The rate of change is accelerating at a massive rate. A common challenge for all enterprises irrespective of size that have professional management, is how to pick those who will be able to deliver commercial longevity to the shareholders, whether they be spread across the globe, or members of a family.

The gap between those who have been successful, and those who will be successful is widening.

From time to time, I work with clients to plug capability and leadership gaps in their management ranks, and seek future leaders. I am certainly not a recruiter, my objective is not to fill a hole in order to gain a commission, it is to ensure that my clients can optimise their commercial and strategic outcomes.

The first step is to build a profile of the role, how it will contribute to the outcomes being sought. This requires a solid strategy that acknowledges the geometric rates of change happening around us. Without that strategic framework, the task of picking the right leader could just as well be done with a pin down the pub.

When we are all clear, we build a profile of the ideal candidate.

However, the order is clear. The organisation is first, we have to be certain about who will be doing what, how the objectives being sought will be achieved within the context of  the strategy, and finally, why we are doing what we are setting out to achieve, what value will it bring, and to who.

Having that work done, and it should be done as a matter of course, not just because there is a gap in capabilities, we consider the perfect candidate profile.

I have a template that has been used for 25 years with considerable success, consisting of 11 characteristics. Each position and situation is different, and there will never be a an absolutely perfect candidate, so compromises will inevitably be made, the trick is to make them in non- critical areas. Therefore considering the priorities of the requirements, and their relative weight gives a tool against which to measure the merits of candidates, and ensure some level of consistency as you progressively interview.

Competence.

There will always be things that are an absolute requirement of the job, deal breakers no matter how well all the other factors fit.

Trustworthiness.

Leading is tough, and increasingly trust is hard to win and easy to compromise. The candidates need to be the type who will be  absolutely straight, transparent, and follow through on commitments. In a senior management role, it always comes from doing what you say you will do, but also taking in potentially divergent and contrary views in the decision-making process, and  allowing due process, so everyone has a stake in the outcome.

Focus.

Leading even a modest sized business is full of distractions and red herrings. A leader needs to be able to focus on the few things that are really important that will deliver the outcomes, and not  be distracted by the urgent but not necessarily important items that always come up.

Curiosity.

I have  written before that I think curiosity is a defining feature of successful leaders into the future, and nothing  I have seen changes that view. A curious person, prepared to nurture and  enable their own curiosity, and inspire it in others,  will infect an organisation in a positive manner. Curious people are less likely to accept a status quo, believe what others believe simply because of the weight of numbers, they are inherently seekers of the facts, and uncomfortable with inconsistency and hearsay.

People skills.

This is a pretty generic description, but people skills are what makes the leader, as others are prepared to follow them irrespective of the trappings of power and position. Increasingly people make the difference, so having the right people in the right places in the organisation is crucial.

Passion.

Passion is the original communicable ‘disease’. While ‘Passion’  has become a cliché of recruiters ads, that does not diminish the power of passion to inspire, motivate, and engage.

Agility.

Being agile demands that you are able to change position quickly and efficiently in the face of new information, an emerging situation, competitive pressure, whatever it is that demands a response different to the last one. Agility is very different from inconsistency, it is also different from flexibility, which sees you bend in the face of change, but then move back to the former positon when the pressure eases off.

Self awareness

The ability to see yourself as others see you is crucial to effective leadership. Self awareness enables empathy, without which the best you can be is a good manager, not a leader.

Judgement.

You want someone who demonstrates good judgment in  stressful situations, does not let the emotion or heat of the moment overcome rational analysis. This is a really difficult one to measure, or even get a good handle on, as our unconscious reaction to   those we agree with is to warm to them, and vice versa.  The best way is to examine in some detail the performance and behavior of individuals when stress has been imposed in the past.

Fit.

The only person who can really change the culture is the person at the top. If the recruit is other than the top dog, to some degree they will have to be able to fit into a culture that exists with little power to make significant alterations beyond their own span of control. While it is good to have people who question the status quo, and offer alternatives, you also need a balance that ensures that any disruption leads to a positive outcome.

A bias to action.

Even when all the above is present, it does little good by osmosis, there has to be action. As the world gets faster and more complicated, those who take action will win, despite the setbacks that will occur. We all acknowledge that we learn from our mistakes, which presupposes we take action often enough to make some.

A key job of every leader is to replace themselves, and to develop a ‘bench’ that can fill capability gaps as they emerge. The really good leaders I have seen in large enterprises spend more time on this single task than any other, apart from developing and managing the culture, which is inextricably tied up with the personnel choices. It is also the responsibility of a governing board to ensure that emerging leadership is encouraged and nourished, as their primary responsibility is the long term commercial and social viability of  the enterprise.

Header credit: Hugh McLod at Gapingvoid.com