Leadership[

Leadership Competence Model

A competency model is an integrated approach, a framework, that can be used to identify the competencies (new knowledge, skills and abilities) and qualities required by leadership in various contexts. Consider the following articles.

A leadership competency model should serve as the foundation for any organization’s leadership development system. An effective model allows an organization to clearly define what leadership competencies are required in order for an organization to be successful, both now and in the future. Leadership development systems (selection, assessment, development, performance management, succession planning) can then be aligned to support the development of these competencies.

While the idea has been around for at least 20 years, a recent Right Management survey says that half of all corporations today have no model for identifying and developing the leadership competencies needed to drive change in their organizations.

I’ve had the opportunity to develop leadership competency models at a variety of different organizations. At my current company, there was no common model when I first got here. In fact, there were over 20 different models. We now have one, with a fully aligned system aligned around it. At my last company, I was involved in the development of two company-wide models, for two different CEOs. (Question: How often should you change a leadership model? Answer: Either when there’s a significant shift in the business strategy that requires new skills, or when a new CEO comes in and decides that everything the previous CEO did was wrong.)