Understanding leadership competencies is critical in overall development. There are a variety of leadership and competency levels to take into consideration. For example; a President of an organization will need different competencies than those who are Supervisors. Even if they have a similar competency title, they may have different levels of knowledge, skills and abilities needed to fulfill the position. In this post, I will focus on supervisor competencies and five critical areas for this development.
First, one needs to evaluate what the current persons in the supervisory positions are doing today and then gather data on what is expected by others who work with supervisors. When studying these two perspectives, you may find that there are differences and they will need to be addressed during the next step.
Second, a person will gather a cross-section of leaders to decide eight or fewer competencies that are critical for the position (which competencies are critical in supporting the vision, mission, and values plus skills to meet organizational goals and position requirements) and then create definitions to support the expected behaviors and skills for each competency.
Third, update all documents that help a supervisor understand their role (i.e. performance evaluations, job descriptions, interview questions, etc).
Fourth, create a special learning and development meeting to introduce the competencies to the supervisors and ask for their input in the upcoming training that will most likely be essential to provide current direction for their position.
Fifth, determine which training is essential in the near future and create courses or hire outside professional trainers to deliver the needed training.
There are great resources for helping organizations in putting all of this together and to make it as valuable and exciting for the supervisors development. I hope this information is found useful to those who are looking for general ideas on how to get started.
