HR Headaches - Leadership Capability and Effectiveness

We might be beyond the pandemic (well, I hope so), but that doesn’t mean the challenges are behind us. We continue to see a power and productivity debate over hybrid working, ongoing challenges with talent acquisition and the continuing cost-of-living crisis, and who knows when it might end.

Over the next few months, I'll be sharing my take on some of the headaches that the HR world can’t fully shake. This week and next, I’m looking at Leadership Capability and Effectiveness.

This blog will look at why it continues to be a headache, and next week I’ll share what I think the options are to address it.

So, if you’ve got a bit stuck with your leadership strategy, I’ll be sharing some pain points and ideas to re-energise your plans.

This is not a new headache.

Leadership capability and effectiveness have been a constant challenge for People Teams, but it’s also the ultimate opportunity. 

Imagine a world where all leaders were entirely capable of leading their teams, independently.

Imagine a world where leaders did this so effectively that your time was all about enhancing and enabling a brilliant and evolving employee experience.

Imagine a world where your work focused mainly on the continual upskilling and development of those leaders so they can maintain and grow their leadership capability and effectiveness.

Imagine a world where you are not being continually distracted from your strategic priorities because you need to 'fix' things that have gone wrong.

Bliss, right?

A world where organisations have effective and capable leaders means more time for the People Team to focus on the big picture. This is where we make a difference to organisational success.

What if our time was spent on strategy, strategy Implementation, enabling effective change, and shaping culture? What if continual coaching and developing leaders with a focus on proactive measures that change the working lives of those in the organisation? That would be something!

The reality for most People Teams, is this isn't consistently the norm, and I would argue a significant part of this is down to the current levels of leadership capability and effectiveness.

I’ve spent 20 years in the People Profession, working my way from HR Administration to Associate Director of People Strategy. I don’t think there has been a year where leadership capability and effectiveness weren’t one of my top concerns or blockers to a successful employee experience.

This is also reflected in the Gartner research. They reported that Leader and Manager Effectiveness is the number one strategic priority for HR Leaders in 2023, cited by 60% as their top priority. Despite this, 24% of those HR Leaders said that their approach to leadership development didn’t prepare leaders for the future of work, that’s a significant issue. 

Why bother?

McKinsey found for their report ‘Developing Leadership Capabilities’ that a small group of excellent leaders is not sufficient to steer an ambitious business. The report found that a critical mass of excellent leaders was needed to trigger and sustain corporate growth and to outperform the competition. 

By enabling the majority (if not all) leaders to be capable and effective, you significantly increase the chances of your organisation being successful and, more importantly, more successful than your competition.

By shifting away from this being a headache to an opportunity for People Teams, we can be central to the competitive advantage of our organisations.

Why this remains challenging.

I see several common themes that contribute to the challenges will achieving a consistent and high level of leadership capability and effectiveness:

• We recruit leaders on technical capabilities rather than their abilities or potential to lead. We don't want to lose great people who perform really well and want to progress, so we make them leaders of teams.

• Leaders aren't held to account for their leadership responsibilities and those responsibilities aren't made clear enough. This applies at all levels of the organisation. As People Teams, we need to stop filling in the gaps and focus on enabling and empowering our leaders by holding them to account. They lead their teams, not us.

• We don’t create the capacity for them to lead. What I mean by this is the organisation expects them to focus on tactical activity themselves rather than giving them space to lead their teams.

• Leaders aren't given adequate development and support from the beginning or on an ongoing basis. Leadership is a continually evolving and ongoing responsibility. Leaders need support through learning opportunities, coaching, and mentoring, and this shouldn't be once every five to ten years. Yes, this needs investment, but if you consider the impacts of getting this right, the investment will pay off.

• Finally, leadership role modelling is often poorly done. The leaders you do develop don't experience great leadership themselves, and they don't see great leadership played out. What's their incentive to work hard at their leadership capabilities and effectiveness?

This is not the fault of People Teams.

The People Team are not solely responsible for leadership and the leadership capability of the organisation.

I find that Executive Teams are often unwilling to commit the time and money to this important investment for their organisation. Some of that comes from a blind spot, an unwillingness to accept that leadership is something to own, learn and evolve rather than being a gift you are born with.

It also comes from a reluctance to admit they, too, need this continual development.

Not all Executive Teams think and act like this, but neither do enough of them drive the agenda for brilliant leadership capability and effectiveness in their organisation. They should be leading the strategic planning with their People Team to successfully achieve this goal, as it is fundamental to their overall success.

The People Team are not accountable for the level of Leadership Capability and Effectiveness in the organisation, but we certainly feel the impacts of it when it isn’t where it needs to be. However, I believe we are responsible for supporting our Executive Teams to see and understand the challenge and opportunities and how this translates to the success of the organisation.

We are also responsible for working with the Executive Team on effective plans that will address this continual challenge based on our expertise as People Professionals.

This is complex and will remain challenging due to the issues I’ve outlined. It is complex because it centres around people and their behaviours. I do believe it’s a solvable headache, but it needs focus, attention, complete commitment, and quality solutions with the right level of investment. 

How can we tackle this?

Next week, I'll be sharing my thoughts on the priorities for addressing this continual challenge, so if you are reading this blog for the first time, come back and join us next week!

I’d love to hear what you think about my take on this HR Headache. Is there anything you agree or disagree with, and what would you add?