|
THE
PERFORMANCE EDGE - JANUARY 2010 - www.calipercanada.com |
|
|
|
|
|
Leadership
Development
Leaders and
Managers, is there a difference? We also talk leadership with
Maple Leaf Sport and Entertainment SVP, People Mardi Walker.
And our very own client advisor
Michelle Mowatt offers up some expert advice on leadership
discovery. |
|
|
|
|
|
Leader
or Manager: There IS a Difference
"Management
is doing things right – leadership is doing the right
things." — Peter Drucker
Bob
was great at what he did. So great, in fact, that they
promoted him to manager. And then he floundered. Bill was a
great manager - all of his people loved him - so how come he
couldn't make the leap to leader and failed miserably as CEO? Caliper
knows that success at one level does not guarantee success at
another. And we've done the research, so we can help you
discover whether your top manager has what it takes to rise
even higher and become a leader.
|
|
As
Caliper founder and CEO Herb Greenberg put it, "Pure
managers make the system work, but leaders make things
happen." In
a study Caliper identified four key personality traits as
well as thinking patterns that distinguish leaders from
managers. What were some of these differences?
Influencing
and Directing: Leaders were significantly more Assertive,
Aggressive, Persuasive, Risk-Taking and Urgent.
Building Relationships: Managers were more sociable and
accommodating, while leaders were more skeptical of others'
intentions.
Problem
Solving and Decision Making: Leaders demonstrated
significantly higher Abstract Reasoning, Idea Orientation,
Risk-Taking and Urgency - managers were significantly higher
in Thoroughness and Cautiousness.
Personal
Organization and Time Management: Leaders were much more
Urgent and Risk-Taking. Managers, on the other hand, were
higher in both Self-Structure and adherence to External
Structure. Thoroughness and Cautiousness showed up more
strongly in Managers, as well.
What
Caliper found, then, was that in every personality area,
traits of leaders and managers were different.
Does this mean your star manager will not be a good leader?
Not necessarily. According to Managing Director Andrew Case of
Caliper Canada, that's the beauty of the Caliper Profile.
"Once
an individual has completed the Caliper Profile we can take
their results and reapply them. Let's say you have a manager,
Susan, that you would like to promote to the VP level. We can
take Susan's Caliper Profile and overlay it against the VP
level requirements and provide a recommendation based on how
well Susan's motivation, personality and cognitive traits
match."
And
if there is a gap - depending on the size of the gap, of
course - all is not lost. The Individual Developmental Guide
is a great tool, Case explains, for providing insight on
opportunities for growth. "She may not be ready to move
to the VP level this go round," he said, "But with
coaching and mentoring she can be reconsidered for the next
opportunity."
Knowing
the differences between a manager and a leader is crucial to
helping you map out an individual's career path early on. It's
making sure you have the right people in the right positions
to take the company where it needs to go.
Top
of Page |
|
 |
|
The Inside Track with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment's Mardi Walker, SVP, People
MLSEL
is one of the largest sports and entertainment companies in
North America. Its holdings include the Toronto Maple Leafs,
the Toronto Raptors and the Air Canada Centre, which has
received more than 25 industry awards since opening 10 years
ago. |
Caliper:
When it comes to developing leaders at Maple Leaf Sports &
Entertainment, what has been your biggest challenge?
Mardi
Walker:
We want to be able to develop leaders from within and give
them the growth opportunities. But in comparison with other
organizations, our population is young, so from a leadership
development perspective, it's difficult. You don't have many
people that have a lot of experience in leadership roles -
they've grown up in the organization.
Also,
we've experienced rapid growth. Ten years ago we had perhaps a
third of the employees we have now. Taking young managers and
growing them into effective leaders has definitely been our
biggest challenge.
|
|
Caliper:
How has
Caliper Canada helped?
Mardi
Walker:
They've helped in two ways. First, the Caliper Profile has
become part of our recruiting process. We have the final
candidates take the assessment to help us determine who should
be hired. Later on, we take the information from their
Profiles and the Individual Development Guide and utilize it
to help the new hires grow and develop. That shows us their
strengths as well as the areas they need to work on, so it
helps us set development objectives.
We've
seen it time and time again -an individual is having a
challenge and their performance level is slipping. We ask their manager,
"Have you looked at their Caliper?" Looking at their
Profile gives the manager insight and understanding as to why
the individual is doing things a certain way and what the
manager needs to do to help them.
We
selected a group of directors, high-performing leaders, and
took a really good look at them. We asked Caliper to come in
and do in-depth leadership reports, and using the Profile,
they focused on leadership traits and benchmarked it to 250
top performing leaders to see how they compared. The results
showed us our emerging leadership trends and helped us
identify the common traits. For example, we found out our
leaders were extremely extroverted and sociable in comparison
to the benchmark. Those have turned out to be common traits of
people in our organization.
On
another occasion, we had eight high performers that we were
thinking of promoting. We asked Caliper to come in and conduct
an in-depth session with each of the VPs these people reported
to. With Caliper's help, we put together a development plan
for them. That exercise helped us answer the question, should
this person be promoted, and if so, when? Essentially, the
process gave us a good picture of these eight people, and was
very helpful.
We
also worked with Caliper to develop leadership competencies.
For example, we determined the level of each leadership
competency required for a given position - let's say VP of X
-and then established what level the person was actually
performing at currently. We could then see what that person
needed to work on. The process was very in-depth and provided
good insight.
Caliper:
How do
you retain and develop people in your organization who show
leadership potential?
Mardi
Walker:
One of the things that we have put a focus on is learning, so
we've beefed up and increased internal training - in fact, 99%
of our training is now internal. Our executives do the
training, with a training manager to help design and vet
everything to make it sure it is suitable and interactive.
We've also invested in a new training room and all of the
equipment needed. One of the courses we've run for the last
five years is led by our CEO, and participants must be
selected by senior management. It's a half-day course, and
every three weeks, 6-8 people go through it.
In preparation,
we make sure we have their Caliper Profile done and
benchmarked against top leaders. Richard Peddie, our president
and CEO, sits one on one with each of the participants at the
beginning and the end, and everyone is graded. At both times,
the participants are told how they did on the course, and
their Caliper Profile is discussed. The Caliper has been a
very beneficial aspect of our training.
We
look for cross-functional opportunities for people. For
instance, we had a new position at director level, and we used
the Caliper to see if a candidate from another department had
the right potential to be suitable. Often, it's about a
lateral move and finding other opportunities for an employee.
Caliper:
What do you see as a top priority in leadership development
for 2010?
Mardi
Walker:
We're highly focused on leadership development - it's
ingrained in what we do. I would say the ongoing challenge we
have is getting leaders to understand that they have to be
candid in their communication with their people. It's the
whole coaching piece - being candid in conversations and
telling your team exactly what is going on. If someone in your
group is not doing something right, their manager needs to
tell them. It's all part of training and development, and for
us, so is Caliper.
Top of Page |
|
 |
|
Michelle Mowatt
Caliper Client Advisor |
Michelle
Mowatt has a passion for people and identifying right fit
opportunities to maximize their potential. For the past 12
years, as a Caliper Client Advisor based in Vancouver, Michelle
has helped thousands of companies leverage the potential of
their people to achieve and surpass business goals and
objectives.
Client
Question: "Michelle,
our organization has several 20-something employees who are
talented yet inexperienced individuals that want to move into
leadership positions yesterday. Any suggestions?"
This
is something we hear often at Caliper. Gen Y's are typically
much less patient than their boomer parents. Growing up with
technology, they are accustomed to getting immediate results.
In addition, changes to our education system mean they are
used to receiving immediate feedback, often. In a word,
communication counts for Gen Y's and this is where Caliper can
help.
We
have found managing expectations is mission critical (this is
not news to most of you, I'm sure). The pressing question is,
"How do you manage expectations without taking up all
kinds of precious time explaining things?" Tools like the
Caliper Profile and Employee Life Cycle demystify employee
expectations.
|
|
The
Caliper Profile provides an unbiased, objective overview of
the individual's strengths and opportunities for improvement.
Using this assessment tool means you are dealing with core
traits - what's at the root of results rather than skating on
the surface of specific performance issues. Linking an
individual's performance or lack of performance to these
traits helps you map out a plan together to make the most of
strengths and minimize deficits. The third-party nature of the
Caliper feedback provides managers with information and a
process to bring about quicker and more meaningful buy-in to
the employee's performance plan.
The
Employee Lifecycle helps individuals understand their natural
career progression and when you attach time lines to it,
ensures you are both on the same page. That way, there's no
room for misinterpretation. Models like this simplify a
relatively intangible process and make it easy to understand.
If there are gaps between your time line and theirs, better to
find out right away and manage those expectations rather than
find out in an exit interview that your star performer is
leaving because "they didn't get what they wanted when
they wanted it."
If
you'd like further insight on leadership development for Gen
Y's or any of your employees, talk to me or your Caliper
Client Advisor. We're here to help you optimize your people
potential.
Top of Page |
|
|
|
For
more information on Caliper's Solutions:
|
|
www.calipercanada.com
110
Sheppard Avenue East, Suite 620
Toronto,
ON M2N 6Y8
Canada
Toll
Free 1-888-701-0069
Fax.
416-640-5527
|
Andrew Case
Managing Director
acase@calipercanada.com
Phone: 416.640.5550 ext. 223
Cell: 416.999.4132
|
Jason M. Kipps, H.B.E.S.
Talent R.O.I. Specialist
jkipps@calipercanada.com
Phone: 416.640.5550 ext. 7
Cell: 416.938.4411
|
|
About
Caliper: Caliper
is a global research and assessment organization with offices
in 14 countries and services available in 17 languages. For
over 45 years, Caliper has assessed the potential and
motivation of more than two million individuals and advised
28,000 organizations worldwide. |
|
|
|