High performance is just as much about the pace of leveraging your capabilities as it is about possessing the right capabilities

14 Dec 2012

The Health LEADS capabilities released last week for comment reflect what’s required for leadership success – however, this is the century where high performance is just as much about the pace of leveraging your capabilities as it is about possessing the right capabilities.

Health Workforce Australia just released its Health LEADS document, some eighteen months in creating, and the five leadership capabilities they have announced are reflective of the leadership behaviours for future leadership success, not just in health, but also across jurisdictions and  industries.However, a core element of the world that  leaders are navigating must also be understood – fast paced. We must move at a faster pace to focus training and development and embed skilled leadership practices into a systemic approach in order to better support 21st Century leaders create the dust rather than eat it. The new world leadership capabilities need to be leveraged for high performance impact and leadership has to do more than create value, they have to rapidly capture it.

So how can we speed up the process of delivering impact now that we know what the leadership capabilities are?

  1. We need to break down bureaucracy, not create it. Consultation analysis-paralysis, micro management by policy people of strategic leaders and operational managers, failure to support leaders who take risks in driving change and innovation are all the enemies of success.
  2. Having committed to a shared set of core leadership capabilities, these must be intelligently embedded and inform every aspect and every initiative that is about building leadership skills. To do so as a matter of urgency is imperative.
  3. Expand horizons and exposure to other systems and views. Leaders should not only network and learn from others outside of their own patch, they should be given opportunities to be immersed in these different spaces and be given the time to be an active member of different communities.
  4. Stretch individuals and accelerate skill development through supporting leaders plan, strategise and implement real world / real work projects and initiatives and do so in a way that fosters growth through taking risks, learning from mistakes and moving forward without fear or punishment.
  5. Leveraging individual leadership capabilities that are strengths, to work in a variety of different roles that build deeper and more diverse solutions and problem solving skills.
  6. Recognise and value individuals by supporting them to engage in the things that they are passionate about.

Finally – Recognise and value individuals by supporting them to engage in the things that they are passionate about.