The Importance of Identifying Competencies
Management. Leadership. Two words that are often used interchangeably, which is unfortunate because they do not mean the same thing. Effective management requires excellent leadership skills. Management of the human resources of any enterprise can only be truly successful if those who manage have leadership competencies.
Today's economy has put pressure on businesses not seen since the Great Depression. Organizations are being asked to do more with less as profits remain scarce and the pace of economic recovery proceeds sluggishly at best. With unemployment hovering near 8 percent, there is no shortage of qualified talent. However, the real challenge for any enterprise isn't finding employees, the real challenge lies in finding the right individuals and maximizing their potential once on board. Identifying and then nurturing an individual's competencies are crucial not only to hiring but to employee retention as well.
When we talk about competencies, we're referring to personal traits, knowledge, abilities and skills that enable an individual to carry out an activity, task or job. Those individuals most successful in leadership:
Have the ability to envision the future
Advocate change with clear vision
Possess strong judgment
Are extremely self-motivated
Have excellent planning and organization skills
Are able to influence, (manage, coach, persuade, cajole)
Have technical capability
Remain focused on results
Have excellent interpersonal skills.
In short, managers that lead effectively have the ability to transform their vision into organizational change with complete buy-in from those upon whose efforts the enterprise relies.
Many of those who occupy positions of management have been promoted into their roles without giving much thought to the concept of leadership. The common wisdom is that excellent employees make excellent managers, something that ignores the fact that management requires skills not called upon when simply working at a job. Newly promoted managers often quickly discover, much to their surprise and frustration, that being good at a particular job doesn't automatically prepare them to effectively supervise others and generate departmental or organizational success. What soon results is a form of operational gridlock: A manager unable to lead but too valuable technically to demote or replace. Production suffers (both of the manager and the staff he/she oversees), morale suffers and, ultimately, the bottom line suffers.
We would expect organizations to be aware of this scenario and act to prevent it. However, not many do. The burden to remedy the lack of leadership skills of the manager ultimately falls, then, to the manager. While many of the competencies which we've referenced are "innate", most of those can be developed to various degrees. This starts with educating managerial staff about the concept of leadership competencies. Companies that invest in such training provide individuals the tools by which they can engage in honest self-assessment about their strengths and weaknesses, not for the purpose of self-critique but in order to find those areas in which learning or improvement is necessary.
Simply put, turning managers into leaders requires providing managers the opportunity to identify what leadership means, what skills strong leaders possess and how to go about developing or nurturing those skills in themselves. A manager who is uncomfortable in a leadership role will often quietly proceed, underachieving as a manager and under performing as a worker, simply because he is fearful of admitting the truth: He lacks the skill set necessary to lead. For anyone in this position, the only salvation lies in admitting shortcomings and asking for help. This shouldn't be seen as an admission that they have failed to do the job but, rather, as a realization that they know they can do the job better. Taking that first step is an excellent example of leadership.
Today's economy has put pressure on businesses not seen since the Great Depression. Organizations are being asked to do more with less as profits remain scarce and the pace of economic recovery proceeds sluggishly at best. With unemployment hovering near 8 percent, there is no shortage of qualified talent. However, the real challenge for any enterprise isn't finding employees, the real challenge lies in finding the right individuals and maximizing their potential once on board. Identifying and then nurturing an individual's competencies are crucial not only to hiring but to employee retention as well.
When we talk about competencies, we're referring to personal traits, knowledge, abilities and skills that enable an individual to carry out an activity, task or job. Those individuals most successful in leadership:
Have the ability to envision the future
Advocate change with clear vision
Possess strong judgment
Are extremely self-motivated
Have excellent planning and organization skills
Are able to influence, (manage, coach, persuade, cajole)
Have technical capability
Remain focused on results
Have excellent interpersonal skills.
In short, managers that lead effectively have the ability to transform their vision into organizational change with complete buy-in from those upon whose efforts the enterprise relies.
Many of those who occupy positions of management have been promoted into their roles without giving much thought to the concept of leadership. The common wisdom is that excellent employees make excellent managers, something that ignores the fact that management requires skills not called upon when simply working at a job. Newly promoted managers often quickly discover, much to their surprise and frustration, that being good at a particular job doesn't automatically prepare them to effectively supervise others and generate departmental or organizational success. What soon results is a form of operational gridlock: A manager unable to lead but too valuable technically to demote or replace. Production suffers (both of the manager and the staff he/she oversees), morale suffers and, ultimately, the bottom line suffers.
We would expect organizations to be aware of this scenario and act to prevent it. However, not many do. The burden to remedy the lack of leadership skills of the manager ultimately falls, then, to the manager. While many of the competencies which we've referenced are "innate", most of those can be developed to various degrees. This starts with educating managerial staff about the concept of leadership competencies. Companies that invest in such training provide individuals the tools by which they can engage in honest self-assessment about their strengths and weaknesses, not for the purpose of self-critique but in order to find those areas in which learning or improvement is necessary.
Simply put, turning managers into leaders requires providing managers the opportunity to identify what leadership means, what skills strong leaders possess and how to go about developing or nurturing those skills in themselves. A manager who is uncomfortable in a leadership role will often quietly proceed, underachieving as a manager and under performing as a worker, simply because he is fearful of admitting the truth: He lacks the skill set necessary to lead. For anyone in this position, the only salvation lies in admitting shortcomings and asking for help. This shouldn't be seen as an admission that they have failed to do the job but, rather, as a realization that they know they can do the job better. Taking that first step is an excellent example of leadership.
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