Situation:  The CEO wants to build the team, identify leaders within the company, and develop managers. What are best practices to develop your staff?

Advice of the CEOs:

• A great resource is “First Break All the Rules” by Marcus Buckingham. Among the key findings:
  • Great leaders are not the same as great managers. Good leaders are outgoing and goal-oriented whereas good managers are people-oriented.
  • Expecting good leaders to be good managers and vice versa is not effective. Only the exceptional individual exhibits both sets of talents.
  • The traditional business structure assumes that talented people will want to “move up” the organizational chart. The reality is that some people are very good at a particular level of responsibility, and are happiest with this responsibility.
• How do to enhance your team’s leadership and management capabilities?
  • Evaluate your team for candidates who possess the qualities of leadership or management. Tailor your training to enhance the natural strengths of your candidates.
  • Draft agreed upon written responsibilities and performance objectives.
  • Regularly follow up and provide feedback.
  • Establish trial projects for new candidates that will allow them experience additional responsibility, and allow you to see how well they perform. Make the steps small at first. If they show talent, make successive steps more challenging.
• Look at your organizational chart. Does it provide room for both leaders and managers? Does it provide room for the skilled role player who thrives in a particular role? If not, how will you fix it?

Key Words: Leaders, Managers, Staff Development, Advancement, Evaluation, Training, Objectives, Feedback, Organizational Chart

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