According to
studies conducted or reviewed in the book How
To Be Exceptional, by the folks at Zenger-Folkman, good leadership is
key to organizational success. Good
leaders who have certain strengths can increase those strengths to become great
leaders. And poor leaders with weaknesses
should focus on building their strengths to get better or focus on fixing a single
fatal flaw (weakness that keeps them from being successful). Movement towards great leadership can improve
an individual’s career potential while helping their current organization. Their studies show that leaders (without a
fatal flaw) who focus on building their strengths rather than eliminating weaknesses
have 3X the improvement of those who focus primarily on overcoming a weakness.
Why is this important for building greater leadership? Great leaders increase: profits and sales,
customer satisfaction, both employee engagement and development.
The author’s
suggest 360-degree
feedback as a way to find strengths and weaknesses because this gets
feedback from subordinates, peers, and superiors. It will give the leader a more rounded image
of their self since most are not as self-aware as they tend to believe. An interesting result of one study was that
leaders who focus on using their strengths (once known and understood) create a
detailed development plan and are more likely to stick to it and improve. Whereas leaders focusing on weakness tend to
create a high-level plan and dread working on it.
 |
| How To Be Exceptional: Drive Leadership Success By Magnifying Your Strengths |
In chapter 6,
16 leadership competencies are presented under 5 categories. These are summarized below using and
adaptation of the table presented in the book with the items they suggest as
the top 5 noted in rank order. To see
details on each of the 16, visit the Zenger-Folman company blog post series The 16
Days of Competencies. To see 5 competency companions, visit Leaders
Look to Improve People Skills in Training magazine.
|
Focus on Results
|
Leading Change
|
Character
|
Interpersonal Skills
|
Personal Capability
|
|
Drives for results
#3 -
Establishes stretch goals
Takes initiative
|
#4 -
Develops strategic perspective
Champions change
Connects the group to the outside world
|
Displays integrity and honesty
|
#2 - Communicates powerfully and prolifically
#1 -
Inspires and motivates others to high performance
Builds relationships
Develop others
Engages in collaboration and teamwork
|
Has technical/
professional expertise
#5 -
Solves problems and analyzes issues
Innovates
Practices self-development
|
For more details
on the competencies and how to build them, read the book. For a brief look at the competencies and
leadership, see the slide show embedded within the Harvard Business Review
article Making
Yourself Indispensable.
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