Filling the Leadership Funnel™

Research has shown that companies that have integrated talent management and succession planning systems have significantly better fiscal outcomes than companies that do not. The best way to build a pipeline of talent is to begin to evaluate talent early and to continue to build and develop that human capital as they move through the organization. Using the concept of our exclusive Leadership Funnel™, we help organizations design, implement, and carry out the systems necessary to build executive-level talent. Using this paradigm, we can assist with succession issues at all levels of the organization. 

In our experience, the most successful approaches to leadership development are structured around consistent processes. The belief of Jackson Leadership Systems is that it takes time to promote growth and to achieve developmental goals. As a result, our leadership development process spans a two-year timeframe and incorporates a number of key elements: assessment; feedback; development planning; and coaching & mentoring.

Jackson Leadership Systems customizes development programs for leaders at all levels. While our leadership development process remains essentially the same, the methodology is tailored to reflect job challenges and career plans for different levels of leaders in different organizational contexts:

   Executive Leader
   Mid-level Leader
   Emerging Leader

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“The leader never lies to himself, especially about himself, he knows his flaws as well as his assets, and deals with them directly.” (Bennis)

The development process begins with insight. For the individual – insight about themselves to help set appropriate career and developmental goals. For the organization – insight about all their leaders’ strengths and developmental needs to ensure they are challenged, developed, and in the right position. With this information your organization can successfully plan for the future.

Insight is the foundation for a leader’s development. What is insight? It is the understanding and acceptance of their own strengths and developmental needs. Insight is developed through a two-phase process:
1. Assessment
2. Feedback

This phase is customized to meet both the leader's needs and the organization’s needs. Jackson Leadership Systems utilizes a rigorous process which includes some or all of the following steps:

1. Assessing the individual’s career challenges, role definition, personality, and motivation through interviews and tests.

2. Assessing current performance through 360° surveys and open-ended feedback from boss/supervisor, peers, and subordinates. By receiving feedback from others and comparing others’ ratings to their own self-perceptions, he or she will easily recognize the strengths they should leverage. They will also recognize the “gaps” between self-perception and the perceptions of others. Seeing and attempting to understand the differences in perceptions can motivate individuals to change, grow, and develop.

3. Assessing future potential through an Assessment Centre approach, incorporating leadership simulations and tests of aptitude.

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It is imperative that each participant understands their assessment results before they are ready to set goals for their development. This is achieved in two ways:

1. Personalized Leadership Appraisal – this report outlines the leader's major strengths, developmental needs, and major recommendations for development.

2. One-on-one feedback – the participant would meet with an experienced JLS consultant to understand the assessment results.

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“The essence of development is that diversity and adversity beat repetition every time. The more dramatic the change in skill demands …. the more sinuous and unexpected the turns in the road, the more opportunity there is for learning.” (McCall, Lombardo, Morrison – The Lessons of Experience, 1988)

We believe that individuals learn best by doing – by having opportunities to practise new behaviours and by being exposed to challenging situations. While training programs and books are often helpful in supplementing experiential learning, we believe that training should not be the focus of a Developmental Plan. Leaders will develop best when challenged to try new behaviours in their current role, as well as to take on new roles through stretch assignments. To ensure that the insights gained through an assessment are translated into action, clients who go through our leadership development process work together with their JLS coach to set out clear, specific, and measurable goals. This is what is called a Developmental Plan, and becomes the focus of the individual’s leadership development for a two-year period. A good Developmental Plan will include stretch assignments, risk taking, and learning experiences, linked to the achievement of business strategy.

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To ensure leaders are successful in working on their Developmental Plans, a strong support network is required. JLS works with organizations to establish internal coaching & mentoring programs. We recommend that an internal coach (usually the individual’s boss), as well as a mentor (a leader two or more levels removed from the targeted leader) be assigned to work with the individual over a two-year period. The JLS coach who works with the leader also provides strong and consistent support throughout the two-year program. They check in with the leader on a quarterly basis to help them with any difficulties they might be having in fulfilling commitments on their plan. They also assist with any personal issues that are related to their leadership development.

At the one-year mark, a meeting with the participant, their internal coach, their mentor, and their JLS coach is convened to evaluate progress to-date and modify goals or support mechanisms as needed. At the end of two years, these individuals re-convene after a re-measurement process. By repeating the 360° surveys, and by asking those who work with the leader to comment on their progress, leaders are provided with valuable insights which allow them to set new goals and keep on growing.

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• Gain a clear knowledge of your leaders’ strengths and developmental needs
• Establish a culture of continuous learning and feedback
• Put developmental action plans into place based on 360° survey results
• Understand leadership competencies
• Learn an in-depth goal-setting process that they can carry forward & use in the future

“… development happens whether planned or not. The real issue is not that companies don’t develop talent but rather that they aren’t aware of how these unmanaged processes are working, of what their talented people are learning, or of what they could be doing to influence the kinds of leaders being produced.”
(McCall 1998)

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