LVD 2-12
3/04
ABSTRACT
Leading the Way – Three Ways of Doing So
Prepared
by:
Renée A. Daugherty, Ph.D.
342 HES Building
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078-6111
405/744-6231
radaugh@okstate.edu
Pawlak, J.
(2004, February). Leading the way: Three ways of doing so.
Wharton Leadership Digest, 8(5). Accessed February 13,
2004 from
http://leadership.wharton.upenn.edu/digest/02-04.shtml
IMPLICATIONS FOR
COOPERATIVE EXTENSION. While this
article was intended for for-profit business, the principles
apply to organizations such as the Oklahoma Cooperative
Extension Service, Oklahoma Home and Community Education, and
4-H. The reviewer has inserted organization in
the test where applicable to reinforce ideas that Extension
professionals can apply in their work.
In a recent study, Robert Gandossy and
Marc Effron identified three “truths” regarding the effectiveness
of organization leaders:
1.
The CEO and board must provide
leadership and inspiration.
2.
There is a maniacal focus on
identifying and developing high-potential employees.
3.
A company [organization] has to have
the right leadership practices, done right.
Gandossy and Effron arrived at these
truths by studying information developed by their firm, Hewitt
Associates, through its global consulting assignments. They offer
these truths to any organization, whether large or small. The
main message to organization leaders is simple, direct and
profound: "Walk the talk."
Truths 1 and 3 are intertwined. The
research conducted at Hewitt Associates shows that most CEOs spend
less than 15 percent of their time on developing leaders.
Executives at top companies spend at least twice that, because
they understand that they can leverage individual and company
productivity by having as many "helping hands" as possible.
Companies [organizations] that spend
little time developing leaders cannot develop a culture of "right
leadership practices, done right."
As for the board's involvement with
leadership issues, if the CEO is a B-player, you can safely bet
that the board will be populated with B-players.
If a company [organization] has
retention problems, leadership issues surrounding the development
of people are often the root cause. The answer centers on
developing high-potential employees [members] into high-kinetic
employees [members]. B-player leadership sees A-players as
threats, rather than assets to be developed. A-players learn what
they can and then leave the organization.
Top companies [organizations] provide
top talent with challenging assignments that take them out of
their comfort zones. This develops managers/employees [members]
who have a multitude of experiences over time, not
managers/employees [members] with one year of experience 10 times.
