Identifying And Qualifying Potential Leaders

One of the biggest obstacles facing many organizations is a dearth of effective leadership. While a good part of this is related to inadequate leadership training by most organizations, the underlying cause is deeper and more far reaching than that. Before an organization has even a fair chance at training potential leaders, they must develop a professionally organized and run, ongoing program. However, organizations that wish to truly excel and stand out from the pack go further. These organizations systematically attempt to identify and qualify potential leadership.

If this is so obvious, why don't more organizations do it? While there may be a number of reasons, the probable cause is that the lack of existing qualified leaders do not fully understand how important doing so is. Without a qualification and identification procedure, creating effective leaders becomes ever so much more difficult and challenging.

There are many important aspects of the identification and qualification process for leaders and potential leaders. First and foremost, however, the chairperson of that committee must be someone that fully understand what to look for and how the process should work, as well as why it is so necessary. Some of these items include:

(1) A potential leader must have a can-do attitude. Potential candidates for office should be asked certain questions so that the Qualifications Committee can know whether that individual is a good candidate.

(2) Effective leaders do not make excuses. Ask potential leaders how they would handle an error that either they or someone they delegated made. A good leader does not play the "blame game."

(3) It is essential that a candidate demonstrates that he does not believe he knows everything, and shows that he wants to learn.

(4) Future leaders attend meetings, contribute positively, and arrive early. They participate and do not just sit there.

(5) Leaders show a willingness to serve a committees, volunteer, and "step up" when they are needed.

(6) Real leaders always ask questions. However, these questions should be questions that are well thought out, elicit information and details, and help better understand an issue. A good leader doesn't simply blindly go along.

(7) Effective leaders demonstrate good reasoning skills.

(8) Effective leaders demonstrate people skills. They understand and use effective listening, and learn from their questions.

(9) Good leaders learn from every experience. Ask a potential leader lessons they have learned from past experiences.

(10) Good leaders always demonstrate commitment.

It is the responsibility of the Search and Qualification Committee of an effective organization to identify potential leaders, future leaders, up and coming leaders, and "ready for prime time" upper echelon candidates. It requires effort, but doing this combined with effective leadership training creates an optimum situation for an organization to achieve its potential.