Leadership Competencies Simplify Talent Development

Friends and colleagues!

It's great to be back writing!  This post is bringing me out of a pause.  And likely, the pause will continue, but as I was working on a newsletter, I realized I have more to say about leadership expectations and competency models than I could reasonably fit in a newsletter spot. 

In fact, this article has been percolating for some time.  Looking back at my notes… since 2020!  So, it's about time it gets airtime.  It's an important topic and an investment that I've learned can be really helpful in talent work. 

Let's talk about competencies and specifically, leadership competencies.  I love a solid set of leadership competencies, and not just because I'm a talent nerd.  A well formulated set of competencies simplifies our work on several fronts.  Let me tell you more.

Leadership Expectations (Competencies) Make Your Talent Job Easier

Fellow Talent Dev Pros, I'm sure you've made this statement before, too:

"[Insert name] knows that's not an appropriate response to [insert situation]."

But we should ask, how would they know? Are expectations stated simply and with clarity?

If not, that's something we can remedy. A solid set of leadership competencies provides clear guidance to leaders on what is expected of them.

And here's a cool thing - competencies support leadership teams with clear guidance and they help you out on multiple fronts:

• Leadership competencies create a unified standard and a common language for leaders at all levels around what is expected of them in the workplace.

• Competencies help reduce bias in hiring and selection by being clear about performance expectations.

• Competencies provide actionable guidance to sometimes nebulous or vague feedback.

• Succession planning becomes more objective when leadership competencies are clear.

Are you intrigued?  I hope so!  In this article, let's talk through two examples and how to make the most of a leadership competency model.

First, I have an example that really nailed the use of a competency model to set and guide performance expectations for leaders.  This model was a very simple approach to behavioral and performance standards for employees and leaders - it was a loose "competency model," but it worked.

Please note:  I am not an I/O psychologist and rather in awe of those of you who are.  My approach to a competency model will be loose.  I'm looking for guidelines that set very clear expectations for employees on how we approach work in an organization. 

Let's take a look… 

The Southwest Airlines Leadership Expectations Focused Our Talent Development Efforts

I had the privilege of working in the People Department at Southwest Airlines from 2008 to 2020.  It was a joy.  The Southwest Airlines Expectations for Employees and Leaders were in play at that time, and they were great.  They were simple, direct and light-hearted, and read like this:

Live the Southwest Way:

• Warrior Spirit

  • Strive to be the best

  • Display a sense of urgency

  • Never give up

• Fun-LUVing Attitude

  • Be a passionate Team Player

  • Don't take yourself too seriously

  • Celebrate successes

• Servant's Heart

  • Follow the Golden Rule

  • Treat others with Respect

  • Embrace our Southwest Family

Work the Southwest Way:

• Focus on Safety

• Focus on low cost

• Focus on high Customer Service delivery

Additional expectations for Leaders:

• Develop People

  • Know your People

  • Set clear expectations

  • Delegate responsibility; hold People accountable

  • Encourage strengths; address weaknesses

  • Provide timely, candid feedback

  • Build a bench

• Build Great Teams

  • Identify the right People for the right job

  • Build and maintain trust among Team members

  • Encourage vigorous debate and dialogue

  • Gain commitment to shared goals

  • Seek diversity

  • Always be on the lookout for great People

• Think Strategically

  • See beyond today’s activities

  • Act like an owner

  • Embrace problem solving

  • Translate broad objectives into specific action plans

That's it - crisp, simple and clear.

As a best practice, the Southwest Expectations were embedded in all talent practices:

• Recruiters used the Southwest Way to evaluate talent fit, teasing out attitudes with behavioral questioning.

• The annual performance appraisal process for office-based folks was geared more to how employees showed up to get work done using these expectations versus what they accomplished.

• The Southwest leadership development program first addressed the three competencies for leaders.

At Southwest Airlines, you found the Expectations everywhere - in leadership development classes (that's Jeff Lamb providing his insight on the left), on the wall behind speakers in most conference spaces, even on lunchboxes for new hires. These photos ranged from 2008 to 2014, and are low quality because photography is not a personal strength.

All points of talent work were centered on these competencies first.  It created clarity for talent development folks on where to begin programming and what to prioritize. 

My team and I worked on leadership development, so let me share specifically about the value of the Southwest Expectations in that work.  The expectations made refining and introducing changes to leadership development easier.  All leaders from Gary Kelly (CEO at the time) to front-line leaders knew what was expected of the leadership team, so we jumped right into how to go about building skills around these competencies.  Our models and curricula were designed to first build strength in Develop People, Build Great Teams and Think Strategically.  We teased out proficiencies for each of these competencies at various levels of leadership and designed curricula that supported progressive growth.  I remember reflecting on the ease with which we could approach leadership development initiatives because everyone was clear on what was most important.  That was a change from previous roles I'd had, and how refreshing.

I understand the Southwest Airlines Expectations have been updated, and that's great.  Change and growth should be reflected throughout expectations and values.  I hope they are keeping them front and center and allowing them to inform practices throughout the talent framework.

Let's change gears and talk about formulating leadership competencies with a new lens.

Identifying and Forming Leadership Competencies

During my time at Zachry Group, we were making an investment in leadership development.  Because of the tidy work the expectations made at Southwest, I decided the best place to begin was a bespoke leadership competency model fit for Zachry Group's purpose. 

A great thing about Zachry Group - they care about employee input at all levels.  For this project, we wanted employees at all levels to weigh in on what was most impactful from and important for leadership.  A cross-functional team of senior leaders from across the enterprise came together monthly for this work.  We began with interviews deep into the organization, each of us committing to conversations with employees at all levels and from all workgroups.  We compiled hundreds of interviews, assessed commonalities, evaluated fit with the organization, sought feedback, bounced our ideas against external models in the industry and across businesses, assessed again, re-wrote, refined and finally landed on nine competencies that represented the strong work of leadership at Zachry Group.  It was a rewarding initiative and such neat work.

There are plenty of ways to identify and form competencies.  Getting help from a professional is a great way to get started.  I've worked with talented I/O psychologists who can help you with a tailored model.  You might adopt and/or refine an existing competency model - also a great choice.  At Zachry Group, I took what I'd learned working alongside talented professionals to create a similar design experience, but one that was fit for our organization.

Now that we have AI tools at our fingertips, I can see it being helpful in refining and providing a gut-check on a model against effective competency models.  One recommendation - don't just pull a competency model out of an AI engine.  It may be a great starting place, but you must refine it for your organization.  Get a collaborative group engaged to bring relevancy and a match to your workplace.

Leadership Competencies Reinforce Talent Development

There are many ways a solid set of leadership competencies reinforce the good work of Talent Development.

If you already have leadership competencies outlined for your organization, make sure you are making the most of them. I encourage you to make that a priority, as it will ease all other talent development work.

Here are a handful of ideas on how to make the most of a leadership competency set:

1. Make sure leaders know about them.  Refer to them when you're coaching or consulting on talent work.

2. Leverage them when giving feedback or formulating appraisal guidance.

3. Update interview guides to include questions that assess candidate fit per the expectations.  Provide the leadership expectations to candidates as they are learning about the organization.

4. Check the design of leadership development programs to ensure they prioritize skill building on the leadership competencies.

5. Refer to the leadership competencies during talent reviews and succession planning.  How a leader accomplishes work is often more important than what they are accomplishing.

I'm sure you have ideas, and I'd love to hear them.

I hope this post got your gears turning on how a competency model can be useful for your teams and/or how you can use an existing model to support your talent work. Let's get the competency conversation going! Post a comment below.