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As people professionals, we design assessment and development activities to help our leaders in identifying and building the capabilities they need to succeed in their roles.
Ultimately, we anticipate that those activities will support our teams in driving business performance and growth. A well-designed leadership framework means that the L&D efforts are focused on enhancing skills and promoting behaviours to execute organisational vision and goals, as well as aiding in the shift towards the culture you are aiming for. Why do we need to ensure that the framework is relevant?
The world of work has changed
Over the last three years, the world of work has significantly changed - the digital transformation has sped up, with some businesses moving to virtual work environments overnight. Leaders needed new tools and skills to effectively navigate the reality of a global pandemic and work-from-home experience. At the time the gaps in leadership skills were plucked with a multitude of ad hoc “Leading Remote Teams” workshops.
Now that many organisations, recognising the benefits of remote working, decided to retain these new work patterns in some shape or form the people professionals need to develop more permanent solutions to developing leaders who will thrive in the new world. Whilst the HR processes and procedures were promptly updated to reflect that shift, the same consideration has not necessarily been given to the leadership frameworks. Although the broader capabilities may not have drastically changed, the way that they are displayed in the virtual world differs.
These new behaviours and skills need to be recognised and defined in order to be effectively assessed and developed.
Future focused
Today we are assessing and developing our leaders of tomorrow. How successful are we going to be if we are using performance indicators from the past? We know that what got us here will not get us to the future - a behaviour shift will be necessary to manage new challenges.
An effective leadership framework, therefore, needs to create an understanding of what is expected from people in the organisation we are aiming to create, rather than simply mimicking what is currently recognised and rewarded. For example, if the aim is to build an inclusive business, as it should be, where diverse backgrounds and perspectives are not only accepted but valued, then ensuring that this is reflected in our leadership framework is critical. Our leaders will model those behaviours to cascade the change.
Strategy alignment
The goal of the assessment and development activities is to build talent pipeline which will drive the delivery of the organisational strategy. For those activities to be effective, people professionals need to ensure that they have a deep understanding of the strategic direction of the business and map out the leadership behaviours aligned with it. Here clearly defined, relevant expectations will ensure that new employees are capable of delivering against the strategy and that learning and development initiatives provide the existing ones with the opportunities to develop the skills that are necessary to succeed.
