Talking about leadership strategies can quickly become a bit ambiguous. It is difficult to say exactly how each strategy will have a direct effect on your bottom line. The important thing to keep in mind is that the role of the leader is to influence, engage, and encourage people to action around a common goal. This means that authoritative, draconian leadership strategies have become understandably less popular in today’s workforce (though I think we all know at least one person who still uses them!)
Unfortunately, many leaders and managers either have not been taught or do not understand how to employ leadership strategies that can improve their ability to influence action and improve performance on their team. Others may just need a little reminder to help reignite your use of these important leadership strategies.
Too often, organizations hold onto an old list of leadership competencies (or just keep endlessly adding to their existing list). Others create talent programs that are too generalized by not factoring in the specific business strategies of their organization.
This disconnected approach to developing organizational and individual leadership won’t equip senior management, up-and-coming talent, or everyday leaders to adapt to change and meet new goals.
A leadership strategy makes explicit how many leaders are needed, what kind, where they’re needed, with what skills, and behaving in what fashion both individually and collectively to achieve the desired outcomes.
It also identifies other issues the organization must consider, such as whether current talent systems (like onboarding or performance management) support the culture and leadership you want to create.
Senior leaders need to be able to identify key strategy drivers and their implications for leadership. For example, “becoming more innovative” may be a key driver for larger strategic goals around market share or industry leadership. Implications for leadership strategy — and development of talent and culture — might include:
- Engaging and energizing senior stakeholders to champion and invest in leadership.
- Determining your key leadership drivers.
- Cascading business drivers into Success Profiles.
RCG will guide sustainability for leadership strategy by:
- Evaluating the impact of your leadership initiatives.
- Delivering insights with leadership analytics.
- Sustaining momentum for your leadership initiatives.