Early identification of leaders of the future

Andrew MartyManaging Director

SACS Consulting

• Is it possible to identify future leaders early in their careers?

• Which techniques are predictive?• How do we ensure that those with potential are

optimally developed?• How do we ensure that we don’t lose the “outliers” –

people who look wrong but are right?

Objectives

• For the purposes of this presentation we mean:

– Attains a management position– Has management skills – resources, money,

time, planning, etc.– Has leadership skills – is good with people

and is someone people want to follow

What do we mean by “leader”?

• Candidate A – vegetarian, artist, committed student, clean living

• Candidate B – drinks a bottle of gin before midday, famously irascible and difficult

• Candidate A – Adolf Hitler• Candidate B – Winston Churchill

But first, pick your prime minister....

• Question - What skills and abilities will leaders need in, say, 20 years time?

• Answer – No idea!• But, there are some characteristics which leaders have

had through the ages, and these have not changed, and are not likely to change

• There are also some characteristics which are becoming increasingly important, trends which are likely to continue

What will the future be like?

Developing the leaders of the future.

Fundamental InherentCharacteristics

Intelligence, Personality, Integrity

Acquired Characteristics –Emotional IntelligenceAttitudes, values, etc

Enablers

Derailers

TalentIdentification

Development of Foundation abilities and attributes

L&D support

Cradle Early development – career, school Lifelong Learning

Inherent Characteristics

Intelligence

• Higher intelligence than their peers

– Verbal intelligence– Numerical intelligence– Abstract intelligence

• Different types of intelligence for different tasks• Consistently shown to be predictive of leadership• Intelligence can determine the potential of a leader.

Can reach an ability “ceiling”.

Leaders are smart

Personality

• Neuroticism – otherwise known as emotionality – should be as low as possible. Leaders are more emotionally stable than their colleagues

• Extraversion – slightly more extraverts are leaders, but this is not crucial

• Openness – not a crucial determinant of leadership potential

• Agreeableness – very important – a tendency to get on with and fit in with people

• Conscientiousness – crucial – energy, commitment and passion.

Five factor model of personality

• Leadership is not for everyone. It is hard, challenging, and sometimes frightening. Sustainably successful Leaders have an enduring, personality based passion for leading

• Coupled with this, enduring leaders are more energised than the average person

Leaders want to lead

• Look for early evidence that the person has sought leadership roles

– Evidence from CV – school, hobbies, community, early examples from work

– Behavioural interview questions – “Please give some examples of where you have looked for opportunities to take on leadership roles”. Look for evidence of a consistent drive to do so, and success in having done so.

How to spot

• Use a reliable and valid measure of conscientiousness and commitment. Big 5 model of personality – eg the NEO.

How to spot continued

• A prerequisite for sustainable leadership success• Appears to be a combination of:

– A personality characteristic – “honesty/humility”

– Acquired values – what we have been told is right and wrong – often acquired very early

• Integrity testing – use a peer reviewed instrument like the Reid Report

• Teaching values – more on this soon

Integrity

• Fundamental, often early acquired skills, knowledge factors, attitudes and values

Acquired characteristics - enablers

Values

Personal Humility• Modest – doesn’t need

personal glory• Calm – acts on values. Not

flashy or vain• Is ambitious about the

organisation – develops successors

• Owns up to mistakes

Professional will• A clear results orientation• Commits to action – can do

the tough stuff• Long term focus• Won’t settle for less than

excellence• Gives credit – builds up

colleagues

Collins (2005))

As you go up the organisation...

• Energy• Influence• Risk-taking• Thought focus• Vision

• Micromanagement• Passive-aggressive behaviour

These need to increase….. These need to decrease…..

Lewis (2005))

Metaskills

• A capacity to manage and improve performance– Good leaders try hard to learn and are able to do so

(Peterson & Hicks, 1995)– Good leaders try to be better leaders. They set goals,

ask for feedback, develop models of what works and practice, practice, practice (Colvin, 2006)

– Good leaders are disciplined self-managers (Gailliot et al, 2007)

– Thinking skills – able to make decisions under uncertainty and ambiguity (Gardner, 2007)

Petersen & Erdahl (2007) 7)

High Performance Modelling - profiling your current leaders

IDENTIFICATIONOF HIGH

PERFORMERS- “EXEMPLARS”

AND THEIR Key Result

Areas

HIGH PERFORMANCE MODEL

Use the psychological tests and their scale scores which pick out

the high performers.

List the competencies which all your high performers have in common. Write behavioural

interview questions and a simple scoring system for each.

Behavioural Interviews What skills, knowledge, values and attitudes do they have in common?

Psychological testingWhat psychological characteristics do

they have in common?

Knowing the characteristics of your best currentLeaders acts as a guide to your future leaders

• People who are excellent leaders in terms of:

– People who achieve excellent results through others

– People who exemplify the values and behaviours you seek for your organisation

• This stage is crucial – it is these we will be modelling.

Choose your “examplars”

• Intelligence• Personality• Ignore any results you do not find in 80% or more of the

exemplars• Allows you to build a psychological profile of your high

performers which will guide future recruitment

Psychological profiling

• Ask them what skills are necessary for them to achieve their leadership objectives

• What kind of experiences or knowledge factors have helped them?

• What are the values and attitudes which have helped them to achieve?

• Once more, ignore anything which does not have 80% buy-in from exemplars

• We use these competencies to drive behavioural interview questions which will be used to spot leaders of the future

Competency analysis of the exemplars

• Psych profiling:– Eg. “above average on verbal reasoning and abstract

reasoning”– Within certain bands on a personality measure such as the

NEO

• Answers behavioural interview questions in such a way that demonstrates certain skills, experience factors, and values– eg ethics, integrity, capacity to make decisions under pressure, etc. Whatever has emerged.

A “recruitment kit”

The High Performance Model can drive the HR cycle

Succession management

Capabilities

Skills, knowledge, experience and

styles/values of the successor

Capabilities

Capabilities required for the more senior

level position

Address the gap through performance

development, coaching, training,

etc.

GAP

Be prepared to teach values.

Other enablers:

• The leadership task:– Managing self– Managing others– Managing managers– Managing functions– Managing business units– Managing Groups– Managing enterprises

Charan, Drotter and Noel (2001))

Teaching how to lead at all levelsas well as ensuring technical subjectmatter expertise

• Arrogance – you’re right and they’re wrong• Melodrama – you must be the center of attention• Volatility – your moods are unpredictable• Excessive caution – the next decision you make may

be your first• Habitual distrust – focussing on the negatives• Aloofness – disengaging and disconnecting• Mischievousness – the rules are just suggestions

Derailers…

• Eccentricity – it’s fun to be different just for the sake of it

• Passive resistance – your silence is misinterpreted as agreement

• Perfectionism – you get the little things right while the big things go wrong

• Eagerness to please – you want to win any popularity contest

Derailers continued…

Dotlich & Cairo (2003)

Developing the leaders of the future.

Fundamental InherentCharacteristics

Intelligence, Personality, Integrity

Acquired Characteristics –Emotional IntelligenceAttitudes, values, etc

Enablers

Derailers

TalentIdentification

Development of Foundation abilities and attributes

L&D support

Cradle Early development – career, school Lifelong Learning

• Decide the kind of leaders you want – High Performance Modelling can help

• Recruit people who have the fundamental potential to be leaders

• Provide an environment which provides the key enablers

• Provide an environment which identifies and helps address the key derailers

Key messages

• Charan, R., Drotter, S., & Noel, J. (2000). The Leadership Pipeline. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

• Collins, J. (2005). Level 5 leadership: The triumph of humility and fierce resolve. Harvard Business Review, 83 (7), 136-146.

• Colvin, G. (2006). What it takes to be great. Fortune, October 19 2006. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391794/index.htm?postversion=2006101915

• Dotlich, D., & Cairo, P. (2003). Why CEO’s Fail. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.• Galliot, M., Baumeister, R., DeWall, C., Maner, J., Plant, E., Tice, D., Brewer, L., &

Schmeichel, B. (2007). Self-control relies on glucose as a limited energy source: Willpower is more than a metaphor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9(2), 325-336.

• Lewis, R. (2005). Personality across manager levels. Unpublished research report, Personnel Decisions International.

• Peterson, D., & Erdahl, P. (2007). Early identification and development of senior leadership talent: The secret insiders guide. Presentation at SIOP Conference, 26 April 2007.

References

For further information please contact Andrew Marty, Managing Director of SACS Consulting on +613 8622 8508 or andrewm@sacsconsult.com.au