March 17, 2011

Call to Action: Leadership Development Specialists

Dr. Mary Crossan

Dr. Mary Crossan Professor Taylor/Mingay Chair in Business Policy Ivey Business School March 17, 2011 South China Morning Post Ivey's recommendations on what leadership development and organizational development professionals should do post-financial crisis. .

After carrying out research and analysis of the global financial and economic crisis of 2007-09, faculty at the Richard Ivey School of Business developed some “calls to action” for leadership and organization development specialists (LDs and ODs).

The opportunities for these professionals to add more value to their organizations are practically limitless. But to take full advantage of these opportunities, LD and OD professionals need to fully exploit the development of leadership competencies, character and commitment as described in “Leadership on Trial”.

One starting point for these professionals is the development of leadership profiles that capture the key competencies, character and commitment the organization wants to see in its leaders. Such profiles can act as beacons. They can signal what it takes to be a successful leader in the organization. They can outline what the various stakeholders should expect of leaders in the organization. They can also serve as visible commitments, and leaders must expect that they will be measured against these commitments.

The development and ratification of a leadership profile opens up a vast scope for learning and organizational development professionals to create a variety of programs to realize their goals. A leadership profile can lead to the creation of developmental pathways, performance and development coaching, succession management and other supporting processes. It can serve as the basis for engaging top management in systemic talent reviews. It can facilitate executive group discussions of career-related moves for those employees that are considered to have high potential as leaders.

Once executives understand the need to focus on leadership competencies, character and commitment, they must be able to turn to the LD/OD/HR leadership to devise or improve the systems for leadership assessment, recruitment, development, and succession management. LD/OD professionals will have to be even closer to the business issues that affect their organizations.

They will also need to develop a better understanding of the context in which leaders have to be developed than they typically have today. Such familiarity will help these professionals to establish partnerships with line and functional executives so they can contribute more effectively to the development of current and future leaders.

Next week: Call to Action for Business Schools

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