When you evaluate skills of upper management/leadership or when you think about the skills upper management/leadership should have, what comes to mind?

….leadership, communication, time management, decision making, self-awareness????

Well, Mindflash (one of my favorite sites these days to check out) put together an infographic based on research from the Center of Creative Leadership and this research revealed some pretty interesting information around skills that leaders surveyed thought were important, as well as where they thought a prospect’s skill level was compared to what was needed for the job.

The skills that leaders identified as important or crucial are:

• Leading People
• Strategic Planning
• Resourcefulness
• Doing Whatever it Takes
• Managing Change
• Inspiring Commitment
• Being a Quick Learner
• Decisiveness
• Building and Mending Relationships
• Composure

If you had to evaluate these skills, are these the most important or crucial skills you feel leaders should possess for effective leadership? If you surveyed leaders in your organization, would they agree with these identified skills? Do you think something is missing? Do you feel any of the identified should be removed?

As you evaluate the research from how leaders ranked a prospect’s skill level compared to what they felt was needed for the job, there is a skill gap across the board. Would you say this is in line with today’s workforce or today’s leaders? Do they need continued or further development? My response, I feel many leaders need further development in these areas, but it also has to be consistent development. Otherwise, we are simply checking the box to say we completed training/development.

So how do you develop managers in these areas? For five of the crucial areas that were identified by the survey leaders, comes some valuable tips to further development leadership in the organization. What is your thought on these tips? Anything you would add or change?

If you haven’t noticed yet, this post asks a lot of questions of you. Why? Because I want to get you thinking. Get out of your box of the typical day-to-day and challenge the norm. Push leaders further to make them better for their people, organization, stakeholders, and customers. If you haven’t figured it out, continued development is needed for everyone – not just leaders.

Now, if you haven’t answered the questions I threw at you in this post, go back and answer them to get started on evaluating your organizational leadership.

Photo Credit:

Mindflash

Phoenix Charter School

Author: Chris Ponder II

Chris Ponder II is a human resources professional who has harnessed his human resources knowledge and experience across the casino, retail, and service industries, where he has challenged people to think outside of the traditional “thought box” and strive for something unique by pushing thoughts and actions to a different scale – the extreme.

Chris has a background is in talent acquisition, employee engagement, training and development, human resources information systems, employee relations, process development and redesign, performance improvement, project management, and human resources analytics.

Knowing the value social media can bring, he continues to be an advocate for trench HR professionals to take a leap with social media and utilize its capabilities to grow both professionally and personally. You can follow him on Twitter at @ChrisPonder.