Performance Management
Differentiated leadership accountabilities
A frequently asked question during People Reviews and organizational reviews is: “Is he/she a good leader?” There is a subtle fallacy built into that question. The question itself assumes that leadership is just leadership. However, organizations are made up by a number of distinct leadership levels. Accordingly, the first thing to do is to acknowledge that leadership is not just leadership. Leaders at different levels of the organization play different roles and add value in different ways.
Recognizing the distinctiveness in each of the leadership roles is a key prerequisite for designing an effective performance management process where you want to hold leaders accountable for their leadership roles. By clearly defining the different leadership roles you create transparency about what is expected of leaders in the organization and you support the leaders in recognizing how they add unique value to the organizations as leaders. Thereby, you shape the leaders’ way of thinking about themselves and this is key to organizational effectiveness.
Below we have described those behaviors that you need to hold leaders accountable for at different leadership levels:
| SELECT TEAM MEMBERS AND BUILD THE TEAM |
| YOU SELECT HIGH PERFORMING TEAM MEMBERS |
| YOU CREATE A HIGH LEVEL OF TEAM SPIRIT AND ENGAGEMENT |
| SET OBJECTIVES AND PRIORITIZE TASKS |
| YOU ENSURE THAT OBJECTIVE FOR DIRECT REPORTS ARE MEANINGFUL |
| YOU CLEARLY DEFINE THE ROLES AND PRIORITISE OF DIRECT REPORTS |
| DELEGATE AND FOLLOW UP |
| YOU ENABLE DIRECT REPORTS TO DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES |
| YOU FOLLOW UP WITH DIRECT REPORTS ON WORK DELEGATED TO THEM |
| COACH AND DEVELOP DIRECT REPORTS |
| YOU CONTINIOUSLY INCLUDE COACHING AS A PART OF YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE |
| YOU ENSURE THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF DIRECT REPORTS |
| ASSESS AND IMPROVE PERFORMANCE |
| YOU ENSURE THAT DIRECT REPORTS HAVE A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR PERFORMANCE LEVEL |
| YOU ENSURE THAT PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS ARE USED CONSTRUCTIVELY TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE |
| SELECT LEADERS AND BUILD THE ORGANIZATION |
| YOU SELECT LEADERS WITH STRONG LEADERSHIP SKILLS |
| YOU NURTURE TALENT AND PLAN AHEAD ON ORGANIZATIONAL ISSUES |
| DEVELOP AND EXECUTE OPERATIONAL PLANS |
| YOU ENSURE THAT DIRECT REPORTS' OBJECTIVES TIE IN WITH THE BUSINESS STRATEGY |
| YOU ENABLE DIRECT REPORTS TO DEAL EFFECTIVELY WITH THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES |
| COACH AND DEVELOP LEADERS |
| YOU CONTINIOUSLY INCLUDE COACHING AS A PART OF YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE |
| YOU ENSURE THE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF DIRECT REPORTS |
| ASSESS AND IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF LEADERS |
| YOU ENSURE THAT DIRECT REPORTS HAVE A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR PERFORMANCE LEVEL |
| YOU ENSURE THAT PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS ARE USED CONSTRUCTIVELY TO IMPROVE PERFORMANCE |
| MANAGE BOUNDARIES AND ALLOCATE RESOURCES |
| YOU EFFECTIVELY MANAGE BOUNDARIES BETWEEN TEAMS THAT REPORT TO YOU |
| YOU EFFECTIVELY MANAGE AVAILABLE RESOURCES |
| SELECT LEADERS AND BUILD THE FUNCTION |
| YOU SELECT DIRECT REPORTS WITH STRONG LEADERSHIP SKILLS |
| THE LEADER BUILDS A FUNCTION SATURATED BY ACCOUNTABILITY, EMPOWERMENT AND EFFECTIVENESS |
| COACH AND HOLD DIRECT REPORTS ACCOUNTABLE |
| YOU CONTINIOUSLY INCLUDE COACHING AS PART OF YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLES |
| YOU ENSURE THAT DIRECT REPORTS HAVE A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR PERFORMANCE LEVEL |
| BE A FULL MEMBER OF THE BUSINESS TEAM |
| YOU CONTRIBUTE TO THE BUSINESS UNIT'S STRATEGY AS AN EQUAL PARTNER ON THE BUSINESS TEAM |
| YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THE IMPORTANCE OF OTHER FUNCTIONS |
| DRIVE FUNCTIONAL EXCELLENCE |
| YOU ENSURE THAT THE FUNCTION'S BUSINESS PLAN IS EXECUTED TIMELY AND EFFECTIVELY |
| YOU ADD VALUE BY PUSHING THE FUNCTIONAL AGENDA INTO THE FUTURE, SEEKING SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES |
| TAKE OWNERSHIP OF DEVELOPING LEADERSHIP TALENT |
| YOU DRIVE THE LEADERSHIP TALENT PIPELINE |
| YOU DRIVE DEVELOPMENT PROCESSING FOR LEADERSHIP TALENT |
| SELECT FUNCTIONAL LEADERS AND BUILD THE ORGANIZATION |
| YOU SELECT FUNCTIONAL LEADERS WITH STRONG LEADERSHIP CAPABILITIES |
| YOU BUILD AN ORGANIZATION SATURATED BY ACCOUNTABILITY, EMPOWERMENT AND EFFECTIVENESS |
| COACH AND HOLD DIRECT REPORTS ACCOUNTABLE |
| YOU CONTINIOUSLY INCLUDE COACHING AS PART OF YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLES |
| YOU ENSURE THAT DIRECT REPORTS HAVE A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THEIR PERFORMANCE LEVEL |
| LEAD WITH A MULTIFUNCTIONAL PERSPECTIVE |
| YOU APPRECIATE ALL FUNCTIONS AND THEIR IMPORTANCE TO THE ORGANIZATION'S OVERALL COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE |
| YOU DRIVE FUNCTIONAL INTEGRATION |
| DEVELOP THE BUSINESS STRATEGY |
| YOU POSSESS A DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE BUSINESS MAKES MONEY |
| YOU DEVELOP A BUSINESS STRATEGY WITH A CLEAR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE |
| EXECUTE THE BUSINESS STRATEGY |
| YOU DRIVE THE EXECUTION OF BUSINESS STRATEGY |
| YOU CREATE A PASSION FOR GETTING THE RIGHT THINGS DONE THROUGHOUT THE ORGANIZATION |
How Leadership Pipeline Institute supports your organization
We support your organization in identifying the relevant leadership levels for your organization and define the leadership standards for the different leadership levels.
The advantage of working with Leadership Pipeline Institute is that you do not need to start with a blank piece of paper. With regards to customizing the leadership standards we have experience from a vast number of industries and organizations of different sizes. Many things are similar across organizations, but all organizations have unique features. When you define effective leadership standards, you must capture both the commonalities and the differentiators of the organization. We are able to customize the leadership standards not just to your current organizational structure but also in accordance with requirements related to your business strategy.