Page 25 - Gi flipbook April 2018

In January 2017, leadership preferring to concentrate efforts on passive believers rather than active
development company Development developing technical skills. practitioners. If as many lived by these
Dimensions International released rules as claim to, employee
research drawn from assessment data WHAT MAKES engagement research results would be
of 15,000 people in more than 300 A GOOD LEADER? very different – even the most
organisations across 20 industries and For engineers, one of the most optimistic study suggests that only
18 countries. Researchers assessed difficult aspects of becoming a leader four out of ten employees feel
participants over five leadership levels is putting technical knowledge to one engaged with their work and working
– frontline, mid-level, operational, side in order to learn new behavioural environment. But employee
strategic executive, and C-suite skills and employ them in an engagement is the responsibility of
executive. They measured leadership environment that may seem alien and leaders, and identifying those to
skills in terms of business uncomfortable. develop into future leaders is essential.
management, leadership of people, There are four essential behavioural Who are the people who
communicating a compelling vision characteristics in a good leader. They understand the link between
and influencing stakeholders. should possess the confidence to engagement and performance? Who
Engineers didn’t fare well. Leaders engage with their people, the curiosity is showing initiative, taking chances
with engineering degrees were near to challenge the status quo and and exploring new ways of doing
the bottom in proficiency for six of innovate, the appetite to test new things? Who is exploring personal
the eight assessed competencies ways of doing things and to encourage development in their own time? The
including communication skills and people to experiment and the humility highest level of the organisation
executive disposition. to learn from those whom they lead. should draw up a list of required
These may appear straightforward behaviours and competencies, actively
TECHNICAL PRIORITIES enough to digest on paper, but they looking for people who are displaying
While technical competence is the require someone to become what we them and acknowledging their
core skill demanded in engineering, it call a coach leader – one who is fully endeavours.
is unlikely to be the only differentiator engaged with the people they’ve been
between high- and low-performing entrusted to lead. TOP-DOWN APPROACH
businesses. Technical competence Successful leaders need to Identifying and acknowledging the
opens the door to opportunity, but introduce this coaching dimension to desired qualities within the
the skills required to lead a team, their role. It’s not a discretionary ‘nice organisation is compelling, and it’s
develop customer relationships and to have when time permits’ option, essential that this attitude and ethos
drive growth are very different. but an integral element that defines is embedded at the very top of the
How an organisation survives and leadership credentials. Confirming organisation. The CEO needs to
thrives hinges on the quality of its coaching skills as a key leadership examine his/her own abilities to
people, and how they perform competence and prioritising them as a ensure that they are able to
depends upon the quality of their development need is a significant step demonstrate that their own
leaders. The challenge for business, towards greater engagement. leadership style is about engaging
irrespective of sector, scale or size, is While most organisations can point with and developing people. The
not whether you have sufficiently to the existence of one-to-one spotlight should be turned on every
skilled employees, but whether your reviews, personal development plans member of the senior leadership
leaders are sufficiently skilled in and monthly briefing as part of an team to ensure they share these
engaging with and developing their effective internal communication qualities, which can then be filtered
people to be the best. programme, they don’t always down through the ranks.
When a talented engineer makes demonstrate effective leadership – There is no doubt that leaders from
the transition to leader, they assume support and engagement is essential. an engineering or technical
responsibility not just for quality of A manager may tick the required background can become coach leaders
the product, but for the quality of the boxes by conducting regular reviews, – for some, it may come quite
team’s experience. The focus shifts but a coach leader will consider where naturally, others may find it an uphill
from the detail of what’s being the other person is coming from, what struggle. There will be those for
produced to the quality of the service drives them and what opportunities whom it proves too big a shift from
delivery. For someone who’s been can be created for them. their preferred operating style. But for
educated and trained to focus on the Unlike a manager, who is there to those who are responsible for people
mechanics of how things work, it can ensure things are done correctly, a and their performance, the well-being
be very difficult to step back and true coach leader will recognise the and personal development of each
consider wider activities that could importance of developing the member of the team should be a
impact the morale and performance of potential of their people, offer priority – and when it is, business
the team. Acknowledging that challenges and support to enable growth will soon follow..■
personal leadership qualities have the individuals to operate more
biggest impact on the quality of team autonomously and encourage their ■ David Cartwright is founder of
performance can be even harder. team to push the boundaries and leadership and business education
However, those who rise to the top achieve more. company OBD Academy, which
can learn to be good leaders. Some Most leaders would, I think, confirm offers supported online learning.
will find it easier than others, and that they live by these three people For more information visit
some will have no interest in leading, principles. In reality, however, many are www.obd-academy.com

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