I recently was in the grocery store.  Looking for my favorite coffee.  When I found the isle I was presented with a wall of choices.  38 different varieties of coffee were on the racks with another set of choices as to the volume of coffee.  In a simple walk through the rest of the store, I began to realize that consumers are presented with a Tsunami of choices in all categories.

We all become overwhelmed with these choices and often then gravitate to the best known brand or make some other criteria that will provide the consumer with a method to make their purchase.  The lack of true analysis based on the choices translates into consumers sometimes buying the product that is not the highest quality or the best product, but the product that they know best.

This lesson of choice is important to each of us individually or as a corporation.  When given a choice, why would a consumer seek to choose you?  What makes you remarkable?  Are you packaged differently so that you and your product stand out?  What features of your product is extraordinary?  In service industries, it is close to impossible to change our products.  But our presentation of our products can provide the differentiation that will allow for us to stand out.  Design or experience or features, they all are ways to different products.   Apple computers uses a design and simplicity as the hallmark of their product.  They have the most elegant designs and the simplicity of their user interface is years ahead of the competition’s.   Bank of New York has long emphasized the ‘history’ and ‘experience’ of the bank and its bankers as their distinguishing marks.  They don’t sell checking or saving accounts, they sell the value of their advise in the financial arena.  It is what sets them apart.  Trader Joe’s, a grocery store, long ago determined that they could provide high quality private label products to their consumers.  They choose to eliminate the big national brands in lieu of their own labeled products.  Many grocery stores do this also, but Trader Joe’s did it with panache, a unique sales experience, and the quality of their products made them highly successful.

Commidization of products and services can negatively impact many industries and products.  If they fail to make their products and services extraordinary, they will die.   What can you do to set yourself apart in this tsunami of choices?

Many organizational managers assume that by adding leadership training or a leadership development program that they are able to create a culture that accepts leadership. The move from non-existent leadership to a leadership culture takes time – and a few steps in between. Let’s look at how you can create a culture of leadership.

First, you, as the organizational leader, must acknowledge the existence of leadership potential. It sounds simple, but many leaders do not want to admit that they are replaceable – that someone or more than one person would be capable of taking the reins once they’re gone. Don’t be that leader – seek out and recognize that the organization has talent. Acknowledge that the talent will one day be capable of taking over your vision and moving the organization forward. By making this acknowledgment, you’re telling your mid- and senior-level leaders that a path exists. And you’re telling new hires that the sky is the limit in your organization.

Next, clearly outline what a leader in your organization “looks like” – and hold people to the standard. The list of leadership competencies is a long one. You’ll never find one leader who executes all competencies perfectly. So, you must determine the competencies that mesh well with your organization and its climate. Don’t forget to decide which competencies lend themselves to your vision for the organization and where you see the organization in the future – even after you’ve gone. You should also consider the functional leadership competencies that go along with your organization’s line of business. If you choose too widely, you’ll end up with a picture of a leader who doesn’t exist. Once you’ve determined the competencies, lay them out for the organization. Simply put, you can say that a leader in your organization has these competencies and displays these behaviors. As people move into leadership roles, hold them to the standard.

We’ve already mentioned the fact that organizations do create leadership training and development programs – and you should do that to build a leadership culture. The program should be ongoing and consist of various levels – from “beginning” leadership to the advanced. In fact, your leadership program should begin reaching down into the lowest levels of the organization right away. For example, offer a leadership program to new-hires that details what your leader “looks like”. It’s the seed that will keep leadership growing through all levels. Your program should include seminars, networking, and even real-time project management at the higher levels. By creating a multi-level program, you’re keeping the leadership machinery in motion – and giving the organization a sense that anyone can move up to the leadership ranks.

Now that you’ve got your program, put your mid- and senior-level leaders through the program. You should even include yourself. This way, the message goes out loud and clear that your organization expects the same standard of leadership from everyone – executives included. Any cultural shift should start from the top. If they don’t buy in, how do you expect the lower levels to buy in? It may be an unpopular decision with your executive team, but you’ll be taking big strides in creating the culture of leadership.

At this point, it’s important to explain why you’re making the shift to leadership. The explanation shouldn’t just be afforded to executives and managers but to all levels of the organization. Explain that you’re looking to give everyone an opportunity to advance – and to learn what it takes to do so. Outline the fact that you’re looking for bench strength for all leadership positions – including your own. Not only this, a leadership orientation prepares you for succession planning at all levels, as well as talent management. The benefits to the organization are numerous and it’s your job to explain them.

Finally, focus on the success of the program. When you have a successful advancement due to the leadership program, highlight it publicly. Or, let’s say one of your leadership teams “in training” solve a business problem in their project assignment. Showcase this development as related to the culture of leadership at your organization. When the members of your organization see that the program and its culture are successful, you’ll have no trouble keeping your talent pipeline full.

There are many ways to move to a leadership culture. Follow these steps in the beginning and you’ll find that the transition is simple and beneficial.

Creating a leadership bench takes the skill of a coach and the precision of an engineer. But there are five distinct steps you can take to build your leadership bench – and keep it moving.

First, and most obvious, you must create and maintain a leadership development program. This isn’t simply an order to the training department to create leadership courses. You must obtain buy-in from your management team by showing the benefits: the leadership bench, succession planning, talent management, and career pathing. Your program should begin with classroom training -at all levels, if possible. Everyone in your organization should know what your definition of a leader is – and how to get there. But as you move up the ranks, leadership development should be ongoing, challenging, and not necessarily a sure thing. The program should include real-time projects, seminars, assessment, and evaluation. Program participants who slip should be coached back up – or out. Once someone is in the leadership program, he or she should continue to improve in all aspects.

Second, create a succession plan. Many organizational leaders have a succession plan that resides in their heads. This is not the best place for a succession plan – and you must have the input of the rest of the management team. From your leadership program participants, identify where strengths and opportunities lie. Find out what makes these people tick – it’s possible you have an operations manager whose first love is marketing. The idea here is that you should know who your talent is and what motivates each one of them. But more importantly is the fact that your succession plan, drawing on the strength of your leadership bench, will help determine where people go in the event of planned or unplanned losses of leadership. You won’t have to worry about who would take your place or the places of other seniors or executives, just in case. With this plan in place, you’re building your leadership bench.

Third, conduct regular talent review. This step is twofold: you should be conducting regular talent review both outside and inside your leadership development program. The outside review and assessment should be your tool for identifying potential leaders – and grooming them for the leadership bench. The inside review and assessment, as we’ve mentioned, should focus on maintaining the standards your organization requires of its leaders. Identify high professional and high potential leaders as well – high professionals can be counted on to lead within their field of expertise while high potentials can probably be moved from one area of expertise to another if necessary. With this evaluation and assessment, you’ll be able to fill your bench with “A” level players and coach “B” level players into the “A” position. The beneficial side effect of this approach is that “C” or “D” players will either strive to achieve a higher level or self-select themselves out of your organization. By conducting regular review, you’re keeping your leadership bench ready and always manned.

Fourth, consider rotational assignment within your leadership bench. Some organizations see merit in moving high potential leaders into temporary positions – to expose them to other areas of specialization within the organization. Doing this will also help you separate your high potential leaders from your high professional leaders – and also to focus on creating succession planning for both areas. Once a leader comes off of a rotational assignment, he or she adds further strength to your leadership bench.

Finally, meet with your leadership team regularly to assess the bench, make changes to standards, or to consider how quickly (or slowly) you need to add to talent to the bench. This ensures continued buy-in and weigh-in on the leadership bench and its members.

As we mentioned earlier, building a leadership bench takes coaching and precision. In the precision category, you and your team have to manage the bench to make sure it’s not too big or too small. If you have a huge bench with too many members, they’ll start to look for opportunity elsewhere. After all, as you move up in the organization, there are only so many slots available for potential leaders. But if your bench is too small, you could find yourself in trouble if the business expands or changes rapidly.

Focusing on these steps will help you build your leadership bench and ensure leadership continuation for years to come.

The sixth foundation of leadership is Persuasion and Influence. Let’s find out what each of these critical actions is – and then talk about why they are so important. Persuasion is a combination of actions that can help people agree to or at least see a new viewpoint. First, persuasion is about communicating ideas clearly. As a leader, you’ve probably got a big vision in mind for the organization, and most likely some smaller “milestone” visions, as well. It’s a hard leap from your mind to an articulated thought – and some leaders fail to make the leap. You’ve got to know your vision inside and out, but you’ve also got to express it in terms that are understood by the entire organization.

When it comes to communicating your ideas, you’ll soon learn when it’s time to talk – and when it’s time to listen. That doesn’t necessarily refer to one conversation or interaction – it could amount to months of listening and months of talking – or longer. The key is to use just the right amount of persistence to keep the idea going, to keep people thinking, and to keep the idea’s momentum going. David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, was known for discussing opposing points of view repeatedly until the people involved saw the other side of the story. He used just the right amount of persistence to get this done. When you’re communicating, talk benefits – not how you can help or what you can do. Paint a picture of what the other person, team, or organization will look like once they’ve accepted a new point of view. Don’t forget to base your benefits on fact.

But what about influence?

Influence is the act of crafting your ideas and asserting them through persuasion. Persuasion may be a series of conversations, but influence is bigger. To gain influence, you may need to organize or mobilize a group to prepare for or take action. The process of gaining influence involves gaining support and commitment to your ideas or vision. This is the “politicking” that’s involved in persuasion. You should always be on the lookout for appropriate ways and means to gain influence. Lyndon Johnson was one of the world’s most well known influencers, slipping in mentions of his projects and gaining support from Congressional leaders at parties, on the dance floor with an official’s wife, or in every day conversation. While you’re doing this, you must prove your organizational and business savvy – understand what’s on the table for the other person or group and balance that with your own needs. To gain commitment, you may also have to promise commitment. Another way to gain influence is to step in and manage disagreement, especially when no one else is doing it. Being a conflict negotiator can help you see both sides of an issue and can help you determine the give and take in each situation. Overall, in both persuasion and influence, the effective keys to communication in leadership, which we’ve already discussed, will serve you well.

What are the benefits of persuading and gaining influence? On a personal level, influence builds your own strength – and your interpersonal relationships. You never know when you may need the assistance of someone you meet along the way, so those relationships you make are extremely valuable. The process of influencing naturally gets people to follow your lead and creates a “party” that can move ideas and visions forward. Persuasion, on the other hand, helps you win “followers”, people that trust you as a leader and will advance with you. But more than this, persuasion through influence convinces the “naysayers” and helps people to see the vision more accurately.

Think about persuasion on a family level. Many parents act as authoritarians, and sometimes this may be necessary. But think about the benefits of persuading your children to see another point of view. You’ll educate them in the process instead of using the proverbial “because I said so.” Influence in a community situation is extremely important, so each time you have the opportunity to persuade, you should. Think about influence in communities – what starts out as settling a disagreement between neighbors could lead to wider influence when more important issues are at stake. The corporate world is in desperate need of real persuasion and influence – too often, the person who spouts the most buzzwords is the one who wins influence. If you take the time and have the patience to persuade and influence in any situations, you and your organization will end up better off in the long run.

Copyright 2009 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved.

Training materials can make a big impact on participant engagement, whether they are being used in the classroom or outside of it. Within the classroom, materials should leave a “mental mark” on the participant, that is, he or she should be able to recall important information the next time the materials are open. Outside of the classroom, training materials must serve as a real-time reference that may help participants on the job.

One of the most obvious types of training materials are user and classroom manuals. For a long time, we felt like classroom participants had to have something to hang on to while they were in class. But if your classroom training has evolved into a series of job experiences, you may not need manuals or user guides. On the other hand, if you are providing education on technical or operational processes, you may want participants to follow along in a manual – and take the manual with them when they leave. If this is the case, manuals should be self-explanatory and at least contain an index where participants can quickly reference material. In addition, consider using outsets or removable pages with a condensed version of the process or operation for quick access. Keep text to a minimum and use bullets and numbering as much as possible – a “wall” of text in a printed user manual will probably keep in on the shelf or in the desk when the participant needs assistance.

If you’ve provided tutorials in both live and virtual classrooms, these materials make great references going forward. A tutorial should truly reflect the keys to engagement we discussed earlier in this series. The main keys for a tutorial are that it should be manageable and interchangeable. The manageable component ensures that each tutorial covers just the right amount of information without overpowering the learner. But the interchangeable component ensures that tutorials can be “mixed and matched” for appropriate audiences.

Along with tutorials, job aids are very important and need to engage participants after they leave the classroom. A job aid or quick reference guide can be a printed or online piece of collateral that instructs the participant in one or two technical or operational processes. To engage participants with a job aid, keep the processes within the job aid limited. In other words, use separate components or pages for each process. Also keep in mind that bold text, numbering, and bullets should be used on job aids to draw the user’s eye to the important pieces of information. When training is going on, consider teaching the process using the job aid. This way, participants will be able to better remember the process and remember the job aid that goes with it.

With tutorials or job aids, a best practice for engagement is to combine the overall process with a technical operation if it exists. For example, if you are teaching the sales force how to use the CRM system, place the sales process in the job aid along with the technical steps. This melding of process and technical operation serves to engage the participant through familiarity as well as through the presentation of the benefits of following the process as written.

Finally, you can use social media applications as materials, as well. For example, if a discussion thread on customer service has occurred and been closed, consider “editing” it for content and reusing it. Post the discussion to class participants as a great example of the customer service process. Alternatively, if learners are participating in a blog or discussion after training, have the moderator post the job aid or tutorial. Have participants discuss the job aid, come back with any suggestions, make revisions, and re-post it. This way, participants will be further engaged in the after-training social media as well as the accompanying job aid.

Again, the key to making materials engaging is to remember our keys of engagement: accessibility, relevance, applicability, manageability, and interchangeability. If your materials and job aids pass the “key” test, they will engage participants and continue to be used after training has ended.

Copyright 2010 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved.

I was asked by my son, who is a recent graduate from Syracuse University, what is the message of my blogs.

I did not know how to initially answer him. Finally, the answer arrived.

My personal message is Optimism.

Optimism for individuals, families, communities, companies, the nation and for the people of the world.

All of my messages are optimistic but not an unrealistic assessment of the future is that we can develop a limited and sustainable vision of Leadership and Learning.

It seems that the economic news gets worse each day. Many organizations are faced with constant challenges ranging from job cuts to budget cuts to major changes in structure and delivery. Training and talent management can fall to the bottom of the list in these times, so maintaining the leadership pool you’ve built is extremely difficult. What can talent managers and training organizations do to challenge leaders, keep them motivated and focused, and to minimize the fear of losing their jobs?

One of the best things you can do to maintain the leadership pool in tough times is to use them above and beyond their current responsibilities. Staffs may be smaller, but the organization’s problems and issues will continue. To that end, keep a list of organizational issues that are “bubbled up” and turn them into special projects or assignments for the leadership pool. Leaders, especially those who have never been through an economic crisis, should be aware that their responsibilities may grow even if their positions and salaries do not. If the leadership pool is challenged with solving problems, especially with low or no budget, their training will continue. The bargaining chip for this type of project is that the organization benefits from high professional and high potential leaders working together to solve problems.

On simpler terms, talent managers should keep the leadership pool on a schedule of meetings or gatherings. Some organizations tend to have the leadership pool together for special training or annual meetings, and these events are more likely to happen when budgets are flush and the economy is booming. Get the talent pool together on a regular basis to discuss their issues and solve problems. Even if the pool is geographically diverse, get them on tele- or videoconferences to keep them communicating. If you want to formalize the process, create an action log or action plan from which your special projects can grow. You can also use the meetings for brainstorming; as money shrinks, creativity grows, so use your leaders to solve issues creatively. Budget cuts are no reason to cut meetings between the organization’s current and future leaders.

Some organizations try to outsource leadership development and training, as well. While times are good this is a great thing because leaders get an outside view on their organization and their skills. But if there is no budget for outsourcing, there is still no excuse for creating training. Experiment with “home grown” training programs, both for and by the leadership pool. Employ the organization’s training department to create leadership seminars or courses that take up less time than an outsourced piece. You can even consider having members of the leadership pool deliver “brown bag” lunch sessions in their individual areas of expertise. In addition, don’t forget about leadership development at lower levels. Remember that the lower levels of the organization often suffer the most from training budget cuts, so why not have the leadership pool conduct leadership programs or even send out informative leadership emails to the rest of the organization? With this type of training in place, you’re saving the training budget but continuing to develop leaders at all levels.

Another way to challenge the leadership pool is to create a benchmarking program specifically geared toward the economic downturn. Have your leaders find out what other organizations both inside and outside your industry are doing to weather the economic storm. In leadership meetings, discuss how those benchmarks can be applied within your organization. Even if the information cannot be deployed, it is still worth discussion.

Finally, look for free events through Chief Learning Officer, Talent Management Magazine, and other trade publications. Online seminars and events, while low in cost, are sometimes high in learning. Use these seminars as opportunities for the leadership pool to come together for discussion and implementation of new ideas and techniques.

The creativity, usefulness, and challenge of these ideas will retain your leadership pool, keep them thinking, and reemphasize their importance to the organization. The organization will win with new ideas and problems solved, and the leaders in the pool will be able to focus anxiety and fear on progress and learning.

Copyright 2011 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved.

Leadership is a concept that is sometimes identified only with large organizations, but don’t be fooled by this assumption. Leaders are present in every organization, at every level, and this includes small business. As a small business leader, you are probably more visible and more accessible than leaders in a large company or organization, so your skills are being watched and emulated more closely. Leadership tools and actions span quite a bit of distance, but here are five important leadership tools for the small business.

First, try “planning proactively”. In small business, it’s easy to become reactive. After all, the ups and downs of small business can be much more tumultuous and emotional since they come on quickly and affect a smaller population. But that it is no reason to avoid making plans and being proactive about problem solving. Be honest with yourself and your team about what issues could be ahead. With this, you should know the pitfalls of small business and be aware of how you can solve some of the problems you might encounter. Involve your team in problem solving at every opportunity. This will give them a “stake” in your business and the chance to participate in planning sessions.

Next, create a vision for the business. You probably have a personal vision and had one when you started the business. Does that vision still work for the business? Have you achieved the original vision? If so, it’s time to think of what the future vision is. Along with a vision, what is the mission and goal of the business? Think about these important details, write them down, and visualize them. You can make your vision part of your everyday life – and remember that a vision does not have to be reserved for the largest organizations. Here’s the biggest benefit of this exercise: leaders are visionary thinkers. When you focus on that vision every day, you’ll start to think like the visionary you are. With vision, comes leadership.

Third, you must share your vision with your family, friends, and most of all, your small business team. This is the hard part. As a small business owner, entrepreneur, and leader, the vision is probably a part of you. With large organizations, the vision is usually a shared one to begin with. But your small business was your idea – it’s your “baby” and a vision that concerns it could be personal. And that is difficult to put out there for everyone to see. But you’ll notice that by sharing that vision, you are letting your team become a part of it and live it every day just as you are. Post the vision around the workspace and keep your pride in ownership. By sharing the vision, you’ll truly become a visionary leader. You’ll find yourself making decisions based on the vision, and leading the team to do the same thing.

Fourth, be sure to manage and lead – and know the difference between the two. Small business leaders are usually in the position of wearing two hats, that of the manager or supervisor, and that of the leader. Management is the day-to-day, short-term direction that you provide. Your management may include dealing with customer and employee issues, vendors, orders, and even front line work. You may find yourself scheduling, managing projects, and hiring employees. But don’t forget to go above these things. Provide direction through your vision. Take time to coach employees on their performance. Cheer them on for good work and gently correct them for not-so-good-work. Show your team that you can manage but that you are also a leader who will take them to the next level.

Finally, be willing and able to change. Small business leaders have pride in ownership. The business you created is close to your heart – and it can be difficult to change. But be aware that change will come whether you want it to or not. Don’t get stuck by not changing to meet new employee, customer, and market needs. Examine your systems and operations and make the determination if they are really working or not. Most of all, accept suggestions for change from your team. Open the floor to new ways of doing business. After all, your team may become more intimately familiar with your business, operations, and customers than you are. By being willing to change and open to suggestion, you are proving your leadership.

If your small business needs a “shot in the arm” or if you are just starting out, keep these five leadership tools in mind at all times. Employ them every day and watch your organization grow.

Copyright 2011 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved.

It’s easy to get caught up in leadership skills and development. Plus, when things are going well, it’s even easier to ignore any measurements that tell you how effective the leadership really is in your organization. There are numerous ways to measure effectiveness, but all of these analytics occur in four broad categories. Let’s examine each category of leadership measurement.

The first category of leadership measurement is in the subjective realm. When subjective measurements are mentioned, people have the tendency to dismiss them. But can the subjective measurements of your organization tell you how effective the leadership is? Absolutely. First, and in general, you must take an honest look at the overall morale of the organization. Is it deflating or non-existent? Or is morale high, even in the face of new challenges and obstacles? Low morale is a good indicator that leadership is not effective. What about participation and attendance? For example, if you begin to offer “town hall” style meetings or “brown bag” lunch sessions, are you hard pressed to find anyone who is interested? If you have to beg people to communicate or improve, that’s another subjective measurement of leadership. Is innovation a part of every day life at your organization? What about continuous process improvement? Do people feel comfortable speaking out when they see inefficiency better ways to do things? If not, this is a definite sign that leadership needs to step up.

From the subjective, you can move into numbers-based metrics. Often, the numbers of the organization can tell you if leadership is effective. For example, what does productivity look like now as opposed to last year? Is a temporary “dip” occurring, or is the trend headed down? Other areas of measurement for leaders can be efficiency and mistakes. Are employees making fewer or more mistakes now? Are the errors being corrected in a timely manner, or are they being left to languish? How are sales? Are numbers up or steady, even when times are bad? Take a close look at your customer service, both internally and externally. Are there numerous complaints making it to your level, or are they being resolved at lower levels? You can look at the metrics that are used to determine the health of the organization and make a link back to leadership, especially on those metrics that are not linked to pay or bonuses. Remember that poor organizational performance can be related to many issues, such as market forces, poor positioning, or just bad economics. But also keep in mind that by taking a serious look at these metrics, you can adjust leadership accordingly.

Another method of measuring leadership effectiveness is the implementation of a leadership index. An index is a targeted measurement tool that associates complete regarding their managers or leaders. Essentially, it’s an evaluation of the leader using the skills, behaviors, and attitudes that are found to be appropriate for the organization. In simple terms, you may see questions such as, the person “treats me with respect” and “helps me work on continuous improvement”. The evaluator is asked to give anonymous, confidential answers about the leader. The leader gets to see his or her results and can work on a development plan from those results. There are numerous systems that can create the leadership index for the organization, or you can do it on your own. The main thing to remember is that using generic leadership behaviors, skills, and attitudes will not give you the best picture of effectiveness. The organization must determine what skills and behaviors are most appropriate to its leaders.

One of the final methods of measuring leadership effectiveness is related to the leadership index. You can also measure leadership potential. Using a similar index, the organization can measure how leaders are being groomed and encouraged at lower levels. A large number of potential leaders tells you that leadership is effective at the organization – and that it is catching on at all levels. The fact that a leadership pool is developing on its own tells you that your leaders are indeed leading effectively.

These are broad-based areas of measuring leadership effectiveness. Take the time to look at your organization, its size, and its leadership requirements in order to determine what measurements are appropriate.

Copyright 2011 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved.

Maintaining the leadership pool is a challenging task for an organization and its top leaders. There are a number of activities, as well as developmental exercises, that can be undertaken to grow leadership at every level within the organization. But how can organizational leaders measure leadership? And, more importantly, what analytics can be used to ensure that leadership talent is used efficiently and appropriately? Let’s look at some broad categories of leadership analytics.

First, behavioral profiling is an excellent analytical tool. There are two ways to approach behavioral analytics for leaders. First, you can identify behavioral characteristics of well-known leaders, either in the world at large or within the organization itself. These general characteristics can be used as a “yardstick” for leadership development and leadership measurement. There are many sources of popular leadership profiles, but how can you profile within the organization? Myers-Briggs type indicators are one example. A certified Myers-Briggs consultant can assess leaders, name their “types”, and help the organization build profiles, communication plans, and job-specific characteristics – and use these items as leadership analytics.

Along with behavioral profiling, the organization can make use of leadership assessment from the “other end”. What makes people within the organization successful? If this cannot be defined, those “high performers” can be profiled with their own characteristics. For example, if your organization has not used leadership analytics in the past, identify people at every level who seem to excel at their jobs, have a “following”, and who have consistently proven their worth to the organization and its vision. Take the time to interview these people to determine how they’ve accomplished a successful rise. The data you gather can be used to measure individuals and also to measure what characteristics tend to work within the organization itself.

Analysis of teams is also an excellent analytical tool. There are a couple of ways to go with teams, as well. If your organization is already in the process of formal leadership development, consider bringing the pool together in order to break them into teams and give them “real” organizational problems to solve. Observe how the teams work together, as well as how each individual contributes to the solution or the project. You’ll be able to create an analytical profile of team success at the organization from your observations. If you’re not conducting formal development, consider observing project teams specifically for the purpose of identifying leadership characteristics. What personal and team characteristics tend to propel the team forward, and what characteristics tend to mire the team down? As you record your data, you’ll also see a profile developing.

From the human resources standpoint, benchmarking individual roles for leadership characteristics is also an effective analysis tool. Examine individual jobs within the organization and first determine which incumbents have been “successful” at the job and which ones have had less than stellar performances. From that determination, you can look at individual behaviors that contribute to success within a particular job or role. Conduct this type of analysis at every level of the organization and measure incumbents and job candidates using the metrics you’ve discovered in your initial analysis. This type of role analytics can help the organization create individual leadership profiles for each job and for the organization as a whole.

Leadership training and development in itself can be used as an analytical tool. The program you develop will help you identify high potential and high performing leaders at every level. But along with this comes the ability to identify the organizational players that have the potential to develop – and those who simply do not. Using this analytic, you can begin to develop the “middle road” or “B” organizational players into top-level leaders. And you can begin to exit those non-performers or “C” level players at the same time. All of the analytics we’ve discussed can be part of your leadership development program. For example, you can conduct analysis of behaviors, leadership characteristics, team performance, and even roles within the context of the leadership development program.

Each broad area of analysis leads you to a set of measurements or analytics that can be used to measure existing leadership and to create a leadership goal within the organization. Not only this, these broad areas of analysis can also create a leadership profile by which you measure job candidates at every level, both internally and externally. Take the time to determine which analytics will work for you organization and begin to measure your leadership talent.

Copyright 2011 Bryant Nielson. All Rights Reserved.