The Tribune

By IAN FERGUSON FOR some time there has been a great debate to determine whether leaders are born or made. Some argue that we have all been touched with some innate ability to lead. Others still purport that leadership is a skill acquired by the deliberate action of an individual in fostering relationships, nurturing talents and getting results. Part two in the Chamber Voice leadership series focuses attention on the work required in our various organisations to build the leadership talent pool. We strengthen our brand, our bottom line performance and our reputation in the business community when our leaders model and promote good business practices. The sourcing and recruiting of leaders is critical to your company's success. Since leaders establish the organisational culture of the organisation, you must do due diligence in selecting the right leaders. Pause for a moment and think about each of your departments. How were the leaders identified in each case? If these persons inherited their position because of their length of time with the company, their political or social connections or their ability to manipulate the system, you may have done a serious disservice to the organisation. Whether you select leaders internally or externally, it is important to establish the competencies you expect in various leadership roles and perform psychometric evaluations and other behavioral indicators that provide some objective feedback on a person's skills. If you promote from within, ensure the selection process is not influenced by the eager employee who feels a strong sense of entitlement. The role of leader is too critical in the organisation to 'try out' the wrong person for any length of time. As we build stronger businesses through our leaders, companies need to make significant investments in those persons they choose to lead. It is true that we can only take persons as far as we have been ourselves, and if leaders do not remain on the cutting edge of their craft they become irrelevant and obsolete. Companies must ensure that leaders engage often in training exercises, sharpening their skill sets and acquiring new competencies. The leadership talent required to experience success in industry 15 years ago will not suffice in our corporate world today. Too many of our leaders are not current, resulting in a stagnant workforce, recycling retarded ideas in a cesspool of inefficiency. We shared earlier that it is the responsibility of the leader to create other leaders. The leader measures his success by whether or not someone has been equipped to fill his role in the organisation. Only the insecure and weak leader walks out of the company door at retirement celebrating the fact that no one has the skills to do what they did for the company. The organisation then must ensure that a viable succession plan is created for the company. A clear and transparent system of identifying key roles that will, or might, become vacant is crucial to the success of the organisation. It seems disgraceful that we have to beg retirees to remain in their posts when we knew for years that we would need to fill their roles. Perhaps political, community, religious and corporate leaders need to ask the question: 'Who am I preparing to fill my role?' Finally, companies need to ensure that leaders support the established corporate goals and objectives, and are held accountable in achieving the goals as outlined by executive management. When leaders fail to buy into the vision, mission, values and goals of the organisation, a culture of complacency is developed over time. Leaders must be asked to participate in the goal and target setting process, and then be held accountable in the achievement of those goals. The organisation is then is ultimately responsible for measuring the performance of the leader, and ensuring they are coached towards high performance. Build your leadership base by enrolling your leaders in the Chamber Institute Leadership Academy. The Academy Launched on April 2, 2012. For more details, contact Latoya Swain at lswain@thebahamaschamber.com or 322.2145. NB: About the author Ian R. Ferguson has a Master's Degree in Education from the University of Miami. During the course of his nearly 20 years in education, talent management and human resources, he has served both the public and private sector. He currently serves as manager of the Chamber Institute.