Enables Frontline Leadership Success: A Deeper Look
Over the past four decades, DDI has conducted hundreds of job analyses in just about every industry and all over the world. Many of these were aimed at frontline leadership roles and involved conducting interviews with the leaders and their managers to gather information on factors that differentiate average from truly outstanding performance. The data, once consolidated, is transformed into what we call a Success ProfileSM. Our clients then use their success profiles as part of their selection, promotion, performance appraisal, and development programs. As shown in Figure 2.2, there are four components to a success profile for a frontline leader.
Fig 2.2 Success Profile
In Tool 2.2, you'll find many of these frontline leader “success factors.” Look at this tool as a compass to point you in the right direction. If you're considering a leadership position for the first time, you might ask yourself how you stack up against the profile. If you're already a leader, you can use the tool to guide your growth and development. Pick a few elements that might not be as strong as you'd like and incorporate them into your development plans. But, just as important, choose some strengths and use them to your advantage.
One friendly word of caution: You can acquire knowledge, and you can seek experience. You can adjust some behaviors. But personality elements are much tougher to change. For example, a high degree of arrogance – which is another way of saying overconfidence – is likely to derail your career. And you won't find a training course to make yourself less arrogant. Leaders normally don't go astray because they lack skills. More often than not, it's a personality mismatch. (We'll discuss this further in the Mastery chapters on selection and retention.) So, pay close attention to these factors when considering a move into leadership and be honest with yourself. Many former leaders have said that they gladly returned to a team member role. That can be a smart decision for many!
Write an “S” in each box that represents a strength. Write a “D” in each box that represents a development need for you.
*To download and print this form in pdf format, go to www.YourFirstLeadershipJob.com.
The Bottom Line
The journey to being an excellent leader is a long one, and the road can be rough. However, the rewards along the way can be very satisfying if you've chosen to be a leader for the right reasons. A few years back, we asked over 1,200 employees around the world what they thought about their managers. One question we asked was, What differentiates the best boss from the worst boss you ever worked for? Sadly, only 22 percent of employees feel they are currently working for their best boss ever. As you might expect, they rated their best bosses as two to three times more likely to use catalyst behaviors. Nearly 68 percent of employees who are currently working for their worst managers ever are looking at leaving. And, more surprisingly, only 11 percent of employees working for their worst boss ever are motivated to “give their best.” Compare that to the employees working for their best boss. The percentage jumps to 98!2
In another piece of research, we asked employees how much more productive they could be if they went back to work for their best-ever boss. One in four said they would be anywhere from 40 to 60 percent more productive.3
Reflection Points Explained
Throughout this book we'll be prompting you to think about where you are on your leadership journey. If you keep a journal in any form – Moleskine®, Evernote, digital recorder, whatever – consider memorializing your thoughts. Use these reflections to chart your progress, clarify next steps, and examine the emotions that might be undermining your effectiveness. Use your observations to help you gather useful feedback from trusted sources, and share meaningfully with others online and in real time. They'll also make excellent fodder for your best-selling memoir when you become a Big Shot.
Reflection Point
What makes you most anxious when you review Tool 2.2? Look at the boxes you marked with a “D” (development need). Are your concerns valid? Choose one or two items as a monthly To-Learn list. Consider consulting with a trusted member of your network for advice and feedback.
Then, look at the boxes you marked with an “S” (strength). Which of these can you leverage?
What will your list look like in six months? In 12 months?
3
Navigating the Transition to Leadership
Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.
When Mary described how she felt about her first leadership job, she repeatedly used the same term: “off-center.”
Occasionally, she adjusted it to “totally off-center” or “completely off-center.” But the outcome was the same. Mary's first eight months as a leader made her realize how unprepared she was. She had moved from a production job to a sales function, with no prior sales experience, and she was managing others for the first time. An all-male team of 12! A female leader was a rarity in the male-dominated culture of chemical engineering, though Mary didn't have time to enjoy the sound of the glass ceiling shattering. Instead, she found herself eye-to-eye with an unhappy rival. One of her new team members had been groomed for the job she now had, and was none too happy about losing out. To make matters worse, the previous boss had been beloved by the team. How could Mary possibly fill his shoes? That dizzy, off-center feeling was her constant awareness of being in a totally unfamiliar landscape without the tools to navigate clear.
In Chapter 1 we mentioned our research on the stress associated with transition to a leadership role. Remember? Stress levels ranked somewhere between personal illness and raising a teenager. Do any of Mary's stressors sound familiar? Almost all leaders we interviewed found their first few months full of what we call transitional challenges. What are yours?
Reflection Point
Think about the first time you told friends about getting (or wanting) your new leadership job. What was appealing to you? What did you think it would mean for your career? Did you talk about perks or power? Competing with others? Getting away from people or job functions you didn't like? Be honest: What's really driving you?
Later in this chapter we'll dig deeper into transitional challenges, but let's start with your decision to become a leader in the first place. Maybe you struggled to decide if it was worth giving up a job you were good at – and maybe even loved – for an uncertain role rife with new risks. Typically, there are two circumstances surrounding this decision. The first is voluntary – you identified an opportunity and went for it. If this describes you, then your challenge is to make sure your leadership heart is in the right place. Examine your motivations. Did you make the leap for more power, money, or fringe benefits? If so, you could find yourself unhappy. Although there may be material rewards associated with a promotion, leadership is about giving up power. A good leader dedicates himself to seeing his team
Ibid., 14.
