Surely everyone wants to improve his or her organization, right? That's the first sentence of this week's article, “Do I Really Want to Improve My Organization?”
I think people really do love it when improvement occurs. But making a commitment to actively seek intentional improvement, and to do it routinely--that seems to be asking a lot.
Many leaders seem to equate "leadership skills" with the functional and technical skills necessary for providing basic service to their customers--knowing their products and being able to deliver the services they advertise. Sure, if you're selling refrigerators, you better know and understand the specifics of each make and model. If you are an investment counselor, you better be able to answer questions about the volatility of today's stock market.
"Leadership skills" extend beyond those basic "business specific" skills. What systems do you have in place to build skills such as listening, dealing with ambiguity, caring about direct reports, conflict management, proper delegation, patience, priority setting, strategic agility, and dozens of other leadership attributes? Do you expect the capabilities of your future leaders to grow just by them handling the day-to-day responsibilities of their current job role? Sorry, that expectation is not realistic.
If you've never thought about this, you (and maybe your organization) are in the "precontemplation" stage. How do you move beyond that point? Think about it. That's the first step, and I'll describe "contemplation" in more detail in my article next week!
Dennis
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