CORE LEADER COMPETENCIES

image:ucdenver.edu
culled from:leadershiparticles.com

Competencies provide a clear and consistent way of conveying expectations for Army leaders. Current and future leaders want to know what to do to succeed in their leadership responsibilities. The core leader competencies apply across all levels of the organization, across leader positions, and throughout careers. Competencies are demonstrated through behaviors that can be readily observed and assessed by a spectrum of leaders and followers: superiors, subordinates, peers, and mentors. This makes them a good basis for leader development and focused multi-source assessment and feedback. The chart below identifies the core leader competencies and their subsets.
Leader competencies improve over extended periods. Leaders acquire the basic competencies at the direct leadership level. As the leader moves to organizational and strategic level positions, the competencies provide the basis for leading through change. Leaders continuously refine and extend the ability to perform these competencies proficiently and learn to apply them to increasingly complex situations.
These competencies are developed, sustained, and improved by performing one's assigned tasks and missions. Leaders do not wait until combat deployments to develop their leader competencies. They use every peacetime training opportunity to assess and improve their ability to lead Soldiers. Civilian leaders also use every opportunity to improve.
To improve their proficiency, Army leaders can take advantage of chances to learn and gain experience in the leader competencies. They should look for new learning opportunities, ask questions, seek training opportunities, and request performance critiques. This lifelong approach to learning ensures leaders remain viable as a professional corps.


Core Leader Competencies



Leads    Leads Others    Extends Influence Beyond the Chain of Command    Leads By Example    Communicates
    •    Provide purpose, motivation, inspiration
•    Enforce Standards
•    Balance mission and welfare of soldiers    •    Build trust outside lines of authority
•    Understand sphere, means and limits of influence
•    Negotiate, build consensus, resolve conflict    •    Display character
•    Lead with confidence in adverse conditions
•    Demonstrate confidence    •    Listen actively
•    state goals for action
•    Ensure shared understanding

 

Develops    Creates a positive environment    Prepares self    Develops leaders
    •    Set the conditions for positive climate
•    Build teamwork and cohesion
•    Encourage initiative
•    Demonstrate care for people    •    Be prepared for expected and unexpected challenges
•    Expand knowledge
•    Maintain self awareness    •    Assess developmental needs.  Develop on the job
•    Support professional and personal growth.
•    Help people learn
•    Counsel, coach and mentor
•    Build team skills and processes
Achieves    Get Results
    •    Provide direction, guidance and priorities
•    Develop and execute plans
•    Accomplish tasks consistently



Core Competencies
These are the personal skills required at all levels of leadership. Essential competencies provide the foundation that a person needs to become a leader. Without a strong foundation, the sides of the pyramid will soon crumble and fall as the base gives away.
Communicating
Basic Communications
•    Expresses oneself effectively both orally and in written form.
•    Communicate plans and activities in a manner that supports strategies for employee involvement.
•    Actively listens to others.
Negotiating
•    Skillfully settles differences by using a win-win approach in order to maintain relationships.
Teamwork
•    Uses appropriate interpersonal style to steer team members towards the goal.
•    Allocates decision making and other responsibilities to the appropriate individuals.
•    Organizes resources to accomplish tasks with maximum efficiency.
•    Influences events to achieve goals beyond what was call for.
Creative Problem Solving
•    Identifies and collects information relevant to the problem.
•    Uses brainstorming techniques to create a variety of choices.
•    Selects the best course of action by identifying all the alternatives and then makes a logical assumption.
Interpersonal Skills
•    Treats others with respect, trust, and dignity.
•    Works well with others by being considerate of the needs and feelings of each individual.
•    Promotes a productive culture by valuing individuals and their contributions.
Manage Client Relationships
•    Works effectively with both internal and external customers.
•    Gathers and analyzes customer feedback to assist in decision making.
Self-Direction
•    Establishes goals, deliverables, timelines, and budgets with little or no motivation from superiors (self-motivation rather than passive acceptance).
•    Assembles and leads teams to achieve established goals within deadlines.
Flexibility
•    Willingness to change to meet organizational needs.
•    Challenges established norms and make hard, but correct decisions.      Adapts to stressful situations.
Build appropriate relationships
•    Networks with peers and associates to build a support base.
•    Builds constructive and supportive relationships.
Professionalism
•    Sets the example.
•    Stays current in terms of professional development.
•    Contributes to and promotes the development of the profession through active participation in the community.
Financial
•    Does not waste resources.
•    Looks for methods to improve processes that have a positive impact on the bottom line.
Business Acumen
•    Reacts positively to key developments in area of expertise that may affect our business.
•    Leads process improvement programs in all major systems falling under area of control.
Leadership Competencies
These are the skills needed to drive the organization onto the cutting edge of new technologies. Leadership Competencies form the basic structure that separates leaders from bosses. These skills create the walls and interiors of the pyramid. Without them, a leader is just a hollow windbag, or as Scott Adams of Dilbert fame best characterizes it, "a pointy-head boss."
Leadership Abilities
•    Displays attributes that make people glad to follow.
•    Provides a feeling of trust.
•    Rallies the troops and builds morale when the going gets tough.
Visioning Process
•    Applies effort to increase productiveness in areas needing the most improvement.
•    Creates and set goals (visions).
•    Senses the environment by using personal sway to influence subordinates and peers.
•    Gain commitment by influencing team to set objectives and buy in on the process.
•    Reinforces change by embracing it (prevents relapse into prior state).
Create and Lead Teams
•    Develops high-performance teams by establishing a spirit of cooperation and cohesion for achieving goals.
•    Quickly takes teams out of the storming and norming phases and into the performing phase.
Assess Situations Quickly and Accurately
•    Takes charge when the situation demands it.     Makes the right things happen on time.
Foster Conflict Resolutions (win-win)
•    Effectively handles disagreements and conflicts.
•    Settles disputes by focusing on solving the problems, without offending egos.
•    Provides support and expertise to other leaders with respect to managing people.
•    Evaluates the feasibility of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.
Project Management
•    Tracks critical steps in projects to ensure they are completed on time.
•    Identifies and reacts to the outside forces that might influence or alter the organization's goals.
•    Establishes a course-of-action to accomplish a specific goal.
•    Identifies, evaluates, and implements measurement systems for current and future projects.
Implement Employee Involvement Strategies
•    Develops ownership by bringing employees in on the decision making and planning process.
•    Provides the means to enable employee success, while maintaining the well-being of the organization.
•    Develops processes to engage employees in achieving the objectives of the organization.
•    Empower employees by giving them the authority to get things accomplished in the most efficient and timely manner.
Coach and Train Peers and Subordinates
•    Recognizes that learning happens at every opportunity (treats mistakes as a learning event).
•    Develops future leaders by being involved in the company mentoring program.
•    Provides performance feedback, coaching, and career development to teams and individuals to maximize their probability of success.
•    Ensure leadership at every level by coaching employees to ensure the right things happen.
•    Ensures performance feedback is an integral part of the day-to-day activities.

4 CRITICAL LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES & HOW TO DEVELOP THEM
Suzanne Murphy, WSA
Last month in the article, 3 Responsibilities of Strategic Leadership, we discussed the responsibilities that are essential in creating an expanded leadership team that is prepared to manage the complexity and change inherent in today's business environment.
This month we will discuss the competencies that a leader must develop in order to successfully deliver on those responsibilities.

Leadership - What is it?
Leadership is the ability to create a vision, build organizational alignment around that vision and strategically deploy resources for the successful execution of that vision.

4 Critical Leadership Competencies - What Makes a Successful Leader?
Results are clear … the key difference between highly successful leaders and just OK leaders is that very successful leaders are conscious and deliberate. Very successful leaders demonstrate focus, passion, a sense of urgency and dynamic agility.
1.    Focus - the ability to clearly set the competitive differentiators for your organization in the marketplace and then focus the energy and resources of the organization toward the achievement of those differentiators.
2.    Passion - building a strong commitment throughout the workforce to achieve demanding yet compelling goals.
3.    Speed - with technology, time to market and customer response time are absolute critical success factors. Having great products and services too late is the same as not having them at all. Being slow in response to customer needs is the best news you can give your competitors. Creating and executing with a sense of urgency is a fundamental requirement for success.
4.    Agility - the ability to adapt rapidly to shifts in the marketplace, in customer demands and in technology. Organizations that are successful do not just cope with change. They ride the wave of change like a surfer, with the same agility and flexibility to shift without missing a beat.
Developing the Competencies
How do you develop these abilities in your leaders? Are competencies like Focus, Passion, Speed, and Agility really teachable?
We believe they are … if you build an organization that supports and requires these as a basis for success. They can't be taught as a set of skills in a classroom. They must be instilled through an imbedded leadership development system.
Success depends on 5 key factors:
1.    Support from Executive Leadership
2.    The Right People
3.    Challenging Work Assignments
4.    Supportive Work Environment.
5.    Leadership Development System, not a skills course.
The most critical factor is the unwavering support of the organization's Executive Leadership. If top leadership champions the development of the 5th element, the leaders that the system produces will ensure a supportive work environment that provides challenging work assignments for the right people as well as building strong leadership teams throughout the enterprise.
From our research, it is clear that teams produced through an imbedded system in an enterprise, are key to long term, sustained business success. Contrary to popular belief, there is no white knight. That is, the “right” Chief Executive will not solve all the problems of an organization.
In reality, the leadership requirements of winning organizations that stand the test of time go well beyond the Chief Executive, extending to the leadership team, as well as to the systems, structures and procedures they put in place. It is the broad leadership and organizational systems of an enterprise that are important over time, especially during periods of high stress and expectations.
Professional Competencies for Learning/Training Leaders
These are the skills and knowledge needed to direct the systems and processes that a leader controls. Professional Competencies form the mortar that binds the pyramid together. Without some knowledge of the technical skills that they direct, the pyramid soon begins to fall apart and the organization begins to operate in damage control mode.
Each organization requires a different set of professional competencies for each leadership position. Although leaders do not need to be the Subject Matter Experts (SME) for the tasks that they direct, they must have a basic understanding of the systems and processes that they control. Again, each position requires a different set of skills and knowledge.
NOTE: In this example, the competencies for learning and training professionals are listed.

Adult Learning
•    Understand and appreciate the diverse experiences of learners.
•    Facilitate self-directed and help with the informal learning of others.
Instructional Design
•    Use the Instructional Design (ISD) model:
o    Conduct needs assessment and analyze for performance needs.
o    Design for maximum performance.
o    Development material by fleshing out design.
o    Deliver (implement) learning package.
o    Evaluate using formative and summative methods throughout entire process.
Rapid Design
•    Uses prototypes for to quickly create and deliver learning packages.
Consulting
•    Determine stakeholder's needs.
•    Negotiate a solution.
•    Ensure solution fulfills a business and/or organization requirement.
Instruction
•    Plan and prepare for instruction
•    Engage learners though out entire instruction.
•    Demonstrate effective presentation and facilitation skills.
•    Provide clarification and feedback.
•    Provide retention and transfer of newly learned skills and knowledge.