Great leaders know that greatness comes from wisdom coupled with knowledge. They understand that they have to respect and value people’s knowledge as well as the experiences they bring with them.
Where am I going with all of this? Well, I want to share what DMBA’s Inclusive Leadership Index can tell us about leadership competencies among leading organizations.
Let’s be clear: organizations use various models in developing leadership competencies. When we are seeking to understand how to build leadership competencies, we should understand some basic principles. For example: job performance is a function of aptitude, ability and proficiency. Aptitude determines one’s suitability for a role; ability determines expected quality of performance for an activity; and proficiency defines level of competence. In sum, competence is characterized by both knowledge and skills.
So as organizations embark on identifying key leadership competencies that will develop their leaders, it is a natural progression to ensure that personal competencies are seriously considered.
DMBA’s Inclusive Leadership Index has been ranking leadership competencies for the past five years. In this process, we wanted to also gauge how companies valued inclusive leadership behaviors, so we asked about cultural competencies to see how they were valued in their leadership competency models.
Below I will share with you, in rank order, the Top 10 results for the 2014 survey for leadership competencies:
1. Vision
2. Results Orientation
3. Customer Intelligence
4. Change Leadership
5. Team Empowerment
6. Inclusive Leadership
7. Cultural Competency
8. Emotional Intelligence
9. Active Diversity
10. Conflict Management
Some shifts have been made to define inclusive leadership behaviors, but the reality is that a lot of this is new and organizations clearly are maintaining that vision, results orientation and customer focus are key abilities required in their leaders. The good news for diversity practitioners is that you are being heard, and increasingly organizations are seeking how to include inclusive behaviors in their competency models.
Continue to listen, engage and empower those around you and know that your work is not in vain.
