When I had a chance to meet top training manager from a leading FMCG company in the world and asked him how is he developing a leadership framework for future leadership, his detailed observation and reply amused me.
No wonder his organization was the one which even after two major disasters in the Asia Pacific region came back very strong. Best practices organizations all have a leadership competency model as the foundation of their leadership development system. If you choose to develop a leadership model internally, we recommend using an experienced and effective facilitator, members of the leadership development council, and a competency dictionary or card deck (which represents a number of common competencies) as a starting point.
THE PROCESS TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP FRAMEWORK FOR FUTURE LEADERS INVOLVE FOLLOWING STEPS
Step 1: Sorting Critical Competencies From Competency List
Based on the previous identification of the leader’s future outputs, whittle the complete card deck or competency list (Through a card sorting process) to arrive at core seven to ten competencies that the team concludes are the most critical in enabling leaders to deliver these outputs.
Step 2: Define Your Competencies
Define the organization-specific knowledge, skills, and behaviors associated with each competency. This step ensures that the accompanying competency definitions and descriptors accurately capture how a superior performer exhibits that competency in the organization.
Step 3: Formulate A Rating Scale
Create a rating scale for each competency that distinguishes the various proficiency levels in which the competency is observed. The key in this step is to develop clear, specific, reliable, and one – dimensional behavior anchors to describe each point on the rating scale.
Step 4: Create a matrix worksheet
List the outputs (one output per row) in the far-left column and the competencies (one competency per column) across the top.
Step 5: Filling Up The Matrix Based On Criticality
Starting with the first competency, discuss with the team how critical this competency is to produce each of the outputs. Rate its criticality on a scale of 1 to 5, with (1 = unnecessary and 5 = critical). Repeat this process for each of the competencies identified.
Step 6: Finalize the Matrix
When the matrix is complete, each column should contain at least one 5, and each row should contain at least one 5. (If not, review the selected outputs or competencies and reconsider those choices).
Step 7: Finalize The Model In graphical Form
Once you are confident that you have identified the competencies that are most critical to delivering the superior quality outputs required to execute the future business strategy, the final step is to graphically depict the competencies in a model that will be shared throughout the organization.
FINAL WORDS
The future business strategy has been clarified and the corresponding leadership outputs and competencies that are required to successfully execute that strategy have now been identified. Next is conducting an accurate assessment of the organization’ s current leadership capabilities, Context, Culture, and Complexities.
Also, be advised that developing competency framework is slightly different from developing leadership framework for future leaders. However, the similarities require understanding both.