“Sustainable Success” is a key term, and a cornerstone in every organisation’s vision, value and/or business longevity plan, as organisations scour the market for the right talents that will lead the initiatives to cement the organisation’s vision in the short, medium and long-term basis. It is quite uncommon to pause and contemplate the talent’s qualifications and competencies that the organisation currently has or seeks to hire, versus what the organisation needs to ensure its “Sustainable Success”? That is when the leadership skills come in. 

According to various studies conducted on the Middle East and Africa’s market from 2016 to 2019, only 25% of the organisations believe that they have the talents to lead the business to sustainable success, while the rest believe that conducting in-house training sessions covering the leadership competencies will boost their chances to reach the aforementioned business indicator.  

However, there are a few questions that tend to go unaddressed, like; do we have the talent with the potential to lead our business in the foreseen future? Are we getting the best out of the current crop of talent? Do we have to reconsider our recruitment process? Or our development plans? What more can we do to decrease the turnover and improve our retention rate? 

On the surface, the standard answer to these questions usually revolves around the development of the current training plans to be more tailored towards the leadership skills, but, it goes a little deeper than that, as the standard leadership competencies courses address the skill gap only and tend to overlook the main concern… Is all of our talent on the same level of the different skills of leadership? That is when it gets a bit tricky. 

According to the various-in depth studies conducted by Gallup on how do we approach the development of the strengths and weaknesses of our team, the obvious answer came by refining the skills into categories that were established based on the breakdown of the core values of the organisation, and hence, the leadership competencies framework idea came to life. 

The leadership competencies framework is defined by two axes, one breaking down the core values, and technical and behavioural competencies that the organisation need to have a sustainable success into three categories; self-management, team enablement and business drive, while the second axe presents employees per position, level of responsibility and/or their entry level. 

Having a framework of that sort in place is a necessity for the recruitment process, as it gives you a benchmark on which the recruiter can assess the candidates on the specification of the role and the possibility of growth within the organisation. It also will massively factor in defining the training needs for each talent based on observable behaviour or the execution of the technical competencies, presenting a track of evidence that will shape the training needs accordingly. 

Furthermore, it also serves as part of the criteria for the performance appraisals – alongside the business goals and/or the key performance indicators (KPIs) – to determine the current versus the desired level of performance across all job functions, in which both parties – the talent and the company – can relate to one defined criteria that enable both to discuss the areas of the development plan and the actions to be taken moving forward.
 

As an employee, having clarity on where one stands and structure for where to go next will foster fundamentals of loyalty to the workplace, while the organization will reap the benefits of the suitability of its talent development and its attentiveness in the market. 

Leadership and Sustainable Success… How Often Do We Get It Right?

“Sustainable Success” is a key term and a cornerstone in every organisation’s vision, value, and/or business longevity plan, as businesses scour the market for the right talents to lead initiatives to cement its vision in the short, medium, and long term. It is unusual to pause and consider the qualifications and competencies of the talent that the firm currently has or seeks to hire, versus what it requires to ensure its “Sustainable Success.”?  That is when the leadership skills come in. 

According to various market studies conducted in the Middle East and Africa from 2016 to 2019, only 25% of companies believe they have the talents to lead the business to long-term success, while the rest believe that conducting in-house training sessions covering leadership competencies will increase their chances of meeting the previously stated business indicator.

However, there are a few unanswered questions, such as: do we have the talent with the potential to lead our business in the future? Are we making the most of our current crop of talent? Do we need to rethink our hiring process? Or what about our future plans? What else can we do to reduce turnover and increase retention? 

The standard answer to these questions usually revolves around the development of current training plans to be more tailored towards leadership skills, but it goes a little deeper than that, as standard leadership competencies courses only address the skill gap and tend to overlook the main concern… Is all of our talent on the same level in terms of the various leadership skills?

That is when it gets a bit tricky. 

According to Gallup’s various in-depth studies on how we approach the development of our team’s strengths and weaknesses, the obvious answer came by refining the skills into categories that were established based on the breakdown of the organisation’s core values, and thus the leadership competencies framework idea came to life.

The leadership competencies framework is defined by two axes, one of which divides the core values and technical and behavioural competencies required by businesses for long-term success into three categories:

• Self-management, 
• Team enablement and business drive, while the second axe presents employees per position,
• Level of responsibility and/or their entry level. 

Having such a framework in place is essential for the recruitment process because it provides organisations with a benchmark against which the recruiter can evaluate candidates based on the role specification and the possibility of advancement within the organisation. It will also play a significant role in defining the training needs for each talent based on observable behaviour or the execution of technical competencies, presenting evidence that will shape the training needs accordingly.

Furthermore, it serves as part of the performance appraisal criteria – along with business goals and/or key performance indicators (KPIs) – to determine the current versus desired level of performance across all job functions, in which both parties (the talent and the organisation) can relate to one defined criteria that allows both to discuss the areas of the development plan and the actions to be taken moving forward.

As an employee, having clarity on where one stands and structure for where to go next will foster fundamentals of workplace loyalty, while the organisation will reap the benefits of its talent development suitability and market attentiveness.