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Once the leadership strategy is formulated, a leadership development strategy can be drafted.
It clarifies how the leadership strategy will be accomplished, explores the implications for talent
management systems and processes, and outlines an approach to leadership development.
The reason why identifying key drivers is critical than ever to demonstrate a clear line of
important in constructing the leadership sight between investments in leadership and de-
strategy is because difficult choices will sired organizational outcomes, such as growth,
ultimately need to be made about where to profitability, talent retention and other metrics
invest money in leaders and their develop- that are of key importance to top-level decision
ment. Particularly as budgets for leadership makers who control leadership development
headcount and development tighten, it is more spending.
Note that key drivers are not in themselves petitively priced raw materials to turn into
detailed strategies; instead, they are the electric power. Customer satisfaction and
key decisions leaders are making about low-priced raw materials are not complete
what the organization must do. For exam- business strategies; instead, they drive the
ple, in some markets, like the restaurant formulation of detailed business strategies.
industry, making certain that customers The restaurant owner must develop strate-
are satisfied may be chosen as a key driver gies for producing high levels of customer
of success. In other industries, like utilities, satisfaction, and the utility company must
customer satisfaction may not be a key develop strategies for securing low-cost
driver. A key driver in the utility industry raw materials.
might be finding long-term sources of com-
A sampling of the methods that may be used to collect the current-state information
needed in each category is listed in the table on page 10.
• Workforce planning
Quantity • HRIS data
• Scenario building
• Assessment centers
Qualities • Leadership style assessment/personality profiles
• Talent management forms/review sessions
• HRIS data
• Career profiles
• Ability testing
Skill/Behaviors • HRIS data
• Surveys/interviews
• Competency identification and assessment
• Focus groups
• Observation
Collective Capabilities • Interviews
• Document analysis
The data from these analyses are used to identify gaps between the current and future
states of leadership in the organization, which provides focus for the priorities to be ad-
dressed in the leadership strategy. A simplified example of the gap analysis that should
be performed is shown below.
Competency 1 2 3 4 5
Operational Efficiency Need for dramatic
Skills/Behaviors of Cost Reduction change; some
Leaders: Key Risk Avoidance may not make the
Competencies Innovation
Adaptation to Change shift; need to be
Required by Strategy
Talent Development prepared for this.
Future Current
Developing the strategy is usually an iterative pro- The creation of the strategy is a mix of logic and
cess involving a team assembled for that purpose art, involving both left brain and right brain work.
that reports regularly to an executive team or to While determining the number of leaders required
a steering committee providing oversight. Just as is often a straightforward extrapolation of growth
with talent reviews, the process of creating a lead- targets using workforce planning methods, defin-
ership strategy produces useful conversations that ing the desired leadership culture is a much more
may have never taken place before. Those con- non-linear process.
versations themselves may act as interventions
that begin shifting beliefs and values concerning
executive talent issues in the organization.
Incorporate behavioral
assessments of desired Need robust measures
qualities into promotion based on observable
Increase abilities to criteria behaviors
innovate, adapt to change, Must move people out
develop talent, take Create focused and effec-
tive development experi- of key positions who are
Skills/Behaviors reasonable risks, while not unable to make the shift
sacrificing operational effi- ences to enhance desired
competencies within 1–2 years
ciency or the focus on cost
reduction opportunities Assess progress and invest Need succession planning
as required for missioncritical positions
Develop regional business
acumen Invest in development Diversify leadership
of local leaders in APAC, development staff to
Africa and Latin America reflect global mission
The Leadership Development Strategy must be formulated to support the leadership strategy. The
leadership development strategy should specify the actions that must be taken to retain, develop or
acquire the leaders and the leadership skills required by the business strategy and will cover the topics
listed below.
On-boarding Processes Individual Development Plans
New leaders must be socialized into the company These are plans that leaders make for their devel-
and leadership culture and must be made aware opment over a period of time. The best plans are
of the expectations and developmental require- comprehensive, covering work as well as program
ments that come with each promotion. activities, and are discussed by the individual
leader with their HR representative and manager.
Individual and Organizational Assessments
Assessments are used to help individuals gain Required/Core Learning Experiences
self-awareness, but also to provide information Certain learning experiences are required to hold
that allows the organization to identify talent a position or accept a leadership role at a particu-
that is a good fit with available positions. On the lar level in the organization.
organizational level, assessments determine how
Elective Learning Opportunities
the organization and its leaders are performing,
These are internal or external courses or experi-
or the impact of development activities on busi-
ences that are made available to leaders on a vol-
ness results.
untary basis. Tuition reimbursement for courses
is often provided by organizations to encourage
leaders to take advantage of elective learning op-
portunities.
This figure shows how the leadership development strategy is related to and driven by the business
strategy and is tied to business results. It also makes clear that developing leaders should be thought of
systemically, not simply as a curriculum composed of programs.
The leadership development strategy will in turn these systems, processes and policies are aligned
have implications for talent management process- with the leadership strategy, they will at best fail
es and leadership practices that affect individual to reinforce the intended message and at worst
leaders, as well as the leadership culture. Unless become barriers to success.
With the right leadership strategy in place, the right lead- you know what you intended to accomplish and have iden-
ership development process designed and the appropri- tified intermediate and summary metrics that provide feed-
ate talent acquisition, talent sustainability and leadership back each step of the way. Having gone through the process
practices in place, there’s a much better chance that your outlined here will make it much more likely that you will
organization will achieve success in implementing its busi- understand what is really happening, or at least have a
ness strategy. If business results don’t follow, it’s time to go good guess about where you need to look for answers.
into a learning mode once again. Was the strategy incorrect
If you are successful in achieving desired business results,
in the first place? If so, what can be done to experiment
there is a final bonus that is indicated by the arrow above
rapidly with alternative strategies to see if they hold more
from strategic execution back to business strategy. That is,
promise? Or, was the leadership strategy incorrect? Or, was
the new leadership capabilities you have developed may
the leadership development strategy ineffective in produc-
allow the organization to consider even more aggressive
ing the leadership and leadership culture desired? Figuring
strategies to meet the competition or respond to change.
out what’s working and not working will be much easier if
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