Building Leadership Capacity
Unlock Your Talent Bank
Do you know what your people are uniquely capable of contributing?
Every company has employees, managers and leaders with unique strengths, leadership, communication styles, abilities and blind spots.
They don’t sound and work like you. And they shouldn’t.
Recognizing the talent you do have unleashes hidden opportunities.
When people are seen for who they are and what they contribute, they step up.
If you wonder why people are not taking responsibility in a way that you see as effective, ask whether you are seeing that person’s abilities clearly.
No one will ever do a job the way you do it. Make peace with that fact and find out more about the talent the business really has.
Build Leadership Capacity
Every leader brings different natural strengths.
The goal isn’t to make everyone lead the same way.
The goal is to understand how each person creates value and where they are most likely to succeed to the benefit of the business.
Giving permission and taking responsibility happens in stages.
Who has problem solving abilities, organizing talent, fixing broken things or relationships or quietly get it done, innately? We find out so you can put the right talent in the right roles or re-assess how someone best fits in the role they have.
Then appreciate what they bring to your business and how they do it, their way.
This approach unlocks your talent bank and their motivation.
Appreciate Different Ways of Thinking
Great leadership teams don’t think alike.
They think differently without becoming divided.
Effective teams work on the issues by uniting all perspectives to see all sides.
One of the most overlooked leadership skills is learning to ask better questions.
Invite the external explorer to test assumptions without becoming defensive.
Invite the internal processor to share observations without rushing to fill the silence.
Some of the best ideas emerge after the room becomes quiet.
The result isn’t simply better communication.
It is better thinking.
And better thinking leads to better decisions, stronger relationships, and a leadership team capable of solving increasingly complex problems together.
Leadership isn’t about getting everyone to think the same way. It’s about creating an environment where different ways of thinking strengthen better decisions rather than create unnecessary friction. That’s the foundation of Followership Intelligence.
Develop Future Leaders
How do you build people capable of carrying more responsibility and results?
Delegation with trust without undermining authority is essential to build a management team that helps the company grow.
You can’t wear all hats. So you need to trust your people. And keep them aligned.
The growth ceiling in every company is hit when leaders don’t delegate effectively.
Managers leave when their authority is unclear, changes constantly or never given. Then company knowledge walks out the door.
And you can’t give people responsibilities without clear authority to make decisions otherwise you will never be able to hold them accountable.
Succession is the art of choosing amongst your talent bank, developing clear roles, transitioning knowledge with responsibility and authority and talking about what’s working and what isn’t, informally and regularly, so the manager can scale the learning curve.
Getting this strategy right is not an easy balancing act. There has to be permission to succeed and to fail and to learn from both.
Lead in a way others can follow. Follow in a way others can lead.
This is the definition of Followership Intelligence.
Then you eliminate friction.
Go Deeper
The ideas behind Followership Intelligence are based on Rob McGregor’s research into how to lead in a way others can follow.