Susan’s Blog

Over the years I have often referred back to one of the first leadership books I ever read, “The Leadership Engine” by Noel Tichy. The book is excellent and timeless. The primary message Tichy puts forth in his book is that organizations perform better if there are leaders at every level and it is the responsibility of all leaders to be developing those behind them. This just makes sense.  You can get in a real bind when a leader moves on in his or her career and the bench is empty. It is a great concept, but how do you execute on the concept? Here are three points you may want to consider.

• Always be surveying the landscape for new leaders. Look among the unofficial leaders in your organization and give them official leadership responsibility. Small things at first are best. This gives you the chance to see how they handle themselves, if indeed people follow them and maybe most importantly that they enjoy the responsibility of leading. It is frequent that we promote those who are great producers with an exemplary work ethic, and they find themselves in a leadership position which makes them miserable.  This is best identified early so they can transition back to their passion without much disruption.

• Recruit with leadership in mind. When recruiting, think about their leadership ability even if you are not recruiting for a leadership role. Again, surveying the landscape for leadership potential - further, if they are a natural leader, you may recruit others who are comfortable following them. No organization can have too much talent and in a knowledge based economy talent is a critical competitive advantage.

• Talk about leadership. Thank people for their leadership. Any member of your organization who influences anyone else, any stakeholder, is a leader. Leaders have followers. Identifying leadership examples, sharing them and congratulating those who perform positive leading tasks all help in developing and continuing a culture of leadership.

Lead on…