LEADERSHIP

COMPETENCIES
A REFERENCE
POINT FOR
DEVELOPMENT
& EVALUATION

Margie Jantti, University of Wollongong Australia and Nick Greenhalgh, Career Innovations
 For many years best practice principles
have driven leadership development
ABEF Investors In People
Promoting a leadership Learning and
system that generates development is planned
desired competencies to achieve the
Attracting, recruiting organisations
and deploying people objectives
Evaluating and capabilities...needed
developing individuals to lead, manage &
develop people are
clearly defined and
understood
Translated into:
Career development discussions
Lots of development opportunities
Leadership training support
Professional cadet program
Personal and professional attributes aligned
with our values and Ideal Culture
 But
Over the last 4-5 years it was
difficult to fill leadership positions
The leadership imperative
Ageing workforce
Leadership drain
Limited appetite
Equipping existing leaders with
needed skills
STEP 1
 Leadership Success Profiles
Who:
Library Executive
Team leaders and managers

Drawn from a pool of 67 competencies from

the Lominger Leadership Architect

FYI For your Improvement: A guide for development and coaching.

Michael M. Lombardo & Robert Eichinger, 2009.
 Success Profiles - competencies
Library executive Team leaders & managers
Perspective Building Effective Teams
Managing Vision & Mission Performance Management*
Political Savvy *(confronting direct reports)
Strategic Agility Organising
Business Acumen Drive for Results
Self Knowledge Intellectual Horsepower
Developing Others Organisational Agility
Comfort Around Top Innovation management
Management Managing Vision & Mission
Negotiating
Confronting direct reports
(level of difficulty high)
Defined:
Most organisations are running leaner today. With rapid
change and team-based efforts increasing, problem performers
cant be hidden as they may have been in the past. Overcoming
your reluctance to deal with them is key to your units
performance and your career as well. Managers who excel at
confronting direct reports are timely, consistent, focus on
performance gaps and help the person succeed. But if the
efforts fails, taking timely but compassionate action to separate
the person from the organisation is the true test of
management courage.

From: FYI For your Improvement: A guide for development and coaching. Michael M. Lombardo & Robert
Eichinger, 2009.
Confronting direct reports
Unskilled:
Not comfortable in giving negative messages
Lets problems fester hoping they will go away
May give people too many chances
Skilled:
Deals with problem direct reports firmly and in a
timely manner
Doesnt allow problems to fester
Reviews performance and holds timely
discussions
STEP 2
 Career interviews
Discussed career aims, level of ambition,
barriers to achievement.

The results were revealing:

Considerable appetite and potential for
leadership
But

Barriers to achievement included:

Large gap between team leader and executive team
simply didnt know how to bridge the competency
gap
Fear of failure
Carrot wasnt seen to be big enough, e.g. flexible
work conditions, remuneration
STEP 3
Evaluation - I
Self and peer assessment against the
competencies
Scale:
5 towering strength
1 serious issue
DK dont know
Gap: more than 1.1 considered significant
Feedback to participants
Sample assessment scores

Scale:
5 towering strength
1 serious issue
DK dont know
Gap: more than 1.1 considered significant
STEP 4
Coaching conversations for action
One on one
Agreement on development goals
Clarity and focus
Authentic; dealing with real issues

Plus
Coaching workshops for the leadership cohort
Competencies integration
HR policies and guides, position descriptions
Annual performance planners
Job enrichment portfolios
Induction and probation

More authentic discussions about leadership

development and evidence of success
Evaluation II

3600 feedback
Against all 67 Lominger competencies
Detailed report
One on one debrief with consultant
Commitment to sharing results with peers
and manager
Evaluation III - what did we
achieve?
Significantly improved confidence
Authentic focus on performance gaps and
steps in place to close them
Considered, constructive career plans
Greater preparedness to address performance
issues
Turnaround in underperformers
What else have we achieved?
Professional cadets secured team leader and
manager roles
Improved alignment of skills and talent
playing to strengths
We know what we are looking for improved
clarity
Voice Project* Survey Results

* http://www.voiceproject.com.au/Our-Tools/climate.aspx
 External validation

Development of competencies for roles at all levels in the Library

has provided a more robust platform from which to clarify:
Description of role and performance expectations
Career progression opportunities and how to work towards these
Accountability to deliver as an individual within the team

From: IIP feedback report, 2010

Practicalities
Significant investment but better ROI
than a leadership workshop
Scheduling time
Disaffection by those not initially
targeted for coaching
Sustaining over time

Still potential for disappointment despite efforts undertaken

Sustaining efforts
The 70/20/10 rule
70% planned and systematic OTJ experiences
20% development from feedback, reflection,
coaching etc
10% training courses, research, reading
Strategic projects
Internal coaching network
Leadership development framework
 To conclude:
From: To:
Fear of failure I can do this
It takes a long time It can be accelerated
Emotions, biases Lets deal with the
Its just not worth it facts
I am being invested in
 LEADERSHIP
COMPETENCIES
QUESTIONS OR
COMMENTS?

Margie Jantti, University of Wollongong Australia and Nick Greenhalgh, Career Innovations