Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working on filling an opening for my product management team. I’ve been fortunate to have a number of great candidates, all of whom were really enthusiastic about joining the team. As I contemplated the success profile for the position, I kept coming back to the same questions: Could any of these people get things done without direct authority? Could they convince folks to do things on the strength of their business acumen and what was right for the company? Could he/she sell their ideas to all of the consitituents that need to get aligned on the idea(s)?
Could they lead with influence?
I was reading an article today about appreciative leadership that is all about focusing on getting people to focus on aspects of processes that work — instead of focus on everything that’s wrong with the way work is done. It got me thinking about people that are great at leading with influence seem to naturally focus on the positive side of process improvement, not the negative. They tend to be appreciative leaders.
I’m confident that I’ll pick a candidate that’s good at leading with influence — but an organization’s ability to identify this (or other) differentiating traits is a key element of talent management, and then we have to show organizations how they can capture that information in a talent management system to leverage it organization-wide.
The industry has a way to go here — but I think we’re on the right path. Does your organization have a way to measure these kinds of performance attributes?
Pingback: Preach What You Practice (yes, I meant to say it that way) « Perceptive HR Technology
Pingback: Perceptive Perspectives for 2008 « Perceptive HR Technology