Where Can We Find Leadership?
In response to the economic downturn, firms are evaluating their training and development efforts to more efficiently and effectively impact overall performance.
Workforce Management put out an article today titled “In Challenging Times, Leadership Skills and Leader Development Matter.” It talks about a survey done by Duke’s Fuqua School of Business, The Duke Executive Leadership Survey, which included the following highlights:
“Top 5 Leadership Challenges:
1. Increasing innovation
2. Leading internal (organic) organizational growth
3. Improving overall quality of our organization’s leadership
4. Developing the next generation of leaders (i.e., training)
5. Increasing employee commitment/retention [large employers]
6. Availability of capital [small employers]”
The survey listed “improvement of overall leadership” as the second of the top five leadership challenges and surprisingly more pressing than availability of capital and. According to the study, the skills listed as being most critical in challenging times are:
“Leadership Skills Rated as Most Important
1. Promoting an ethical environment
2. Acting with authenticity
3. Interpreting the competitive environment
4. Developing trust
5. Demonstrating optimism and enthusiasm”
These skills are indicative of a leader that has credibility. Employees want to feel their leaders understand their position, are authentic and trustworthy.
Although a footnote to the survey does indicate that it was done prior to our most recent economic struggles, post September 29th, 2008, it does seem that the underutilization of amazing resources is still applicable.
The Workforce article noted:
“…The survey found that those skills associated with inspirational and ethical leadership were most strongly associated with organizational performance. Inspirational leadership skills included such behaviors as engaging employees in the company’s vision and inspiring employees to raise their goals, while ethical leadership skills included such behaviors as promoting an environment in which employees have a sense of responsibility for the whole organization, its mission and constituencies.”
The article goes on to say:
“Specifically, researchers at the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics have found that followers who see their leaders as more competent and trustworthy also evaluate those leaders as being more inspirational. In essence, leaders who are seen as more competent and more trustworthy are perceived as offering a more compelling and more valid inspirational impetus for followers. The research has also established that there is a connection between inspirational leader behaviors and follower performance. Inspired by their leaders, followers pursue more challenging goals, which in turn leads to greater organizational success.”
It would seem that good leadership is more essential than ever, especially in light of the tough economic times. Fear and uncertainty seems to be the standard these days and, as employees are looking to the leaders of their organization for guidance, understanding and support, as indicated by the survey findings, the quality of the organization’s leadership was high on the list of critical issues.
“In difficult times, organizations should not ignore the positive effect that a leader’s behaviors can have on organizational performance. In these situations, people turn to their leaders to inspire them to reach for higher goals, and aspiring to higher goals, in turn, improves organizational performance. Employees also look toward leaders to model ethical behaviors that promote the long-term welfare of the organization.”
Overall, the key findings of the skills necessary for these tumultuous times are those that come naturally to woman. These innate qualities include:
1. producing high quality work
2. goal setting
3. mentoring
4. recognizing trends
5. generating new ideas and acting on them
6. fostering communication
7. motivating others
8. strategic planning
9. analysis
10. listening to others
I’m seeing an opportunity just waiting to be put into action, a chance to include a portion of the workforce that has what’s needed to positively impact our current economic situation. Since we are now bailing out industry giants, let’s not just review executive compensation, let’s review executive qualifications, keeping in mind the skills woman bring to the equation.
Mary Popovich on 
Caryn McCurry on 
Carla Moquin on 
Mikey on 
Schmitter on
02/27/2009
I read an interesting post Bailout? Put Women at the Wheel. It talks about women as consumers and not letting companies forget their markets but I think the logic applies to having women at the top levels of the companies as well.
03/03/2009
Yes Michael, it most definitely does. Women want to see themselves represented not only in the marketing promoting the products they buy but also in the companies from whom they buy. Additionally, the female perspective is needed to understand the female market. In order to attract woman to organizations, organizations should take a look at how attractive their firm is to a woman. How many women are at the executive level and what is their representation in the board room (by at least three)? What sorts of career paths are created for women? How much of an emphasis is placed on diversity? What is their commitment to worklife balance?
There is a huge amount of talent that is continually lost as woman exit the workforce or step off a career path because they feel they don’t have a choice. They don’t feel supported by their employers and run into discrimination once they choose to have a family. Why would an organization want to limit their access to top talent with the skills and capacity necessary to meet the market where it is and continue to contribute?
As the mom of two young boys I understand the demands a family places on a woman when I consider the breadth of responsibilities. Not it all cases, but in many, 2/3 of household responsibilities fall to a woman vs. a man. Harvard’s Claudia Goldin has a webpage listing a wealth of papers discussing gender and female labor force issues.
However, there is room for us to shift our perceptions and realize that just because we have done things a certain way for so long, doesn’t make it the right way. For example, measure employee performance on achieving set goals vs. the perceived contribution associated with face time. This is a win-win situation for the employees as well as the organization.
Now clearly the organizations that are most successful in creating a diverse, worklife balance sensitive environment typically has support from the top. Well, last I looked in the finance and auto industries, the top, not having any female representation, was flying to Washington D.C. on private jets asking for billions of dollars without any strings attached.
The worldwide economy is screaming for an overhaul in the way we do business. The answers are there. Business would be well served by releasing the expectation of archaic practices moving us forward and receive the solutions waiting to be seen.