Send to KindleGrowing Leaders, A Cautionary Tale
We had a great lineup. Each branch of the organization had a leader who was hand-picked by the boss and was doing a good job. Overall, the organization was enjoying much success. But there was a problem. The boss liked the organization the way it was and was not interested in moving people on to bigger responsibilities in the larger company or moving people up within the organization. In fact, if you were offered the opportunity to move to another part of the company, it meant the boss didn’t like you.
This is the situation I found upon joining the organization. I was responsible for operations; essentially the deputy. I was there only because the boss hadn’t liked my predecessor very well and so had helped him move on. It seemed to me we had become stagnant. We were successful at the time, but could not sustain that success unless we grew new leaders.
Whenever I suggested a move, the boss said no, everything was fine the way it was. But it wasn’t. I saw several high potential leaders who had no opportunity to grow. There were also leaders who needed to move beyond our organization to bigger responsibilities within the larger company.
Eventually, the boss was rewarded with what he hadn’t made available to his subordinates and moved on to bigger and better things. A new boss arrived and immediately saw what was happening. He began managing the careers of the organization’s leaders and asked me who we should consider for advancement. He carefully considered my recommendations and together we helped more junior leaders become successful than in any other organization I’ve been a part of.
It’s important to recognize potential new leaders; senior leaders should be actively seeking them out. But, it’s just as important to ensure they have opportunities to develop leadership knowledge and skill.
Having a great team in place is good. Loving a successful status quo is understandable. But, expecting current success to last forever, without growing new leaders, is the road to disaster.
