Leadership Development and Effectiveness Using the Power of Introspection and Assessments
- philralphs
- Dec 19, 2024
- 5 min read
Most leaders struggle to meet their potential because they don't have a clear vision of an effective leader. The pursuit of skills and knowledge is accelerated by a clear vision and understanding of what good looks like. A defined model/roadmap of effective leadership can expedite the development of leaders and their employees. When expectations are clearly defined, employees can take ownership of their own development. The objective is to facilitate self-learning and intrinsic motivation.
Increasing leadership effectiveness has a high return on investment. Defining and aligning on what good looks like for effectiveness is critical for success. BPI Experts has developed a leadership development model that defines effective leadership and provides a deployment process to optimize the results. Our goal is to engage leaders in their development. We want leaders to be actively involved in learning, developing, and improving, demonstrating a high level of awareness and energy towards increasing leadership effectiveness. There are twelve elements in our leadership development model:
Alignment
Resource utilization
Planning & execution
Safety
Continuous improvement
Employee development
Leader employee interaction
Visual communication
Equipment/tools
Process management
Feedback/results
Organization & Cleanliness
There are four levels of maturity for each of the elements. If you were to assess the current effectiveness of your organization’s leaders, you would likely find substantial gaps and inconsistencies in leader maturity/capability/performance. In most organizations, leadership development is a big gap. There are several great quotes related to development of effective leaders.
"Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work."
-Vince Lombardi
Legendary football coach
There are some who are born with a personality that may be well suited for a leader. However, to be an effective leader there are substantial skills and knowledge that need to be acquired. All of us tend to settle into comfort zones during our career. We often become content and confident with our skills and abilities for long periods of time. When we are in the comfort zone growth is minimal.
"There is no growth in your comfort zone and no comfort in your growth zone."
-Steve Clark
Musician
An intentional or focused approach is extremely valuable to sustain growth and meet our potential during our career. It is also beneficial for organizations to create a culture that promotes and supports leadership development.
"To reach your potential you must grow. And to grow, you must be highly intentional about it."
-John C. Maxwell
Author, Speaker, Pastor
Our model provides the needed definition to build the organizational system and develop a culture of leadership effectiveness. A sample of our leadership development model is shown below.
The leadership development model provides a shared reference that can be used to establish expectations. The model provides a foundation for thorough introspection. Without introspection, we are not as conscious of needed improvements. Introspection can be transformative for leadership effectiveness and engagement. It increases self-awareness of development needs, promoting humility, reducing defensiveness, and nurturing intrinsic motivation for personal growth and change. Introspection is the best way to tap into intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is a powerful driver for initiating, committing to, and sustaining positive changes.
The leadership development model provides a standard reference that can be used to establish expectations. These expectations are an external motivation that drives personal growth and improvement. When expectations are clear there is a well-defined target for employees/leaders to achieve. For the majority of employees/leaders there are not clear expectations to achieve; this absence leads to delayed growth and development. Employees at all levels often lack a clear vision of what great leadership looks like, either because it has not been modeled or it has not been defined for them. To fill this void we have created a leadership development maturity model and an employee engagement maturity model. These models clearly define the desired knowledge/skills/characteristics and provide a standard reference. Using the leadership development model we can assess current state maturity, then establish targets to improve leadership effectiveness.
The Leadership development model also provides an opportunity for thorough introspection. The framework of introspection in our model is intended to facilitate objective self-evaluation. Revisiting this process every 6 months allows an individual to see their progress as compared to the standard established by the leadership development model. Having an unbiased assessment of one's current maturity can be transformative for leadership effectiveness and engagement. Introspection increases commitment to needed efforts because it increases self-awareness of development needs, promotes humility, reduces defensiveness, and nurtures intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is a powerful driver for initiating, committing to, and sustaining positive changes. Introspection is the "Check" that initiates the continuous improvement cycle Check, Act, Plan, Do.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to reach our potential as a leader without a clear vision of the skills, knowledge, attributes, and discipline needed to be a high-performance leader. That vision combined with feedback, clear expectations, coaching, and a detailed plan is essential to becoming an effective leader. Our leadership development process provides a systematic five-step approach that facilitates leadership development.
Assess
Leader self-assessment
Facilitator assessment
Annual re-assessment
Review gaps/opportunities
Prioritize
Select actions
Improvement plan
A roadmap and detailed plan with tasks and dates
Review progress with manager at least monthly
Progress review
Monthly progress reviews with leaders you are responsible for
Coaching/mentoring
Executive leadership development review
Quarterly review of compliance and progress
Recognition
Our leadership development system establishes a cyclic routine of introspection and demonstrated improvement in leadership effectiveness. Productive introspection is achieved through prioritizing gaps/opportunities, selecting actions, planning, and implementation. A formal routine for follow-up and coaching at a 2-4 week interval with a facilitator or manager creates implementation accountability. Quarterly senior leadership review of all leadership development progress is important to maintain focus and engagement. Leadership development model assessments provide an objective baseline to monitor growth/improvement. A structured assessment process provides consistent and continuous introspection focused on leadership effectiveness and increases individual ownership of improvements that are needed to raise the bar. With this system leadership development will become part of the culture.
To maximize organizational impact, integrate the leadership development expectations into performance reviews and advancement/promotion eligibility. Your organization can use the model to clearly define leadership expectations for each level of leadership. This will result in more consistency between leaders over time. Integrating the leadership development elements into your other organizational systems will increase the effectiveness and sustainability.
We define the level of leadership maturity that is critical to facilitate employee engagement. Ineffective leaders can destroy employee engagement. When leaders are balanced and effective on key leadership elements, a culture that enables employee engagement will be created. BPI Experts has an employee engagement model with four levels of maturity that aligns with the leadership development model. Employee engagement is a topic for a future posting.
Our leadership development system components can be purchased separately or as a package. Individual or business licenses are available. Please let us know how we can assist you in improving your organization's leadership development and effectiveness.
Leadership Development System
Leadership development model (PDF)
Leadership development model (Excel, editable)
Workbook (Excel)
Instructions
Leadership development matrix - with organizational expectations
Introspection
Self-assessment
Manager assessment
Facilitator assessment
Peer assessment
Direct report assessment
Prioritized opportunities
Roadmap
Gantt schedule
Bi-weekly progress/coaching
Quarterly progress review
Leadership engagement tracking (Excel)
Leadership development KPI (Excel)
Leadership development model poster (JPG)
Leadership development system process poster (JPG)
Leadership development OneNote Notebook (OneNote Notebook)
Facilitator development
Organization recognition plan
Workshop
Contract leadership development services
Provide leadership development assessments, mentoring, coaching, reviews, and progress reports
Please share this posting. I look forward to your questions and comments. You can contact me at philralphs@bpiexperts.com or call (801) 928-1689.
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