Effective leadership can be very elusive. True leaders
are few and far in between. The world is rapidly changing and not enough organizations
can keep up. Even more daunting is the lack of leaders ready to take the helm
of departments and companies. In order to react quickly to change and remain
viable, companies need to focus on growing leaders internally to lead the
organization externally.
Management can’t rely solely on tools, technology, training
programs, and set processes to groom leaders. More emphasis needs to be placed
on rethinking existing tools so that people aren’t thrown into training
programs then into a position they may not be ready for. There needs to be some
energy behind approaches to readying leaders. Moreover, organizations have the
responsibility to keep the energy and momentum moving. Existing leaders should
make succession planning a priority with the goal of acting more quickly and
with precision to grow leaders that can easily swing into positions to address
the business needs and challenges.
Leaders Ready Now
Accelerating Growth in a Faster World by Matthew J. Paese, Audrey B. Smith,
and William C. Byham is a very effective tool for CEO’s and talent teams to
include in an overall assessment and plan to not only ready leaders, but
accelerate the leadership growth of key individuals.
Leaders Ready Now is
geared more towards the executive suite and top talent management folks. There
are nuggets that small business owners can glean particularly as an organization
grows. This book is packed very full of detailed tools, strategies, graphs, and
program examples. The appendix is rich with additional tools and suggestions
for growing leaders more quickly so that they can transition into leadership
positions with barely a ripple. With so many details and rich content, this
book is really more of a text book for leadership and will require patient
reading to note all of the gems buried in each chapter.
The authors provide valuable details about talent
reviews, assessments and the need for growth learning and challenges. Business
needs to not just provide leadership development but clear learning assignments
supported by coaching and mentoring. Training and throwing people into leadership
positions will only weaken the organization over time. We just can’t afford to
manage leadership development like so many companies have for years. We need
new approaches, more coaching and mentoring while a leader is learning. Success
will demand an emphasis and commitment to accelerated growth in bringing on
leaders ready to make a difference.
Leaders Ready Now offers
6 “Acceleration Imperatives” supported by key systems associated with each one
peppered throughout 12 chapters. Each has an important role in assisting an
organization in identifying, developing, and energizing future leaders for the
long term. The principles are:
1.
Commit: Adopt (leadership) acceleration as a
business priority.
2.
Aim: Define leadership success for your business
context.
3.
Identify: Make efficient, accurate decisions
about whom to accelerate.
4.
Assess: Accurately evaluate readiness gaps and
give great feedback.
5.
Grow: make the right development happen.
6.
Sustain: Aggressively manufacture the energy for
growth.
Each of these imperatives is detailed throughout the
book. Concrete and detailed information, strategies, plans, and examples are
shared to enable senior leadership to move forward in developing leaders that
are not only ready to lead, but energized. My favorite aspect of Leaders Ready Now is the authors focus
on not only energizing leadership but maintaining
the energy long term. The key to growing great leaders is indeed energy.
Lacking this, all the tools, processes, and plans will fall by the wayside and
an organization will drift back into the “old” methods of preparing leaders to
bring companies into the future to compete and grow.
If you have a hand in selecting, growing, and mentoring
leaders in your business you will gain insight and an increased appetite for
accelerating the growth of upcoming leaders in your business and coaching them
to be ready by reading Leaders Ready Now.
Again, this book is chocked full of detailed information in a text book type
format and may be a bit heavy for the small business owner. Nonetheless, this
book is a wealth of knowledge and will appeal to anyone who is passionate about
leadership and growing people.
