One question I am frequently asked is “what makes a great leader in a high growth company?” There are many schools of thought this including personality traits, behavioural patterns, the ‘great man” concept, etc .Each has their strengths and weaknesses.
According to new research from the consultancy McKinsey & Company, no matter what model you believe, they have found that a “small subset of leadership skills” closely correlates with leadership success.
McKinsey put together a list of 20 traits frequently associated with leadership. It then surveyed 189,000 people in 81 organisations around the world, and looked at the difference between the organisations with the strongest leadership and those with the weakest. Four factors accounted for 89 percent of the difference between the two groups.
1. Solving problems effectively.
Before you can lead, you must know where to take a team or organisation. That means you need to effectively solve the problems that decisions rest upon; otherwise you run the risk of taking everyone in the wrong direction.
2. Operating with a strong results orientation.
Leaders direct an organisation’s resources to achieve particular goals. Setting objectives and acting as a visionary aren’t enough for great leadership, because if you don’t achieve results, objectives won’t matter. According to McKinsey, “Leaders with a strong results orientation tend to emphasise the importance of efficiency and productivity and to prioritise the highest-value work.”
3. Seeking different perspectives.
Leaders may have great ideas, but to depend only on your own insights is to act from arrogance, risk being influenced by personal bias, and waste the combined experience and insight of the organisation. Smart leaders seek ideas from others and put issues into proper perspective.
4. Supporting others.
Showing authentic interest in others is important to another part of a leader’s job: helping them succeed for the benefit of the entire organisation. Leaders “intervene in group work to promote organisational efficiency, allaying unwarranted fears about external threats, and preventing the energy of employees from dissipating into internal conflict,” as McKinsey notes.
These four factors have a heavy correlation with good leadership. Look at yourself and leaders in your own organisations – what areas do you need to develop?
