Leadership Mismatch
If you were to identify the 10 most important skills that leaders must have and compare it to the 10 skills that leaders actually possess, how closely would those two lists overlap?
The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) set out to answer that question in a study involving 2,200 leaders from 15 organizations, conducted between 2006 and 2008. The CCL’s conclusion: there is an alarming leadership gap or deficit.
In the CCL survey, seven leadership skills are consistently viewed as most important now and in the future:
- Leading people
- Strategic planning
- Managing change
- Inspiring commitment
- Resourcefulness
- Doing whatever it takes
- Being a quick learner
Of the top five needed skills, only resourcefulness is considered a top 10 skill. The four most important future skills “are among the weakest competencies for today’s leaders,” the report concluded. Other areas where there is a significant gap between the needed and existing skills levels are: employee development, balancing work and personal life, and decisiveness.
“These data show that many leaders’ strengths are not in areas that are most important for success,” the report concludes.
For a copy of the report, send me at email at Alan [at] AlanMorantz.com
