to make the strategy successful.
People often complain about spending time building a strategy document only to have it sit on a shelf since no one is exactly certain how to put it into play. (Hint) That is the job of the leaders. The leadership strategy, much like a business strategy, requires some thoughtful consideration and an intentional approach to building it out, and here are the questions and steps the organization needs to take to ensure the leaders can act on the business strategy.
In our leadership development model, which we call Strategy-Driven Leadership Development, we discuss the importance of identifying what demands the organizational strategy will place on the fi rm and especially on the leadership team, as indicated by the circled box in this accompanying graphic. Before you can move on to determining the “Leadership Capability” (or what talents and capabilities your leaders possess), it is essential to determine what those demands are all about.
The importance of this exercise is that all too often, businesses assume that their leaders understand how to implement the strategy as if it is a routine task like getting up in the morning and driving into work. In fact, however, different strategies demand different requirements. Just like driving a car to work is never the same from day to day (you may have to take a detour or remember to stop off for gas), strategy requirements may range from realigning an organizational team structure to having to focus on new product implementation.
For example, one CIO we work with had to transform his IT Call Center from a regionally based structure (as determined regional lines of business) to a global structure where the entire workforce would have one centrally located call center housed in Europe. This shift in thinking not only required a change in operational requirements but also demanded that his IT specialists had to be strong influencers to convince those regional leaders that they would not see a decrease in service quality.
Building a leadership strategy helps align the strategy to the desired business outcomes and creates the first visible steps that people see that tells them that this strategy initiative is for real. Five steps can be taken to translate the business strategy into a leadership strategy:
What are the critical drivers that are required to execute on the organizational strategy? Business drivers include items such as key markets, competitive advantages and core value streams.
Model top performance by identifying which leaders are already demonstrating the kind of performance required by the new strategy and talk with them to find out how they are approaching their leadership challenges. These leaders have both native and learned capabilities which will drive strategy success.
What is the culture that we have promulgated in our organization? Is our culture geared for growth or for sustainability, and can our leaders make a shift to a new approach when we put our new strategy in place?
How well do our leaders work together or do we have a leadership cadre that is focused more on “every person for themselves”? This question is critical to establishing momentum for the strategic initiatives if the leaders aren’t focused on the common strategic objectives.
Identify the leadership competencies that are required for business success. All too often this translates to moving people with the correct technical skills into leadership roles without regard to looking at their skills in understanding strategy or addressing organizational change management requirements. Determine first which competencies are required, and then move on to identifying the capacities of the leadership team. As we discussed above, that global call center will require IT leaders skilled in communicating and influencing rather than understanding how to connect a global Skype network to a new location.
In rounding out our Strategy-Driven Leadership Development Model, you can see from our graphic that the next step is to assess the talent capability of the team. Regardless of the strategy, there are going to be gaps in leadership requirements, even if a new strategy is not put in place, as no organization has all the required skill sets among their leaders. Once that determination is made, then the fi rm can move on to build those leadership skills in an intentional development model. We’ll detail these steps to take in future columns and in our new book which will be coming out later this year entitled Retooling Leadership Development to be published by Taylor and Francis.