LEADERSHIP

COMPETENCIES
A REFERENCE
POINT FOR
DEVELOPMENT
& EVALUATION
Margie Jantti, University of Wollongong Australia and Nick Greenhalgh, Career

For many years best practice

principles have driven
leadership development
ABEF
Promoting a
leadership system
that generates
desired
competencies
Attracting, recruiting
and deploying
people
Evaluating and
developing
individuals

Investors In People
Learning and
development is
planned to achieve
the organisations
objectives

capabilities...needed
to lead, manage &
develop people are
clearly defined and
understood

Translated into:
Career development discussions
Lots of development opportunities
Leadership training support
Professional cadet program
Personal and professional
attributes aligned with our values
and Ideal Culture

But
Over the last 4-5 years it
was difficult to fill
leadership positions

The leadership
imperative
Ageing workforce
Leadership drain

STEP 1

Leadership Success
Profiles
Who:
Library Executive
Team leaders and managers

Drawn from a pool of 67

competencies from the Lominger
Leadership Architect
FYI For your Improvement: A guide for development and coaching.
Michael M. Lombardo & Robert Eichinger, 2009.

Success Profiles competencies

Library executive

Team leaders & managers

Perspective
Managing Vision &
Mission
Political Savvy
Strategic Agility
Business Acumen
Self Knowledge
Developing Others
Comfort Around Top
Management
Negotiating

Building Effective Teams

Performance
Management*
*(confronting direct reports)
Organising
Drive for Results
Intellectual Horsepower
Organisational Agility
Innovation management
Managing Vision &
Mission

Confronting direct
reports
Defined:

(level of difficulty high)

Most organisations are running leaner today. With rapid

change and team-based efforts increasing, problem
performers cant be hidden as they may have been in the
past. Overcoming your reluctance to deal with them is key
to your units performance and your career as well.
Managers who excel at confronting direct reports are timely,
consistent, focus on performance gaps and help the person
succeed. But if the efforts fails, taking timely but
compassionate action to separate the person from the
organisation is the true test of management courage.
From: FYI For your Improvement: A guide for development and coaching. Michael M. Lombardo &
Robert Eichinger, 2009.

Confronting direct
reports
Unskilled:
Not comfortable in giving negative messages
Lets problems fester hoping they will go away
May give people too many chances

Skilled:
Deals with problem direct reports firmly
and in a timely manner
Doesnt allow problems to fester
Reviews performance and holds timely
discussions

STEP 2

Career interviews
Discussed career aims, level of
ambition, barriers to achievement.

The results were revealing:

Considerable appetite and
potential for leadership

But

Barriers to achievement
included:
Large gap between team leader and
executive team simply didnt know how to
bridge the competency gap
Fear of failure
Carrot wasnt seen to be big enough, e.g.
flexible work conditions, remuneration

STEP 3

Evaluation - I
Self and peer assessment against the
competencies
Scale:
5 towering strength
1 serious issue
DK dont know
Gap: more than 1.1 considered significant

Feedback to participants

Sample assessment scores

Scale:
5 towering strength
1 serious issue
DK dont know
Gap: more than 1.1 considered significant

STEP 4

Coaching conversations
for action

One on one

Agreement on development goals

Clarity and focus
Authentic; dealing with real issues

Plus
Coaching workshops for the
leadership cohort

Competencies
integration

HR policies and guides, position descriptions

Annual performance planners
Job enrichment portfolios
Induction and probation

More authentic discussions about

leadership development and evidence
of success

Evaluation II
3600 feedback
Against all 67 Lominger
competencies
Detailed report
One on one debrief with consultant
Commitment to sharing results
with peers and manager

Evaluation III - what did

we achieve?

Significantly improved confidence

Authentic focus on performance gaps
and steps in place to close them
Considered, constructive career
plans
Greater preparedness to address
performance issues
Turnaround in underperformers

What else have we

achieved?

Professional cadets secured team

leader and manager roles
Improved alignment of skills and
talent playing to strengths
We know what we are looking for
improved clarity

Voice Project* Survey

Results

* http://www.voiceproject.com.au/Our-Tools/climate.aspx

External validation

Development of competencies for roles at all levels in the Library

has provided a more robust platform from which to clarify:
Description of role and performance expectations
Career progression opportunities and how to work towards these
Accountability to deliver as an individual within the team
From: IIP feedback report, 2010

Practicalities
Significant investment but better
ROI than a leadership workshop
Scheduling time
Disaffection by those not initially
targeted for coaching
Sustaining over time
Still potential for disappointment despite efforts
undertaken

Sustaining efforts
The 70/20/10 rule

70%

planned and systematic OTJ

experiences

20%

development from feedback,

reflection,
coaching etc

10%

training courses, research,

reading projects
Strategic
Internal coaching network
Leadership development framework

To conclude:
From:
Fear of failure
It takes a long
time
Emotions, biases
Its just not worth
it

To:
I can do this
It can be
accelerated
Lets deal with the
facts
I am being
invested in

LEADERSHIP

COMPETENCIES
QUESTIONS OR

COMMENTS?

Margie Jantti, University of Wollongong Australia and Nick Greenhalgh, Career