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Strategically Speaking: The Top 12 Strategic and Systems Thinking Mistakes— Mistake No. 1
November 03, 2008
"How you think…is how you plan…is how you act…and that determines the results you get in work and life."
By Stephen Haines
Problem No. 1: Thinking that leadership development is a list of skills to be learned.
Best Practice: There are six natural levels of leadership development competencies to be mastered.
"Leadership is the No. 1 core competency of successful organizations."
Leadership development is bankrupt. Leadership development suffers from several issues that are preventing it from being successful in many companies (visit www.hainescentre.com for a separate article on this subject). However, it starts with the fact that all the gurus in leadership (there are more than 30 of them) distill the needed leadership skills to a list of their own five to 10 key skills. These lists in and of themselves are correct. However, they fall under the heading of necessary but not sufficient for leadership development success. The facts and data to support this are everywhere, from leadership research from respected publications to the daily results of leadership failures by CEOs in the news. We have had more than our share of Enrons, Tycos, and the like. Now we have all of the failures and write-offs by most major banks in 2007-2008 because they made way too risky sub-prime loans to people who were not qualified for their mortgages.
Instead, the research we did on leadership development, based on systems thinking, led us to discover that there are six natural levels of leadership competencies required of every organization.
They are obvious in retrospect: (Click Here to View Model)
1. Self-mastery
2. Interpersonal relationships
3. Intact teams
4. Cross-functional teams
5. Organization-wide change
6. Strategic and your environment
The first three competencies are the basics of leadership required by all members in managerial positions. The last three are the advanced leadership competencies required of more middle and senior management.
However, in conducting our research, the results of all those gurus were dismal when compared to these six natural levels from systems thinking. None had all six competencies; only three had four of the competencies; and only four had three of the competencies. The 20 others just had a list of skills, and did not differentiate between the different situations that leaders find themselves in all day long (the six natural levels of leadership competencies).
Society Example:
We seem to be choosing a President based on candidates' speechmaking ability, their charisma, and their party affiliation. Unknown by the voters and unexamined by the media is, "What kind of a leader will they be?" What are their skills vs. the six natural levels of leadership competencies? This will make a huge difference in their running the U.S. Positions on certain issues will vary according to the situation, but, in the end, the leadership style competency will win (or lose) out. For instance, what are their interpersonal skills in working with their staffs to get honest information and what are their decision-making skills and how do they work or not work with other heads of state? And how well have they mastered themselves in order to operate with self-confidence, humbleness, and honesty/integrity at home and abroad?
Management Example:
CEOs and executives often are hired for their expertise in their industry, a particular functional skill (e.g., finance), or a high level of intelligence. Is part of the selection process their leadership skills at all six competency levels? Why executives are hired (often Level 5 or Level 6 skills) is not why they are fired (often Levels 2 and/or 3). They often are "out of control" of themselves (lack of self-mastery) and cannot make the different silos/functions of an organization work together cross-functionally (Level 4).
Trainer Example:
Trainers cannot lead or facilitate a class if they still have their own self-mastery issues—for instance, a need for ego-boosting by telling and pontificating to participants rather than surgically facilitating and asking questions in a classroom to ensure discovery and learning by class members on situations/cases that matter to them.
Editor's Note: For related knowledge and best practices, visit
www.SystemsThinkingPress.com for items including:
Article: Achieving Leadership Excellence (Code: AALE)
Model: Achieving Enterprise-Wide Leadership Excellence (Code: MALE-02)
Assessment Instrument: Achieving Leadership Excellence (Code: IALE)
Source: State-of-the-Art Best Practices Report (Code: R-SOA-SST)
Systems Thinking Press, www.SystemsThinkingPress.com,
1420 Monitor Road, San Diego, CA 92110
619.275.6528
Stephen G. Haines (www.StephenHaines.com) is founder and CEO of the Haines Centre for Strategic Management: The World Leaders in Strategic Management: Powered by Systems Thinking (www.HainesCentre.com).
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