Leadership: key issues and best practices

Citation

(1999), "Leadership: key issues and best practices", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 23 No. 9. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.1999.00323iab.001

Leadership: key issues and best practices

Leadership: key issues and best practicesKeywords: Leadership, Management development

Leadership is recognized as one of the essential components of successful organization. The European Foundation for Management Development (EFMD) has set up a learning group to identify key issues and best practices in leadership. In the course of the last 12 months, a group of 20 leading companies from all over Europe has met on a regular basis; participating companies include British Gas, Grupo Telefónica, Crédit Suisse, Standard Life, Solvay S.A., PriceWaterhouseCoopers and many more. First results are now available.

What does it take to develop tomorrow’s leaders?

In order to develop tomorrow’s leaders, three sets of actions are needed:

1. 1.

   Leadership has to be embedded into the corporate culture so that it can occur as part of everyday activities.

2. 2.

   Individuals with leadership potential should be equipped with appropriate just-in-time tools – such as practical tips, customized training, self-diagnostics and networking.

3. 3.

   These individuals seek experiences that expand their horizons beyond the current job.

Are leaders born or bred?

According to the EFMD study group, leadership is not a divine gift for the blessed few. It is an art that can be learnt by many. So leaders are born first and then bred.

Five myths about leadership were identified:

1. 1.

   Leadership is a rare skill. In fact, the skill is possessed by a majority but used by a minority.

2. 2.

   Leaders are born, not made. Major capacitities of leadership can be taught to everyone and denied to no one.

3. 3.

   Leaders are charismatic. Some are, most are not. Charisma is the result of effective leadership, not the other way round.

4. 4.

   Leadership exists only at the top of an organization. The larger the organization, the more leadership it is likely to have at all levels.

5. 5.

   The leader controls, directs and manipulates. In today’s business, leadership is about aligning the organization’s energies behind the agreed goals. The more powerful a leader, the more powerless he or she is.

What kind of development did today’s leaders have?

In their formative years, one or more of three kinds of experience turned out to be crucial in the case of leaders participating in the study:

1. 1.

   Personal crisis – emotional and physical in nature – which forced the individuals to take responsibilities for themselves and sometimes for others as well.

2. 2.

   Early role models – who invariably turned out to be parents and historical figures who provided major encouragement and inspiration.

3. 3.

   Early success – a good track record promised new opportunities which, in turn, improved the scorecard.

Furthermore, certain workplace experiences are regarded as crucial:

• •

  lateral moves;

• •

  stretch assignments;

• •

  management development;

• •

  mentoring.

What are the implications of these experiences for selection and succession criteria?

First, the age-old reliance on academic success is not enough. The selection criteria should look at all aspects of an individual’s early life. Second, the role of personal crisis or early failures cannot be over-estimated in improving an individual’s capability to cope with unusual situations. Third, there is a fundamental need to re-examine the routes that lead people to the top of their organizations. Fourth, for successful leaders, a variety of experiences throughout their professional lives is key to developing the requisite leadership skills.

In reality, however, an overwhelming majority of companies recruit their top executives through the specialist route. For a majority of today’s leaders, their progression has been a matter of excelling in their craft rather than venturing outside it. At best, they are trained to manage processes, not people.

The EFMD learning group identified two options to solve that problem. The first of these entails retaining the existing specialist route but ensuring that those who are selected for the specialist stream do have good people skills or are capable of developing them. The second option entails the creation of a cadre of “fast track” people who have been identified as having leadership potential at the point of entry. For fast track people, career progression is, first and foremost, a matter of lateral moves in different departments or business units, including spells as specialists.

Clearly, the fast track model is still seen as state-of-the-art. In practice, however, it has not fared brilliantly. To compound the problem, the EDMD learning group has come to the conclusion that a hybrid approach is needed that combines both kinds of leadership.

Does management development fail to produce leaders?

Management development does not fail to produce leaders if it also involves mentored learning and experimental learning. In corporate Europe, however, development remains dominated by traditional learning methods that can be labelled “ taught learning ”, such as in-house programmes, business school courses, etc.

For further information, please contact Carolyn Dare (Dare@efmd.be) or Francois de Boissezon (Deboissezon @efmd.be). Both can also be reached at +32 2 6480385.