Leading the leaders

Recently I had the opportunity to spend a few days with one of our clients, engaging with a variety of leaders from different parts of the business and different functional areas. We were looking at the best way to structure a leadership development process within the business, specifically aimed at the supervisory or front line level. Now, this is a common focus for a lot of our clients: they want to enhance the leadership capabilities at the front line, to better drive performance at the team or operator level.

This makes sense. A lot of the time, if not all of the time, the front line leaders are promoted into their roles from the operator ranks. They are generally chosen because they are good operators, they are technically competent, and they are likely to have a good level of credibility within the team because of the quality of their work. For many first time supervisors, it is the first leadership role they have experienced, and it means that in order to be effective, they need support to learn a new set of skills, specifically leadership and management skills. If your business is in this situation, it makes sense to invest in the front line capabilities to lead, no question.

But what also makes sense is looking at the next level. For this business, it is called the Superintendent level. I asked a number of the leaders about this level in their business, firstly seeking to understand if they were ‘good leaders’. The response was an emphatic yes, with many leaders reinforcing that this was why the supervisors (next level) were the focus of our discussions. My next question was ‘are they good at leading teams, or are they good at leading leaders?’ the response was very different to the first.

The Superintendent level in this business, much like the level below them, had been promoted into the role because they demonstrated competence and skill in their previous role, as Supervisors. That is, it was an acknowledgment of their skill in direct leadership of a team. BUT, for many of them, it was the first time they had to shift from leading a team directly, to leading a group of leaders. 

So what do we see in this situation? We see Superintendents trying to do what they have always done: directly manage and lead the operators; we see Supervisors being undermined in their role because of this, and not given the space to lead their own team, and; we see Managers having to drop into the role of Superintendent because the role is not being filled as it was meant to. The business had viewed this dynamic as being a result of the Supervisor level (and their capabilities), when from my perspective there was more to it. So I’d ask you to reflect on what is happening in your business. Are you seeing a gap in capability in your supervisory level? And if so, are you also looking at the level above? Have they been able to make the transition from leading teams to leading leaders?

If you are seeing these types of dynamics in your business, think about the different skills required to lead at different levels of your organisation, and importantly consider the importance of reflection and coaching for leaders at each different level of the business. Lastly, consider whether your current approach emphasises the different skills required for different levels, and whether you have appropriate development and transition plans to support leaders as they progress through your business.