Are you building the right foundations for your leadership?

It’s generally a given that having great leaders will mean your organisation attracts and retains the best talent, has more motivated people that contribute more, and therefore gets better results.

We regularly speak to Chief HR Officers and senior leaders in all sorts of businesses, and a common theme is the lack of understanding or commitment to some of the foundational aspects of leadership. By foundational, we’re talking real basics, like hiring, onboarding, communication, performance management, and exits. It’s often a real challenge for CHROs to persuade senior leaders in their businesses that investing in foundational leadership skills and holding managers to account for delivery of the core parts of their roles are good ideas.

We’ve all been on the end of good and bad leadership.

When I think about the best line managers I’ve had through my career, I think of the ones that took the time to get to know me properly through the hiring process, testing my skills and potential, and understanding my motivations for the role. They were there to greet me on my first day, and made sure that I had a proper induction, introductions to key people in the business, and the information and equipment necessary to do my job. They met with me regularly, discussed my performance, gave me constructive feedback, and invested their time and resources in my development. They were interested in me as a person and supported me with my wellbeing and commitments outside of work. And finally, when I came to leave them, they were pleased they had played a part in me developing my career, wished me well for the future, and stayed in touch after I left.

This is not difficult, yet in so many organisations these basic responsibilities are not prioritised or seen as important and leadership remains a side of desk activity. This causes poor engagement, attrition of talent, and damage to organisational culture and performance.

So, what can we do about it? We believe that for organisations to improve, they must intentionally appoint people that want to lead and give them the time and foundational skills to do it. We recommend organisations: 

·       intentionally assess prospective leaders before appointing them to a leadership role, focusing on their aptitude and importantly their motivation to lead people;

·       design leadership roles so that leaders have the time and space to succeed – the ‘player-manager’ role is possible, but the balance has to be right;

·       value leadership and develop the skills (particularly the foundational ones) of your leaders so that they are equipped to be the best they can be;

·       give regular feedback to leaders on how they are leading, focussing on what they’re doing well, and where they can be even better;

·       incentivising great leadership through reward and recognition structures; and

·       celebrating great leadership across the organisation so everyone knows it’s important.

Getting the foundations right is the first step to having great leaders – and we think by being intentional about implementing the foundations of leadership, organisations can get better quickly.

Until the next blog, perhaps you can reflect on whether the leaders in your business want to lead, or is it a ‘side of desk’ task that just comes with becoming more senior? If it’s the latter, it might be time to review your approach.

Check out our Intentional Leader Programme for more information or contact info@hex-development.com to discuss your organisation’s needs.