Warning - this post is a rant.
Only read it if you like a bit of British-Italian humour (that's sarcasm mixed with direct observations).
Future potential. Leadership potential. Who's worth the investment? How do we assess it and how do we make sense of it?
I've been talking about potential a lot lately. It seems that we're having a real moment for trying to identify who our future leaders are going to be. I love it. It's interesting and it really gets a conversation going. There are plenty of models out there that all tell us the same thing. A future leader has people skills, likes to get feedback and "works on it". Is "clever", sees patterns, trends and opportunities others don't. Loves change and is able to help others through change. Is ambitious but not arrogant, is confident but collaborative. Learns from mistakes and delivers against the odds. She (yes I'm using she on purpose!) is basically a god living on Earth.
All potential descriptions describe what we would love to see in our leaders, they are a wish-list of qualities we don't see very often in real life.
Over the last 10 years in this field, I can't tell you how many times I've heard: "wait a minute, I know a lot of senior leaders in my company that are not like that...at all, and they've still come up through the ranks" or "is this in an ideal world?" or "how many people like that actually exist?".
Sometimes I want to change leadership potential to "things I want to see when the bosses grow up". But that's not very politically savvy, is it? (Btw - that's something else she is great at, our god living amongst mere mortals)
Jokes aside, what I see missing in all these deeply researched and scientific models is this: willingness.
Do we ever bother asking people if they actually want to progress and become senior leaders? No is the true answer, don't worry I'm not asking you to admit this on LinkedIn.
Somehow, we assess people, we ask them all these questions about how they deal with people and change, and how they think, and then we take our red pen out and label them as having low/ medium or high potential for a future job - without even asking them if they want that job in the first place.
So, the main lesson for me is this: before you learn what potential is - ask the person in front of you what they want to do in the future. Then, assess against your wish-list given their context, and you may just have a very useful conversation with them.
Nice rant, Valentina Ziviani! And a fact. Few years back in my previous organization, one of my colleagues had clearly informed her manager "I am not interested in your job, I just want to be an individual contributor". And for the time, I saw that intent and focus being respected. So it is important to ask if people what they "want to do".
Great article Val, I like the mix of direct vs sarcasm!
Nice rant Val, I absolutely agree that 'leadership potential' is often a fantasia of the ideal over the reality. There are probably a long list of necessary, less socially acceptable, traits often seen in successful senior leaders. Companies also need to recognise that they may need to change their culture and the way they operate for people to want to step into senior roles. I've heard plenty of mid-level leaders say 'no way' when asked whether they'd want to progress any further because they already struggle to balance family life with work and don't see how this could improve.
I think the assumption is that someone who is ambitious, likes change, clever, opportunistic, helps others through change, is someone who actually wants the "that job" no? Is the assumption false or it shouldn't be made regardless?
So true!! 👏