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Measuring Success In Leadership
Written by: Ralph Twombly
Published: November 2010
Using a clear methodology to measure success and developing leaders
The age old argument goes something like, "Are leaders born or are they made?" If you’ve been in the world of leadership for any length of time, you have without doubt formed an opinion. As with most things in life there is seldom a black and white answer for such a question. We select, train, develop, nurture and encourage leaders and yet we have to sit in awe of some of the people in leadership that we meet that display this innate ability to create followers around them. These born leaders seem to be able to see around corners, instinctively do the right thing and can stand by themselves when weaker managers conform or collapse under pressure from a conflicting and, many times, bad idea. Following a number of observations and given some experience, you can get really good at predicting people who can and people who cannot become leaders.
Over the years, people like Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner (The Leadership Challenge) have worked extensively to qualify and quantify leadership and have provided the foundation for the rest of use to begin to understand the "nature or nurture" of it all. Even with all of this good work, we sometimes get lured in by the old "smartest kid in the room" syndrome. We can equate personal skill level (lots of knowledge or ability) in place of real (people who gather and keep followership) leaders. It is not hard to do because we are so drawn to anyone who leads that we will make them up if they don’t present themselves. We all like good ones and have been impacted negatively by poor leaders. If you invite a discussion about leaders, you can expect a bit of controversy and more than a little disagreement.
This month and for months to come we invite you into this discussion and as you may imagine we have some ideas of our own on the topic. I will present eight characteristics of leadership and try to explain what we look for. We invite your views. As each month goes along we will proved one more piece of the puzzle. Along the way we encourage you to disagree, agree, add or provide feedback to us so we can learn from you. Here we go.
Measuring Characteristics
What follows is a quick pie chart list of eight characteristics of leadership, identified by us as critical for successful leadership. November we will talk about Responsiveness and Communication and each month we will take on the next characteristic until we have covered all eight.
Responsiveness and Communication Defined - Getting back to people quickly, using various mediums to convey information based on the end user's needs and the will to get the information out to inform all without concern.
A hallmark of superior leaders is the ability to communicate with others, including peers, customers, superiors and subordinates. This is such a vital characteristic that it comes in first on our list. We believe it is impossible to be a successful leader without the skills and behaviors below and, in fact, have seen the majority of leaders who fail usually do so for the lack of one or more of these behaviors or skills. Conversely when leaders succeed they usually have this virtue down.
What could be more important? While these listed skills and behaviors are important to learn and develop, it may be more important that each leader embrace the willingness to be transparent, tireless and in the pursuit of complete and consistent communications.
The matrix that follows is broken down into four columns: From left is a column for a forced rating, followed by a skill column, followed by a behavior column, and finally another forced-rating column. The forced-rating columns on each end are for self evaluation or rating by a superior. The skill column lists out observable things that make it easier for leaders to communicate. The behavior column is a list of motives or less than observable things and equally important factors for success.
Skills and Behaviors Matrix:
Use the scale of 1 being low and 5 being high, have some fun and rate yourself for each skill in the left hand column and rate yourself for each behavior in the right hand column. If you need some help, get others to provide some feedback. Below are the definitions for each section of the skills and behaviors.
| Forced Rate | Skill |
Behavior |
Forced Rate |
|
E-mail etiquette and timeliness |
Openness to others’ needs |
|
|
Written skills |
Willingness to share |
|
|
Responsiveness |
Deciding the right methods for people |
|
|
Follow up |
Balancing information equally |
|
|
Appropriate detail |
Transparency |
|
Skills for Responsiveness and Communications Defined:
| E-mail etiquette and timeliness – Do you send out e-mails that your mother would be proud of? Is it polite, thoughtful, appropriate and at the correct moment. Do you know your way around e-mail technology and are you a good judge what should go out by e-mail and what should be a phone call or face to face interaction? Do you spell, punctuate, use brevity and do you use e-mail as a tool for success. |
Written skills – Do you use the grammar you would expect from a leader? Can you construct sentences; choose words that resonate with an audience? Do you get good feedback on the quality of the words you use and the complete nature of your written communications? |
Responsiveness – Do you get back to folks quickly with appropriate responses when you have the information or requested resource? Do people site you as someone they can always count on to get back to them? Do you take pride in your response time and keep up with correspondence? |
Follow up – Do you do what you tell others that you say you will when you say you will do it? Do you go the extra step of making sure others know that they are a priority? |
Appropriate detail – Do you know when to provide information and detail that the other person needs? Are you good at asking others to provide you with the level of detail they are requesting? |
Behaviors for Responsiveness and Communications Defined:
Openness to others’ needs - Do you act and sincerely respond to the needs of others in the communication process? Are your listening skills complete and do people come to you because you are open to their needs? |
Willingness to share – Are you displaying to others your willingness to put forward all the information necessary to be successful? Do people need to tug and pull on you to get what they want? |
Deciding the right methods for people – Do you adjust your style of communication to meet the needs of the individuals that you communicate with? Do you seek out what others need for communication and ask for their feedback regarding the quality and quantity of the information provided? |
Balancing information equally - Do you give communications to people on an equal basis without bias or concern for their position and authority? Are you thinking of who will need your information and how to facilitate discussion? Are people informed because you have closed all the loops? |
Transparency – Do you strive to make sure all the information is out that can possibly be given? Are you working to provide background, research and anticipated needs to all involved? Is there a sense to others that you are informing them of the information necessary for success? |
Based on how you did when you self-rated yourself in the categories above, you can start a plan for growth that may help you become a better communicator. There will be more to come in future installments, I promise.
Give me some feedback. Next month I will be back to discuss Results and Priority Setting and break down the skills and behaviors for you. Please have a great Thanksgiving!
Ralph Twombly
In the 20 years since starting Priority Learning, Ralph has facilitated countless learning experiences and has conducted training for thousands of managers and leaders. With over 30 years of leadership development and organizational development background and work, Ralph continues to build relationships with client companies all over the U.S.
