Leadership is a young field according to Ronald Hiefetz, the definitions are not agreed upon, the underlying building blocks have not been vetted. Nonetheless, it seems to be an important factor in getting things done when facing wicked and systemic problems.
I have yet to give up on Heiftez’s definition of leadership. Leadership is about the ability to mobilize people and resources for the common good. Assuming this is true, we can move away from leadership characteristics, and instead focus on the hard work of getting things done in environments where we have to adapt, review our core values and move forward together.
So now the question I’m pondering on is which competencies (applications of critical skills) matter. Deloitte argues that we should move away from 40 point complicated competency models and just focus on what it takes to get things done. I agree.
See their framework below.
Do you think this covers the critical capabilities needed for international development work? Are any capabilities missing?
If I had to replace one of these I would replace inspire others to take action.
I think getting others to take action is more about facilitation and negotiation capabilities than charisma or discovering what is in it for others. Often an important factor is peoples confidence in themselves. Many challenges are protracted, they have a history of failure behind them that can not be ignored no matter how inspiring the alternatives. It’s this history that makes people seem ‘un-inspirable’ and stuck. In these situations, trust, credibility and consistency and self-confidence seem to matter more.
What would you change in Deloitte’s model?
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