An executive brief for senior leaders and Human Resource professionals How to grow productive frontline leaders Are you investing the time, money and energy required to develop the senior leaders of tomorrow? Discover the impact a lack of frontline leader development has on your organisation and the steps to move from having a group of frontline managers to a team of frontline leaders Written by: Karen Schmidt Frontline Leadership Expert How to grow productive frontline leaders A discussion paper on preparing future leaders Who is really leading your organisation? Whilst most senior leaders believe they are leading their organisation to success the truth is that the leaders who have the most impact on bottom line results can be found closer to the ground. They are the people with job titles like supervisor, leading hand and team leader. In other words, the people who “get their hands dirty” in an organisation working with customers and frontline staff. Typically they make up 50% to 60% of an organisation’s leaders and directly supervise as much as 80% of the workforce. These frontline leaders of today are the senior leaders of tomorrow. Time is ticking away to get them ready to take over. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, 2020 is the deadline for filling the leadership void that will be left by the last of the retiring Baby Boomers. Of course this date is arbitrary and in your industry or organisation the deadline might come sooner or later. Regardless of your circumstances, the reality is it will happen. It is likely that many of the people who will be taking the place of this generation of leaders are currently in their first role as a leader. Nearly 60% of companies are facing leadership talent shortages that are impeding performance Why you should be concerned about the frontline According to the Centre for Creative Leadership’s white paper “Developing a leadership strategy: a critical ingredient for organisational success”, surveys of CEOs show they believe the one factor that will determine the fate of their organisation is the quality of their leadership talent. Yet many top executives are concerned by the lack of potential leaders in waiting and wonder what will happen when the current generation of leaders steps aside. A Harvard Business Review study found that nearly 60% of companies are facing leadership talent shortages that are impeding performance and another 31% expect a lack of leadership talent to negatively impact their performance in the coming years. These shortages can be attributed to a lack of spending on frontline leader development, which the Corporate Executive Board found is only 12% of learning budgets compared to 27% invested in executives. This goes a long way to explaining the results of Development Dimensions International’s 2012 Global Leadership Forecast study which found 28% of internal promotions to a leadership position fail mainly due to a lack of interpersonal skills. www.letsgrow.com.au 1 How to grow productive frontline leaders A discussion paper on preparing future leaders Why frontline leaders don’t get more attention Talk to many senior leaders about developing frontline leaders and you will discover that many have not adequately considered the issue. This could be because they: • • • believe they have everything under control, pinning their hopes on a few star performers are relying on the reputation of their industry to attract talent are preoccupied with higher level, strategic issues 65% of organisations say their managers are not accountable for developing future leaders These concerns were raised in a research paper from global HR firm Mercer who found that only half of Australian organisations can effectively identify who is ready to move up the leadership ladder. Their report surveyed more than 600 organisations across Asia Pacific and found that 65% say their people managers have little or no accountability for developing future leaders. Half of the senior executives said they spent less than 10% of their time developing current and future leaders. What could go wrong if you ignore the frontline Creating a sense of urgency is essential to bring frontline leader development to the attention of the people who are responsible for taking action. To encourage them to take action consider the potential issues if you don’t. The costs in terms of time, money and energy are likely to include: • • • • • • unable to attract the best candidates as their competitors are seen as having better leaders and leader development strategies risk of selecting the wrong people to be developed in order to keep the leadership pipeline full paying too much for development programs due to the need to fast track potential leaders dealing with poorly prepared, low performing leaders as development programs cannot keep up with the needs of new leaders danger of losing potential leaders who can’t see a career path being distracted from important strategic concerns as the lack of leaders moves the focus to daily operations www.letsgrow.com.au 2 How to grow productive frontline leaders A discussion paper on preparing future leaders Where your focus should be Effectively nurturing your next crop of leaders requires some thought if you want to end up with a productive team who can lead your organisation to success in the future. You can’t rely on the same leader development strategies that got the Baby Boomers to the position they are now. The world has changed. “Soft skills” trump “hard skills” when creating modern leaders This changing nature of leadership is highlighted by Ernest & Young, who found that high performing leaders place greater emphasis on “softer skills” such as having the ability to articulate and embody the values and culture of the organisation. By contrast, the lower performers place their emphasis on the more traditional, “hard” leadership skills, such as industry and technical expertise and grasp of the financials. In addition to the personal skills that leaders require to work with their team, there are also the social skills that frontline leaders need to develop if they are going to be part of a productive leadership team at their current level and as they ascend to more senior roles. Most programs do not place enough emphasis on this aspect of a leader’s development. When you look at your current leader development strategies how closely are they aligned with the needs of your future leaders? Is it time you reviewed them to ensure your investment in time, money and energy are not being wasted on initiatives that aren’t going to meet the needs of frontline leaders now and into the future? How to take action If you want to see your current group of frontline managers become a productive team of frontline leaders, then you need to get started now so your organisation can remain healthy. I believe an effective frontline leader development strategy has 4 steps: Plan – design a multifaceted strategy • assess your current situation to determine focus areas • identify your future needs so you avoid a short term focus • compile a comprehensive list of initiatives for the next 2 to 5 years www.letsgrow.com.au 3 How to grow productive frontline leaders A discussion paper on preparing future leaders Prepare – create an environment of co-operation • transform the culture so it is ready to receive new leaders • create a cohesive leadership team across all levels • approach people who have been identified as potential leaders and discuss their interest and address their concerns Nurture – give people the skills to lead • deliver programs on the concepts and skills required to lead • offer both training and development options • provide guidance and support from existing leaders Maintain – have a system in place for ongoing learning • offer development at a higher level or in niche areas • give people access to industry experts and thought leaders • create a coaching and mentoring culture Take the Frontline Leader Cultivation Quiz So how do you rate in terms of addressing the issues associated with developing your group of frontline managers into a team of frontline leaders? To find out, take the short quiz I’ve created by clicking here. If you want to know more about creating a healthy team of frontline leaders, contact me via 0411 745 430 or [email protected]. About the Author Karen Schmidt’s philosophy is simple . . . she believes that being a great leader is like being a great gardener. She uses her philosophy to help frontline leaders develop a more natural approach that yields results. • • • • Speaker on frontline leadership development Frontline leadership development workshops Frontline leadership team facilitator Coaching for frontline leaders Karen Schmidt Frontline Leadership Expert www.letsgrow.com.au 4
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