How We Justify Our Unpopular Opinions
In today's world, holding an unpopular opinion can often feel like walking through a minefield. Whether it's at a family dinner, a work meeting, or the comment section of social…
It’s not about leaders. It’s about leadership.
Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall." -Stephen Covey
Leaders play a critical role in our organizations. We need great leaders — they have a profound impact on the success of organizations. Furthermore, the pressure to identify and develop future leaders has never been more significant. We must grow leaders while recognizing, against a very different business landscape and set of demands. However, that alone will not unleash the full potential of our organizations.
Many organizations capitalize on leadership potential by identifying the “stars.” These high-potential programs enable many organizations to target the growth of small groups of high-potential leaders, often with positive results.
Failing organizations are usually over-managed and under-led." -Warren Bennis
However, as the pace of business increases, this strategy falls short. Transforming potential into meaningful business results requires far more than picking and choosing people who meet a precise profile. In today's world of constant change, organizations need to re-think their strategy and broaden their efforts to develop and unleash the full potential of the leadership talent that exists in every employee.
Leadership is about behaviour, regardless of a person’s title or where they fall in the company hierarchy. As organizations face new and unfamiliar challenges, success depends on increasing the frequency of leadership behaviour from individuals and teams across the organization to ensure that the organization can deploy the right leadership at the right moment for the proper context. So instead of redefining the criteria and isolating a small group of “stars,” the challenge is to understand and unleash the most significant source of potential: The entire workforce.
We take a holistic view of potential — beyond merely identifying leadership potential among individuals. Instead, we aim to surface, activate, and accelerate potential in every individual, within teams, and across the full force of your organization.
We develop your organization’s leaders by having them lead, not by talking about it.
What got you here won’t get you there.” — Marshall Goldsmith
How to drive remarkable leadership performance
We believe that evidence-based decisions drive long-term success. Climbing the leadership ladder is no exception.
Our new offering uses SuccessFinder’s research of 1009 high performers — split by leadership level from manager to CEOs. It identified the 9 or 10 critical competencies at each level. Our program helps you identify your high potential employees — succession planning and talent management initiatives as well provide a basis for meaningful individual career planning one, two and three moves ahead.
Identifying the strengths and development opportunities helps individuals know if leadership roles are right for them and the necessary insights to progress up the leadership ladder. We explain the core competencies that are required by level and address the transition between levels. Using our model across your entire team uses a common language for management development. It also allows you to assemble teams with a diversity of behavioural competencies in addition to technical skills and knowledge. These teams produce better outcomes.
Two Fundamental Leadership Competencies are required to start climbing the leadership ladder
The research identified the two fundamental behavioural competencies that are important at every level of management — Leads Decisively and Thrives in Chaos. Specific competencies are key on more than one level as one progresses up the ladder. Some stay important through a leadership transition, and some competencies are less relevant, and therefore their demonstration must be adjusted to be an agile leader. Our roadmap to success ensure development efforts contribute to long-term success.
Business leaders must maintain a high level of efficiency even in an unstructured, chaotic, and unpredictable environment and feel comfortable making difficult decisions. From the moment that an employee moves from first level people manager to the following levels up the chain, these two key behaviours will contribute to high-impact leadership.
Our model leverages behavioural propensities or styles that are demonstrated to characterize exceptional performance at each leadership level, as well as the transitional behaviours that will be necessary to adapt from one level to the next.
Our approach:
- Highlights fundamental leadership competencies across all levels
- Pinpoints competencies that change during transitions
- Generates role-specific insights at each management level
- Creates a common language for leadership development across the organization
Using our approach, your organization can more effectively:
- Identify high potential employees for succession planning and talent management initiatives
- Provide a basis for meaningful individual career planning one, two and three moves ahead
- Create customize development plan focused on the needs at the current level and the next level
- Ensure you have the diversity of thought across all teams
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FAQ — Leadership
Is self-awareness important?
Self-awareness is critical because we can experience ourselves as unique and separate individuals when we better understand ourselves. We are then empowered to make changes and to build on our areas of strength as well as identify areas where we would like to make improvements. Self-awareness is often the first step to goal setting. Self-awareness is being conscious of what you're good at while acknowledging what you still have yet to learn. This includes admitting when you don't have the answer and owning up to mistakes.
In our highly competitive culture, this can seem counter-intuitive. Many of us believe that we must appear as though we know everything all the time or else people will question our abilities, and then perhaps judge us. If you're honest with yourself, you'll admit that the opposite is true. Because whether you acknowledge your weaknesses or not, everyone still sees them. So, the person who tries to hide imperfections highlights them, creating the perception of a lack of integrity and self-awareness.
Impact of Hiding Character Flaws
Hiding character imperfections, or flaws, can have several negative effects on an individual's personal growth and relationships.
Firstly, when an individual hide their imperfections, they may feel pressure to maintain a facade or image of perfection. Which is exhausting and leads to increased anxiety and stress. This can prevent them from being their authentic selves. Moreover, it may even lead to a sense of disconnection from others.
Secondly, hiding imperfections can prevent an individual from learning from their mistakes and growing. By acknowledging their flaws and working to overcome them, individuals can develop greater self-awareness and improve their relationships and personal well-being.
Thirdly, hiding imperfections can hinder effective communication and problem-solving in relationships. When individuals are not honest about their shortcomings, it can create an atmosphere of mistrust and undermine the foundations of healthy relationships.
Ultimately, hiding character imperfections may provide a temporary sense of relief, but in the long run, it can hinder personal growth, damage relationships, and lead to a sense of disconnection from oneself and others. It is essential to acknowledge and accept imperfections as a natural part of the human experience and work toward personal growth and improvement
Why focus on an employee’s strengths over weaknesses?
Gallup researchers have studied human behaviour and strengths for decades. They discovered that building employees' strengths are a far more effective approach than a fixation on weaknesses.
A strengths-based culture is one in which employees:
- learn their roles more quickly
- produce more and significantly better work
- stay with their company longer
- are more engaged.
In the current study, a vast majority (67%) of employees who strongly agree that their manager focuses on their strengths and poor positive characteristics are engaged, compared with 31% of employees who strongly agree that their manager focuses on their weaknesses.
When managers help employees grow and develop their strengths, they are more than twice as likely to engage their team members. The most powerful benefit a manager can provide his or her employees is to place them in jobs that allow them to use the best of their natural talents, adding skills and knowledge to develop and apply their strengths.
Leadership
Leadership is about behaviour, regardless of a person’s title or where they fall in the company hierarchy. As organizations face new and unfamiliar challenges, success depends on increasing the frequency of leadership performance from individuals and teams across the organization to ensure that the organization can deploy the right leadership at the right moment for the right context. So instead of redefining criteria and isolating a small group of “stars,” the challenge is to understand and unleash the largest source of potential: The entire workforce.
We take a holistic view of potential — beyond simply identifying leadership potential among individuals. Instead, we aim to surface, activate, and accelerate potential in every individual, within teams, and across the full force of your organization.
Our leadership ladder provides the framework and process to develop and support the leaders in your organization from first-level managers to CEO.
How do I handle a passive-aggressive boss?
Being on the receiving end of passive-aggressive behaviour can be infuriating — and it gets even more complicated when the person dishing it out can fire you. Moreover, dealing with a passive-aggressive boss can be challenging, but there are several strategies that you can use to handle the situation. Here are some tips to help you keep your cool (and your job).
- Stay Calm: One of the most important things you can do is to remain calm and professional when dealing with your boss. If you get angry or frustrated, it will only fuel their behaviour.
- Take the high road. You may want to talk back or complain about your boss’ behaviour. Don’t. It damages your credibility and may very well make your manager’s behaviour toward you even worse.
- Set Boundaries: You can set clear boundaries with your boss by letting them know what is and isn't acceptable behaviour. For example, if they send you a sarcastic email, you can respond by saying, "I prefer that we communicate in a direct and respectful manner."
- Communicate Directly: Try to communicate directly with your boss, as this will help to avoid misunderstandings. If your boss gives you vague instructions, ask for clarification so that you can make sure you are meeting their expectations.
- Clarification is key. If you have a boss who tends to blindside you with new information, try to beat them to the punch and ask clarifying questions in advance. The more you know, the less ammo they have.
- Document Everything: Keep a record of any interactions with your boss that are passive-aggressive or hostile. This can be helpful if you need to escalate the situation to HR.
- Seek Support: It can be helpful to seek support from coworkers, friends, or family members when dealing with a difficult boss. You may also want to consider talking to a therapist or coach to help you navigate the situation.
- Save your face, and theirs. Rather than matching his or her behaviour, ask if there’s something about your performance that they want to be different. The earnest, respectful route may very well neutralize the situation.
Remember, it's not your responsibility to change your boss's behaviour, but you can control how you respond to it. By setting boundaries, communicating directly, and seeking support, you can effectively handle a passive-aggressive boss.
Consider a Development Plan
Moreover, a personal development plan will help guide you on your career journey.
What is an entrepreneurial leadership style like?
Entrepreneurial Leadership is a primary force behind successful change. These wealth-building Entrepreneurial leaders are not merely "executing better" – they're radically changing the rules of the success game in the workplace. For the Entrepreneurial leader, creativity is a continuous activity. They are always seeing new ways of doing things with little concern for how difficult they might be or whether the resources are available. But the creativity in the entrepreneur is combined with the ability to innovate. They take the idea and make it work in practice.
This sees something through to the end and not be satisfied until all is accomplished. This is a central motivation for the entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial Leaders need to encourage expansive out-of-the-box thinking to generate new ideas but also filter through these ideas to decide which to commercialize. Using a balanced "loose-tight" style of leadership alternates creating space for idea generation and freeing exploration with a deliberate tightening that selects and tests ideas for further investment and development. Looseness usually dominates the early stages of the Entrepreneurial Leaders process; in the later stages, tightening becomes more important to scrutinize the concepts and bring the selected ones to the market. A balanced approach is essential to Entrepreneurial Leaders. Those who remain loose too long generate plenty of ideas but have difficulty commercializing them.
What are the benefits of SuccessFinder to my business?
Business Benefits of SuccessFinder
A bad hire is bad for business. It wastes time, and stresses the organization and the person you hired and fired. Our approach to achieving strategy of business success focuses on achieving value for the shareholder and has two necessary conditions: satisfied customers and a satisfied workforce. We drive employee success and career satisfaction.
In addition to avoiding the cost of a bad hire, you:
- Slash onboarding costs with targeted development/coaching right from point of hire
- Increase retention due to better-fit hiring and promotion
- Avoid costly litigation by hiring without bias
- Differentiate high potentials from high performers
- Increase bench strength and know who to target for accelerated leadership programs
- Decrease training costs based on highest-need performance competencies
- Increase engagement due to people operating in their strengths
- Transform your workforce into one focused on performance at every level
We use SuccessFinder in all our talent analytics used for selection, employee career development, succession planning, team development and leadership coaching.
What is inspirational leadership style like?
Inspirational leadership is a leadership style where the leader engages with others in such a way that leaders and followers constructively raise one another to:
- higher levels of motivation
- effective relationships
- quality orientation
- overall workplace productivity
Inspirational leaders are team builders and place a great deal of faith in the value of teaching and coaching and will go the extra mile with their people while refusing to compromise on their vision or intent.
This leadership style challenges employees to be creative problem solvers, and develop followers’ leadership capacity via coaching, mentoring and provision of both challenge and support. Using the democratic leadership style or participative style, the leader encourages employees to be a part of decision-making.
We determine this style through the 85 performance traits measured in SuccessFinder.
The National Research Council of Canada has defined in detail the core competencies of inspirational leaders.
Why use performance competencies?
Using performance competencies, we can provide an additional view of a candidate versus a higher performer.
In addition to technical skills, academic background and professional experience acquired, an individual’s natural behavioural tendencies are crucial elements to achieving success at work. Our goal in creating this model is to provide better ways for organizations to capture these natural behavioural tendencies and leverage them to develop the strong, resilient leaders required to drive today’s business strategies. SuccessFinder measures 85 performance traits. The 26 performance competencies consist of three to six behavioural characteristics. The competencies are grouped into five categories. They are very useful for developing a performance plan as they reflect the interaction of the traits.
How the traits combine along with a career theme in different dynamic combinations to predict business and career success. These combinations constitute the complex behavioural trait dynamics that we see in the workplace and can be measured using competencies and a readiness to influence others directly.
Performance competency is the kind of skill set that an individual should have so that he or she can meet the goals of the organization. Measuring performance competency is a tough job for any human resource manager. SuccessFinder makes it easy. Due to the increasingly complex structure of the organization, it is imperative for individuals to have a good and healthy relationships with people across departments.
In some organizations, including behavioural competencies is part of their appraisal as well.
Why do organizations need to understand performance competencies?
Understanding performance competencies play an essential role in succession planning, workforce planning, and training and development.
What is Agile Leadership? What traits make the best Agile Leader?
Agile Leadership is a leadership style where the leader values the need to adapt to constantly changing conditions, with the ability to embrace new effective behaviors based on new requirements and the challenges of a chaotic, even volatile marketplace driving a magnitude of change, with the potential to confound by it daunting complexity and uncertainty.
Agile leaders (“We need Learning Leaders who have the ability to stay flexible, grow from mistakes, and handle a magnitude and diverse range of challenges.”)
- Agile leaders possess the ability to sense an organization’s needs for major change and responds to opportunities or obstacles through planning, swift execution without loosing momentum or alignment.
- Agile leadership is inclusive, democratic, and exhibit a greater openness to ideas and innovations. With a passion for learning, a focus on developing people, and a strong ability to define and communicate.
- The core of the Agile leadership style’s intent is not just surviving in the midst of chaos but quickly adapt and create a new future through demonstrating imaginative and insightful leadership when the status quo is challenged.
Competencies Demonstrated:
- Sustains profits — Seeking profitability and personal wealth with a keen sense of risk in order to achieve financial success.
- Seeks Innovation — Thinking expansively and demonstrating intense imaginative insight to identify wise but innovative solutions.
- Embraces Change — Being responsive and open-minded in unpredictable times with a willingness to adapt to rapid change.
- Thrives In Chaos — Enthusiastically thriving under seemingly a chaotic demand and overlapping priorities. Displaying a preference for multi-tasking.
- Focus on Results — Making personal sacrifices and expending extraordinary dedication and work ethic for one’s career.
- Drives Achievement — Desiring to achieve exceptional results under competitive scenarios for high ambition’s sake.
What questions should I ask when interviewing and hiring for integrity?
Practically speaking, assessing integrity is really about asking the right questions that will get to the core of a person's character (in addition to standard tests/assessments, "job auditions," and role-play exercises). But first, whoever is on the interviewer's seat must be skilled in the science of performance interviewing. Here are twelve questions you may wish to use:
- Tell me about a time when you experienced a loss for doing what is right. How did you react?
- Tell about a time when your trustworthiness was challenged. How did you react/respond?
- Tell about a specific time when you had to handle a tough problem which challenged fairness or ethical issues.
- When was the last time you "broke the rules"? What was the situation and what did you do?
- What would you do if you suspected that an employee was stealing?
- Describe a situation where you saw an employee or co‐worker do something you thought was inappropriate. What did you do?
- Think of a situation where you distrusted a co-worker/supervisor, resulting in tension between you. What steps did you take to improve the relationship?
- When working with people, in general, describe your preferred relationship with them. (this question is used to assess honesty and the capacity for open communication.)
- What values do you appreciate the most in a team environment? [you're looking for things like honesty, fairness, openness, transparency, and inclusiveness in your answers.)
- If we ever got into a bind with a client, would you be willing to tell a little white lie to help us out?
- What would your current/past manager say makes you most valuable to them? (Besides intelligence, energy or technical and hard skills, listen for clues that point to integrity.)
- What are the characteristics exhibited by the best boss you have ever had, or wished that you have had? (A person of integrity will mirror those they follow or look up to, so listen for clues.)
Remember: No integrity = no trust. Your hiring team must ensure that, no matter how talented, experienced, and smart job candidates are, they will protect your company, your employees, and your customers by hiring people every person can trust.
Do you want to be assured that you are getting a high performer?
Let us know! We are incredibly passionate about Behavioral DNA and the impact this scientific insight can have on you and your business. Using our Best-Fit Staffing process, we can predict, with 85% reliability, if a candidate is likely to be a high performer. We can assess your final choice or assist you through the whole process. We evaluate candidates against benchmarks of top performers in the same role, so you know that you are genuinely getting a high performer. Not just the best of a bad lot! We evaluate the 15 applicants in your “A-list” pile, identifying the five to interview and we conduct a complete analysis of the final two or three. We then provide the new hire with an employee development plan. You complete the assessment online, we then provide you report and personal feedback via video call. We offer the service worldwide. Contact us at successfinder@allenvisioninc.com. We’d love to hear from you!
Do you offer executive coaching after I complete my assessment?
We offer executive coaching after you complete our career assessment. Executive coaching enables you to achieve higher levels of performance, through demonstrations of your leadership, know-how, and interpersonal skills. We recommend that you commit to at least 15 coaching to get the full value. We bundle your coaching with either development plan or the career assessment. Setting up the sessions are simple, but the work you have to do is not simple — if it was you would have already done it!
Our personal development plan is a self-managed approach. Our employee development plan can be supplemented with executive coaching if you are doing the development with your current employer. We tailor our executive coaching to meet your needs.
Our Approach
We will help you reach higher and more sophisticated levels of development — conducive to superior levels of performance.
Confidentiality, open and relevant communications make sure the success of the coaching process.Decision-making diagnoses and analytics, including SuccessFinder, a comprehensive talent analytic system.
We suggest that during the first two-hour session we establish your needs and get you started. We urge you to embark on a journey of self-discovery. We are there to inspire you and support you.
Typically coaching occurs every two to four weeks depending on your needs. We find that spreading the coaching over six to twelve months with 90-120 minute sessions work best. We help you explore new horizons and offer you the necessary tools to enable you to integrate the transformation and acquire renewed awareness.
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