Get Rid of Your Best People, In Three Easy Steps!
84% of companies expect a shortage of leaders. One contributing factor is that only 5% of companies have a leader development strategy.
Most organizations don’t have this competency in their staff.
I discovered a recurring theme and developed this phrase, which summarizes why 60% of first-time leaders fail.
I call it “How to get rid of your best people and simultaneously wreck your culture, in 3 easy steps.”
These three steps often go like this:
1. A top individual performer is selected and promoted to leader without any assessment.
2. The first-time leader is not trained or receives improper training and attempts to lead people using the same methods you used as an individual contributor in their previous role.
3. Without the necessary assessment and training, first-time leaders often fail and are required to make a tough career decision. They often choose to leave their organization rather than return to their pre-promotion role and face the career-long embarrassment of being labeled a leader failure.
The first-time leader’s exit causes lingering depression throughout the organization, impacting the emotions and productivity of those who remain. This usually wrecks the culture, which takes a long time to recover and is extremely expensive. Those remaining are hesitant when approached to lead.
With four decades of experience in leader development and culture improvement, I created the Leader Prerequisite Questions to prevent this frequent and costly failure.
There are four questions that I consider non-negotiable for potential first-time leaders. All questions must be answered with a yes to ensure the first-time leader possesses the foundation to transition to a people-centered leader. The four questions are:
1. Do you demonstrate excellent self-leader skills? (Leading yourself well, the most critical leadership skill)
2. Do you genuinely care about people?
3. Are you inspired to lead people? Not motivated but inspired to lead people.
4. Are you trained to lead people?
First-time leader failure is one of the top three people problems. Most training programs attempt to make you a leader solely through classroom training, which can last days, weeks, or months.
You become a leader only when your people choose to follow you.
The program is designed to accelerate leader development for first-time leaders, solopreneurs who hire their first people, and seasoned leaders seeking to improve their skills.