The CEO’s most important job is to groom team members for more responsibility, for leadership roles and simply to do a better job day-to-day. And when times are tough, our people need more from us. That’s especially true when we ask them to take on more duties, swim in uncharted waters and excel at everything. Here’s what you, as the leader, need to do to make sure your next-level leaders achieve:

MAKE TIME.

We know it’s important to have regular meetings with direct reports to give direction and feedback. Yet when we get stretched, it’s often the internal meetings we wipe off our schedules first. Plan to increase your time with employees when you ask them to stretch their skills. Meet at least once a week for an hour and give ad hoc feedback frequently.

FOSTER AN ENVIRONMENT OF FEEDBACK.

Make it part of your company’s culture to give continuous feedback, both positive and negative. If that seems out of reach, at least foster feedback with direct reports and those you mentor. Frame this feedback as a positive: you’re giving these because people more attention because you see that they have what it takes to succeed. Feedback is the ultimate compliment. It means someone cares about your development.

DON ‘T HOLD BACK YOUR PLAN FOR SOMEONE.

If you tell a rising leader that you see unique capabilities in her and have a plan for her growth, it’s much likely that she’ll get there. Let your high potential employees know what is possible for them, and you’ll increase their confidence and success rate.

BE SPECIFIC ABOUT WHAT YOU NEED.

This is neither a time to manage nor to sit back and see what someone can do. Be clear and specific about what the person needs to do to achieve the goals you’ve set for her. Lay out the vision and skills she must develop, and have her repeat back to you what she heard. You want to avoid misunderstandings at all costs, they waste time and take you off track.

MATCH POTENTIAL LEADERS WITH OTHER MENTORS.

Use you reach to find other performers, inside or outside the company, to act as mentors, modeling other’s behavior is one of the best ways to learn, so encourage your people to find role models. Because the CEO often has a strong network, you cab be a powerful facilitator in this process

INVEST IN TRAINING OR COACHING.

This is what I do for a living, so I’m biased. I’ve seen the enormous demand- and- effects- of leadership development on high potential professionals. It’s much more common, and often has more impact, than corrective coaching. You can contract for a tailored leadership training programme, individual of both. There are also countless management training programmes to which you can send employees.

If forecast are correct, the current economic environment isn’t going to end soon. We will need our people to stretch and grow. There may never be a more critical time to focus on developing your bench strength. Do it, and you’ll emerge even stronger than before.

Technorati Tags: Leadership, mentor, time

Nowadays, in an ever more competitive job front we are increasingly hard pushed to stand out from other candidates in being interviewed, selected and appointed to the job we really want.

Such is the economic climate that employers are searching hard for the people who can hit the ground running, instantly ‘add value’, and quickly adapt to the organizational environment.

So how can we increase our chance of being successful? Sure, it is important to prepare well, in terms of your CV, interview questions and key points you want to get across.

But is also vitally important that you are able to handle yourself and your emotions, to sense how you are coming across to the interviewers, and to show you are outstanding when it comes managing yourself, other people and relationships.

Much recent and longstanding research shows that the people most successful at getting job and in making a career out of it are those people with higher levels of “Emotional Intelligence’.

Research also shows that ‘Emotional Intelligence’, if measured, is strong predictor of our likely success in a new job, not only at recruitment but also at management and leadership levels as well.

The good news is that unlike your IQ, which is more less fixed, you ca n work at developing your ‘Emotional Intelligence’, to a very high level, in a relatively short period of time, irrespective of your age.

This means you are also very likely to keep growing and developing, both personally and professionally.

Our Emotional Intelligence is our ability to recognize and manage our own feelings, and those of the people around us, for motivating and handling our relationships and ourselves. It provides a framework for us to get the results we want in managing ourselves and other people.

So exactly what is this emotional Intelligence framework and how ca n I develop mine?
The framework is based on the competence that have been shown through extensive research to be the difference between ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ performers, when it comes to getting a job or doing a job, at any level in an organization.

EMPLOYERS LIST THESE AS:
• Communication-being able to listen, converse and present
• Adaptability- creative responses to setbacks and obstacles
• Personal management- motivation to work, pride a desire to develop
• Interpersonal effectiveness- teamwork, co-operation, the skills to negotiate
• Organizational effectiveness- leadership potential, the desire to make a contribution
• The framework describes 18 competences, classified into four areas that we should work at to develop our Emotional Intelligence

These are as follows:
SELF – AWARENESS
1. Self- Awareness
2. Accurate self-assessment
3. Self Confidence

SOCIAL AWARENESS
1. Empathy
2. Organizational awareness
3. Service orientation

SELF – MANAGEMENT
1. Emotional self-control
2. Transparency
3. Adaptability
4. Optimism
5. Achievement Orientation
6. Initiative

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
1. Developing others
2. Inspirational leadership
3. influence
4. Change catalyst
5. Conflict management
6. Teamwork and collaboration

To succeed we do not have to be skilled to a high level in all of these, but certain skills such as self-awareness, empathy, emotional self- control and influence are central or critical to our ability to develop.

To help get you started here a few pointers;
• Be sensitive to others people’s needs and feeling and try to sense how you are coming across to them.

• Actively see feedback from those who are close to you about how they see you and your impact on them.

• Be more open about how those who are close to you impact on you, but only give feedback when you know it will be well received.

• When you know your emotions are stopping you from getting the results you want, reflect on how you felt and why, and try to plan how you can manage your emotions better next time.

• Be confident, optimistic and adaptable in every situation you are faced with and show initiative.

• Show that you can gather people around you, that you can motivate them and eve n lead them.

• Show that you can manage conflict by listening, valuing and reflecting each person’s issue, identifying a win-win option, and encouraging agreement.

• Work hard to understand the organizational culture, the networks and the dynamics, and show that you do, in your dealings with others.

• Show commitment to serve.

• Uphold the company’s values and ethics, and understand their goals and the ‘bigger picture’.

Technorati Tags: Emotional Intelligence, Motivation