Most Critical Factor for Both Senior Executive and Mid-Level Leader Success

The Research

Recently, Assessments International completed two research studies using databases of 6,245 leaders who completed our PROFILOR® for Mid-Level Leaders (find this research summary here) and 1,555 leaders who completed our PROFILOR® for Senior Executives (find this research summary here). We asked the same questions for the analyses conducted with the two databases. One of the questions we asked was:

- What competencies are most critical for Mid-Level Leader / Senior Executive success? Has this changed over time?

The PROFILOR® 360-degree feedback process includes a step in which both the participants and their manager(s) rate how critical the included competencies are to success in the role. They are asked to identify a certain number of competencies (the number depends on the number of competencies in the specific 360 model) as Critically Important, Very Important, and Important.

This piece of The PROFILOR® process can help individuals and their manager(s) see how aligned they are in their thinking about what competencies are most critical to success, and to have discussions to improve alignment as needed. In cases with more than one manager involved (e.g., perhaps a functional manager and a geography manager), the process can clarify how aligned the managers are in what they consider most important to success, and work to improve this alignment as needed.

Of course, individuals and their managers can benefit greatly from better clarity and alignment regarding what is most important to individual success. These are the kinds of conversations that are often absent in development discussions, and having something like this section in The PROFILOR® prompt this type of conversation can be invaluable.

So, what do 360 participants and their managers say about what competencies are most critical to success?

When Mid-Level Leaders (MLLs) and their managers were asked which competencies were most critical to success in their current role, the results were as follows:

The results reveal that Primary Managers and MLLs agree on the most critical competency to the MLL’s success - Make Sound Decisions. They also agree that Establish Trust and Meet Customer Needs are also critically important. It should not be missed, however, that Primary Managers view Manage Execution as the second most important competency.

When Senior Executives (SEs) and their managers were asked which competencies were most critical to success in their current role, the results were as follows:

Senior Executives and their Primary Managers agree that Use Astute Judgment is the most critical competency. They also view Earn Unwavering Trust, Ensure Collaboration and Develop Organizational Talent in the top five important competencies for success. Primary Managers also include Use Organizational Influence at the top of their list.

Thought Leadership: From Mid-Level Leader to Senior Executive

While there are many differences between MLL and SE roles, this research suggests that at least a few of the competencies most critical for success in these roles are very much the same. For both MLLs and SEs, the Thought Leadership competency related to sound judgment is the single most critical competency for success in their current role. For MLLs, this is Make Sound Decisions. For SEs, this is Use Astute Judgment. These are defined as follows:

Make Sound Decisions – Makes timely decisions based on accurate logic; looks beyond symptoms to identify causes of problems; makes decisions in the face of uncertainty; takes all important issues into account when making decisions

Use Astute Judgement – Applies broad knowledge and seasoned experience when addressing complex issues; defines strategic issues clearly despite ambiguity; takes all critical information into account when making decisions; makes timely, tough decisions.

Not only are these thought leadership competencies rated as most important by these leaders and their manager(s), they are also the third most related competencies to separate assessments by managers of competence in current role for both MLLs and SEs.

Thought leadership competencies are even more relevant when it comes to managers’ assessments of long-range advancement potential for both MLLs and SEs. For MLLs, the competencies most related to long-range advancement potential are focused on strategic thought and personal agility in this order: Make Sound Decisions, Act Strategically, and Show Adaptability (two thought leadership competencies). For SEs, advancement potential is linked to competencies that shape the entire organization’s direction in this order: Display Vision, Lead Boldly, and Use Astute Judgment (two thought leadership competencies). The additional thought leadership competencies important to advancement potential for MLLs and SEs respectively are defined below:

Act Strategically – Balances big-picture concerns with day-to-day activities; stays informed about industry practices and new developments; understands the organization’s mission and strategies

Display Vision – Has a clear vision for the business; maintains a long-term, big-picture view; foresees obstacles and opportunities; generates breakthrough ideas

Despite the importance of these thought leadership competencies to performance in current role and long-range advancement potential, both MLLs and SEs do not demonstrate clear strengths in these competencies. For MLLs, Make Sound Decisions is the sixth lowest rated competency overall (based on average others rating including all but self perspective) out of the 16 competencies assessed. For SEs, Use Astute Judgment is the tied with two other competencies as the seventh lowest rated competency overall, out of the 17 competencies assessed.

Implications for Leadership and Organizational Development

Thought leadership is obviously important for success in current role for both MLLs and SEs. It becomes even more important for advancement potential for MLLs and SEs. Yet, thought leadership is not a strength for either population. It is important for organizations to devote increased attention to the development of thought leadership competencies to improve leader success in current roles, leader potential, and organizational success. After all, if senior leaders are lacking vision, then organizations are directionless.

Of course, improving thought leadership strength for an organization overall begins with selection. While certain aspects of thought leadership can be developed (e.g., learning about and applying decision-making frameworks), overall, competencies such as analysis and judgment are more easily selected for than developed. An organization that clearly wants thought leadership to be a priority needs to specify this and ensure that these competencies are assessed during the selection process.

In terms of developing thought leadership skillsets, an organization still needs to be clear about this as a priority and expectation. Any organization using a competency/capability/leadership framework, has an opportunity to elaborate on just how important key competencies are not only for individual roles but also for leadership overall. For example, if the organization’s vision is to differentiate itself based on innovation, then it needs leaders who are visionary and innovative and can grow innovation in others.

If an organization is using a 360 process that has leaders and their managers assess importance of competencies to success in the leaders’ roles, then aggregate reporting will provide the organization with data about what leaders are judging as important versus what their managers think. There is a great deal of confusion caused among leaders because they lack a strong understanding of what their managers and their organizations consider most critical to success.

Once an organization is clear that they want to focus on building thought leadership skills, it can consider and plan for this at three levels: individual, group, and organizational. Today, learning can be much more personalized and individuals can pursue learning options for developing thought leadership skills at their own time and pace. They also have multiple sources to access through their organizations and on their own, such as LinkedIn Learning or other learning platforms, as well as university programs.

In addition to accessing formal learning channels, individual development action plans and development discussions are especially important. Yet, it is surprising to see how many organizational leadership development programs incorporate some time of assessments to build self-insight, and then try to have the leaders and their managers to implement action planning as a follow-up – only to have this step fail. More time and resources should be devoted to determining how to make these steps between leaders and their managers work successfully, even if resources need to be pulled away from a more formal training session. Individuals and their leaders often get very stuck at the development action planning and discussion step.

To address the development of thought leadership skills more broadly for groups or organizations as a whole, organizations still need a solid development action planning and dialogue process, but can supplement this learning with more formalized leadership development programs focused on thought leadership.

For MLLs, a very high-level sample curriculum outline is provided below. These high-level draft plans are meant only to prompt thinking and creativity about how to build thought leadership skillsets for individuals and across the organization.

The following is a high-level draft curriculum for SEs to improve thought leadership. As with the MLL draft curriculum, while it is shown as more linear, there are so many options to mix-it-up. For example, modules don’t have to always have the same leaders in them from module to module, as when new people are introduced, agility and flexibility of thinking is challenged, just as in the real-world.

Conclusion

To be sure, thought leadership is not the only capability area that leaders need to master, but this research shows that it is likely the most critical. Test this conclusion out within your own organization, and if it rings true, examine what and how much you are doing to help leaders develop skills in this capability area. Organizations that do this will better differentiate themselves in this ever more-complex marketplace.