essaywriter

development plan: 5 years plan, how am i going to achieve it etcfeedback from establish leader: my boss from my internshipweakness: poor communication and presenting myself, multi tasking etcstrength: i dont know, but i am a very sporty, adventurous person, assistant diving instructor (dont know if that help in anything anot) lol

>This

ssment task is a REPORT.

Remember: this

urrent assessment task is a REPORT not an ESSAY.

The critical thinking element

We want you to be very com

ortable with questioning everything you rea

and hear.

Anyone can remember facts and state other people’s views but a far more useful skill is to critically review what you read and hear and decide for yourself how reliable, accurate, applicable, contemporary, objective and fair it is.

In this report, your assessor will value the fact that you are able to see both benefits and deficiencies in a particular theory. Make sure you look through the critical thinking exercises in the course site to get a clear understanding of critical thinking!

How many references should I cite?

There is no right answer to this question because it all depends on what you write in your report. Some statements you make in your report will certainly need a reference to support them.

So, to determine how many references you need to cite, first (as described in the report writing tutorial) draw a mind map of ideas to go into your report and for each idea try to link it to a reference source.

How will the report be marked?

The rubric is reproduced over the page and will be used as a way of providing feedback to you on how you performed.

The most important thing about the rubric is that it DEFINES what you will be marked on. If you include additional material that is not mentioned in the rubric it will not attract any marks, if you forget to write about something listed in the rubric, you’ll lose marks.

So the rubric is like a “contract” between you and your lecturer. Following the rubric clearly is your best strategy for a good result

THE TASK

1. Explore the Central Michigan University competencies model

2. Identify you current strengths and weaknesses as a leader (or potential leader) within the context of the CMU

3. Review the leadership theories explored in this course and describe how they relate to you and your leadership development (again in the context of the CMU model)

4. Create a leadership development plan

. Seek feedback on your plan from an established leader. This leader can be anyone you know who holds a leadership position in an organisation

6. Describe how you have incorporated this leader’s feedback into your plan

7. Describe how you will achieve the developments set out in your plan

8. Describe how you will evaluate whether or not you have reached the level of development set out in your plan

Word limit: 2000 words (not including your reference list or any appendices you may wish to attach)

Due: see due date in assessment tasks folder

Submission procedure: The report must be submitted in both electronic and hard copy.

See the submission section in the course site assessment tasks folder for more details

Report Element	Marks available	Marks awarded	notes
You have included a clear description of – and justification for – for your leadership development plan components. You should include:
a	Explanation of your contextualisation of the CMU Model			5	Did you utilise the whole model or did you focus on a subset of issues within the model? Why?
b	Diagnosis of your leadership strengths and Weaknesses	How did you carry out this diagnosis? What information / journal article / other source will you cite in your report to support the diagnostic process?
c	Industry-specific issues (e.g. manufacturing industry vs financial consulting)	Considering the industry sector that you work in (or intend to work in) are there any issues that are either unique or especially important?
d	Person-specific issues (e.g. gender, age, culture)	Your personal characteristics are important in shaping your leadership development. What can you say, for example, about the impact of your gender or your age group or your cultural background or the country / culture in which you are likely the work?
e	Timeframe for plan (multi-staged? 2 years? 5 years?)	What time frames will you place on various aspects of your leadership development? How soon could you reasonably expect to achieve a leadership development goal?
f	Plan evaluation approach(es )	How will you know that you’ve achieved the goals set out in your leadership development plan? What kind(s) of data and information will inform this?
Your plan is supported by key theory and practice literature. This literature has been cited and formatted according to the RMIT Business Referencing Guide	15	Which ideas, theories and approaches in leadership have you incorporated into your plan? Which reputable source will you “cite” when discussing these?
There is clear evidence of input to leadership plan from an industry leader. What did the leader suggest? What did you change as a consequence of the leader’s advice?	What did the industry leader have to say about your draft leadership development plan? How have you modified your draft as a consequence? (For example, if the leader you consulted said that your timeframe to achieve your leadership gaols was unrealistically short, did you then extend the timeframe top achieve these?)
Total marks for this assessment task	50

Grading approach

High Distinction (HD) 80 – 100%
Distinction (DI) 70 – 79%
Credit (CR) 60 – 69%
Pass (PA) 50 – 59%
Fail (NN) 0 – 49%

Attainment Standards for assessment Levels

Fail 0 – 29%

· Flawed work with little demonstrable understanding of the subject area. Inadequate in terms of knowledge, understanding, evidence and argument, this is vague and incomplete. Work shows evidence of only minimal reading.

· Rudimentary acquaintance with relevant materials and almost no understanding of the issues. Very poor to non-existent argument, evidence or illustration.

· Unstructured answers including frequent factual or serious factual errors.

· Unable to demonstrate even elementary knowledge and understanding of the topic with little evidence of reading to support the work and/or lacking appropriate support from the relevant literature.

· In respect of reflexive statements – student provides an incomplete or inaccurate description of the module task. In addition the student provides no or little insight into his or her own learning preferences and approaches.

· Work may additionally be failed for non-submission, academic misconduct, answering a different question from the one asked, consistently poor or incoherent writing, inappropriate vocabulary or not meeting the other requirements for an ordinary pass as described below.

Fail 30-49%

· For a piece of work to score in the 30-49 range the work would need to be considered ‘basic’ i.e. understanding and knowledge are elementary and sometimes in error.

· Work awarded this level of mark is often also very slim, off the point of the question, badly argued and presented and lacking in supporting evidence or illustration. Summaries of the relevant literature are sketchy and incomplete. There is little in the way of evidence or illustration, and what there is does not provide grounds for the candidate to make a persuasive case. An inability to draw relevant conclusions.

· In respect of reflexive statements – student provides a basic description of the module task with no insight into their own, or other’s, behaviour e.g. “I did this”. In addition the student demonstrates limited insight into his or her own habitual learning preferences and approaches.

· Case studies, when presented, are often badly suited to the subject of study.

· Work submitted demonstrates a poor grasp of the required scholarly standards in relation to presentation, required level of knowledge for the module level, errors, bad spelling or grammar, lack of organisation, assertions with insufficient arguments, late submission etc

Pass 50 –59%

· Satisfactory work. The topic is covered satisfactorily but not with the breadth or in the detail found in the Credit or Distinction range.

· There is reasonable coverage of the positions apparent in the relevant literature but the student does not examine this material in great depth or with great insight.

· A descriptive, rather than carefully argued, style of writing. Much of the weight of the work is carried by summaries of the existing literature.

· The student can go beyond answering the easiest questions and has some grasp of the more difficult material in the course.

· Argument is less acutely developed, and the use of evidence and illustration, while clear, is somewhat limited. Conclusions are limited in scope.

Credit 60 – 69%

· Good work. It is clear that the student understands the subject matter and has read widely in relation to it. The reading has been of sufficient breadth and depth for the student to master the material.

· Well-developed critical arguments and appropriate use of terminology.

· The answer displays considerable competence in developing an argument and the student is able to evaluate and synthesise the various cases made within the established literature. Work is characterised by coherent arguments supported by evidence from the work of other authorities or by direct empirical analysis rather than being characterised by assertion based on prejudice and unreflective opinion.

· The work is clearly structured and the use of evidence, argument and illustration is clear and competent.

· The student is self-critical and able to identify weaknesses as well as strengths in his or her own work, whether it is an essay, an argument, a piece of software, a proof etc.

· In respect of reflexive statements – student provides a thoughtful commentary on the task and how they learn and interact with others and the effect this has on the completion of the task, their own learning and relationships, combined with evidence of an ability to critically evaluate relevant theories of learning or groupwork in the light of the student’s own experience.

· The student is able to give clear, confident and interesting presentations on his or her work or the work of others, and to deal with questions and criticisms well.

Distinction (DI) 70 – 79%

· Excellent work. In addition to possessing the features of the Credit level work in this marks range demonstrate a comprehensive knowledge of the subject matter.

· Material is deployed in a disciplined way and the student has a sophisticated awareness of significant issues of debate in the area. In addressing the question the student shows that s/he is able to use this knowledge and awareness to develop independent thinking.

· The work is clearly structured and convincingly supported by appropriate evidence, argument or illustration.

· In respect of reflexive statements – student presents a thoughtful commentary on the task. This includes not only insights into how the student learns and interacts with others and the effect this has on the success of the task but also their own learning and development. In addition the student is able to critically evaluate and critique relevant theories of learning and be able to reflect on their own role in the reproduction of current management practice and theory.

· Work in the 70-79% range is normally evidence of extremely solid, thorough, comprehensive written work, i.e. the result of consistent hard work, though without very great originality.

High Distinction (HD) 80 – 100%

· In addition to possessing the features of the Distinction level work in the 80-89% range is normally evidence of original work, defined as where a student has identified new or unsolved problems or where the student has been able to make sophisticated distinctions in their analysis, drawing inferences, identifying flaws in published work, and developing new themes.

· Work in the higher range of marks is of a standard that could not conceivably be improved upon given the experience level of the student and the conditions under which the assessment was conducted.

· Work in the 90-99% range is normally characterised by work approaching the quality of published academic texts.

ALeadership Competency Model: Describing the Capacity to Lead

(
LEADERSHIP
)

Table of Contents

Introduction

A Model of the Dimensions of Leadership Competency

Self-Management

A Model of the

Core Competencies of Self Management

Self Management Dimension 8

Examples of Excellence in Self Management 8

Examples of Poor Self Management 9

Core Competencies of Self-Management

Work Habits

Work Attitudes 11

Stress Management

Self Insight 13

Learning 14

Situations Requiring Focus on Self Management

Leading Others

A Model of the

Core Competencies of Leading Others

Leading Others Dimension 17

Examples of Excellence in Leading Others 17

Examples of Leading Others Poorly

Core Competencies of Leading Others

Communicating 19

Interpersonal Awareness

Motivating Others 21

Developing Others 22

Influencing 23

Situations Requiring Focus on Leading Others

Task Management

A Model of the

Core Competencies of Task Management

Task Management Dimension 26

Examples of Excellence in Task Management

Examples of Poor Task Management 27

Core Competencies of Task Management

Executing Tasks 28

Solving Problems 29

Managing Information and Material Resources 30

Managing Human Resources 31

Enhancing Performance 32

Situations Requiring Focus on Task Management

Innovation

A Model of the

Core Competencies of Innovation

Innovation Dimension 35

Examples of Excellence in Innovation 35

Examples of Poor Innovation

Core Competencies of Innovation

Creativity 37

Enterprising 38

Integrating Perspectives 39

Forecasting 40

Managing Change 41

Situations Requiring Focus on Innovation

Social Responsibility

A Model of the

Core Competencies of Social Responsibility

Social Responsibility Dimension 44

Examples of Excellence in Social Responsibility

Examples of Poor Social Responsibility

Core Competencies of Civic Responsibility

Civic Responsibility 46

Social Knowledge 47

Ethical Processes 48

Leading Others Ethically 49

Acting with Integrity 50

Situations Requiring Focus on Social Responsibility

Introduction

Although people tend to recognize leadership when they see it, defining leadership with precision and detail is often more difficult. The purpose of this report is to provide a detailed model of leadership to aid in the development of leaders.

This report describes competencies of leadership—valuable skills, abilities,
behaviors, attitudes, and knowledge areas. Although leaders are not going to master every competency, they will need to be aware of all of them, know their own shortcomings, and focus on developing these competencies in themselves or be able to recognize these qualities in others so they can select people who compensate for their weaknesses.

This model of leadership was developed through a number of processes, including:

a) Reviewing the academic literature on leadership,

b) Studying the practice of competency modeling and existing leadership

competency models developed by corporations and government

agencies,

c) Analyzing the content of the Occupational Information Network (O*NET), and

d) Interviewing member of Central Michigan University community (students, alumni, administrators, professors, and employers of our

graduates). Highlights of these interviews are presented at the end of this report.

Note. A technical report providing a more detailed description of the process of developing the competency model is available by emailing Stephen Wagner (wagne1sw@cmich.edu).

Introduction

Five dimensions of leadership competency are described in this report.

· Self Management

· Leading Others

· Task Management

· Innovation

· Social Responsibility

A graphic depiction of this model is presented on page six. Although there are many things that leaders are expected to do, these five dimensions capture the primary categories that are considered the most important for leadership success.

Each of the dimensions includes several core competencies that are considered valuable skills, abilities, behaviors, attitudes and knowledge areas in which leaders are expected to excel. This report describes each competency dimension by:

a) Displaying a model of the core competencies for that dimension,

b) Defining the leadership dimension,

c) Providing examples of excellent and poor leadership behavior for that

dimension,

d) Defining the core competencies for that dimension, and

e) Identifying situations that require focusing on that dimension.

(
LEADERSHIP
Self-Management
Leading Others
Task Management
Innovation
Social Responsibility
)

A Model of the Dimensions of Leadership Competency

(
Time Management
Goal Orientation
Organization Skills
Work Ethic
Follow Through
)

(
Work Habits
)

(
Learning
)

(
SELF
MANAGEMENT
)

(
Work Attitudes
)

(
Initiative
Effort
Persistence
Energy
Independence
) (
Learning Strategies
Intellectual Curiosity
Continuous Learning
Seeking Feedback
)

(
Stress Management
) (
Self Insight
)

(
Self Control
Stress Tolerance
Personal Resiliency
Work-Life Balance
Adaptability
)

(
Optimism
Self Confidence
Self Awareness
Humility
Suspending Prejudices
)

A Model of Core Competencies for Self-Management

(
SELF
MANAGEMENT
)Self Management Dimension

Good leaders know their own values, strengths, and limitations and are able to control their emotions and behaviors. They must strive for personal development by engaging in continuous learning and being willing to seek help when needed or admit when they have made a mistake. They should be able to adapt to stressful or dynamic situations and be able to maintain a balance between their work and non-work lives.

Examples of Excellence in Self-Management

A sales manager from a real estate agency had overcome challenges in less difficult markets. As a result, he was moved into the most challenging market in Metro Detroit. As soon as he realized the complexities of his job, he sought advice from more established sales counselors, managers, area vice presidents and regional vice presidents. He drew from others’ experiences and worked longer hours to incorporate these newly learned strategies. He quickly adapted to his new tasks without getting emotionally overwhelmed and brought energy, dedication, out of the box thinking, ownership and accountability to the site. As a result, the agency sold more properties.

A Resident Hall Advisor (RA) was too busy with her leadership role and felt she was neglecting her academic and personal life. Since she was living where she worked, she found herself getting too involved in the personal lives of her residents, and in general, was constantly doing too much for others. Due to this situation, she found no time for herself. She learned to set strong boundaries for keeping her personal life separate by scheduling specific time to meet with her residents. She learned her limitations and her priorities changed because of them. She took more time for herself, school, family, and friends and as a result she had more energy and focus for her RA role. In the long run, she accomplished more.

(
SELF
MANAGEMENT
)

Examples of Poor Self-Management

A student was asked to head a committee to raise funds for an upcoming group trip. He had never participated in any fundraising project before, but felt as though he could lead effectively anyway. The president of the organization informed him of a campus fundraising workshop being held as part of an enrichment series for student organizations. Instead of taking the president’s advice and attending the workshop, the student developed a poor attitude and blamed his group members for lacking the necessary expertise. When the fundraising effort failed, he was asked to explain the failure. The student refused to acknowledge his own lack of ability and unwillingness to seek improvement. He said that they were too busy to attend the fundraising workshop and the failure of the project was due to the irresponsibility of his group members.

Despite having a heavy class load, a member of a student group chose to be an officer on the executive board. Because she was poorly skilled at managing her academic and organizational duties, she regularly handed in reports late, missed meetings, and attended none of the group’s social activities. When the organization’s president questioned her about this poor performance, she made excuses about the late reports and said she felt harassed. She began badmouthing the group and its members to other students. Eventually, she resigned the office and left the organization.

(
SELF
MANAGEMENT
)

Core Competencies of Self-Management

Work Habits

·
Time Management:
Making good use of time by organizing, prioritizing and scheduling tasks.

·
Goal Orientation:
Setting and attaining specific and challenging goals for oneself.

·
Organization Skills: Organizing one’s responsibilities and performing them in an efficient manner.

·
Work Ethic:
Being diligent to ensure the successful completion of tasks related to one’s job as a leader.

·
Follow Through: Ensuring that one’s promises are realized in behavior; doing what one said one would do.

(
SELF
MANAGEMENT
)

Core Competencies of Self-Management

Work Attitudes

·
Initiative:
Initiating tasks and taking on new challenges.

·
Effort:
Exerting oneself to complete tasks successfully and achieve goals.

·
Persistence:
Enduring in one’s tasks despite challenges or difficulties.

·
Energy:
Maintaining progress and enthusiasm throughout the completion of a task.

·
Optimism: Having a positive outlook about oneself and others.

(
SELF
MANAGEMENT
)

Core Competencies of Self-Management

Stress Management

·
Self Control:
Controlling one’s emotions even in difficult or challenging situations.

·
Stress Tolerance:
Remaining effective even when situations become stressful.

·
Personal Resiliency:
Withstanding and overcoming stressful situations.

·
Work/Life Balance:
Controlling the influence of stresses of one’s non-work life on work life and vice-versa.

·
Adaptability:
Adapting to changing or dynamic situations.

(
SELF
MANAGEMENT
)

Core Competencies of Self-Management

Self-Insight

·
Self Confidence:
Believing in one’s self and in one’s ability to perform a successful job as a leader and acting accordingly.

·
Self-Awareness:
Assessing one’s success in learning or working activities and being honest about said judgments. Knowledge of one’s strengths and weaknesses and knowledge of one’s boundaries and limits.

·
Self Reliance:
Being able to work and think without the guidance or supervision of others.

·
Humility: Being able to have a realistic perspective of one’s worth and ability to admit to one’s mistakes.

·
Suspending Judgment: Keeping one’s personal beliefs and biases from overly influencing one’s decisions.

(
SELF
MANAGEMENT
)

Core Competencies of Self Management

Learning

·
Learning Strategies:
Learning new techniques for developing oneself through the use of multiple approaches.

·
Intellectual Curiosity: Valuing learning and seeking situations to increase one’s knowledge.

·
Continuous Learning: Keeping informed on updates to one’s profession and leadership in general.

·
Seeking Feedback:
Willingness to seek feedback on one’s performance as a leader and to use the feedback to learn and grow as a leader.

(
SELF
MANAGEMENT
)

Situations Requiring Focus on Self Management

·
Importance of Individual Goal Setting:
When an organization requires its
members to periodically set their own goals, organization skills, time
management, and self-awareness are particularly important.

·
Role Conflict:
When an individual has to deal with conflicting duties as part of their job as a leader, a variety of self-management competencies
may become very important. These include stress tolerance, resilience, and
prioritizing demands.

·
Role Overload: If there is an inconsistency between the expectations of others and one’s ability to fulfill those expectations, then persistence, learning strategies, and self-monitoring are important self-management competencies for a leader.

·
Significance of Error:
When an error will result in extreme and extensive negative outcomes, leaders must be aware of their own performance to avoid mistakes.

·
Frustrating Situations:
When uncontrollable circumstances result in difficulties attaining goals, leaders have no control, they must have control over their emotions, be aware of their own limitations, and know when they have to improve in order to complete work.

·
Required Continuity or Alertness:
When leaders must maintain concentration or awareness because the situation continuously changes, they must be able to keep themselves on track and know how they must adapt to deal with a new situation.

(
Communicating with Coworkers
Active Listening
Facilitating Discussion
Public Speaking
Developing External Contacts
Communicating Outside the Organization
)

(
Communicating
)

(
Interpersonal
Awareness
)

(
Influencing
) (
Leading
Others
)

(
Psychological Knowledge
Social Orientation
Social Perceptiveness
Service Orientation
Nurturing Relationships
) (
Cooperating
Persuading
Resolving Conflicts/Negotiating
Empowering
Inspiring
Political Savvy
)

(
Developing
Others
) (
Motivating
Others
)

(
Taking Charge
Orienting Others
Setting Goals for Others
Reinforcing Success
Developing and Building Teams
) (
Knowledge of Principles of Learning
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others
Assessing Others
Coaching, Developing and Instructing
)

A Model of Core Competencies for Leading Others

(
LEADING
OTHERS
)

Leading Others Dimension

Leaders must maximize the potential of others and motivate them to attain shared goals. They must be able to manage individual and group performance with an understanding of group dynamics and team building. Leaders must actively listen and communicate effectively to persuade others and build consensus and trust. They should understand and be empathic toward individual’s emotions and needs and be able to resolve conflicts in a respectful manner.

Examples of Excellence in Leading Others

A manager was assigned to a store where the existing employees had been managed by fear for many years. The newly assigned manager had an open door policy and communicated daily with the employees during frequent store walks. He also worked hand in hand with each employee over the period of 1½ years. He held luncheons for all the employees and kept the lines of communication open. He handled problems as they arose and nothing was ignored. He challenged people to see him as an associate rather than as an authoritarian manager watching over them. He was involved in the community and had a genuine interest in others. Because of his actions, he was able to improve the store’s morale. The overall store’s conditions improved along with customer service and sales.

A new student organization had a hard time getting off the ground soon after its founder left. One of the members volunteered to be president. She worked well with her executive board, giving them responsibilities, and expecting results. She listened to members’ needs (meeting times, office space, projects) and acted in their best interests.

There was camaraderie, exchange of ideas, and acceptance of differences of opinions academic status. Members helped each other to understand student policies, shared conversation over lunch, and felt comfortable with voicing their frustrations. Word got out, and more students joined and enjoyed participating in the various get-togethers.

(
LEADING
OTHERS
)

Examples of Leading Others Poorly

There had been a work situation in which a subordinate’s action could have been interpreted in two ways: either a costly intentional mistake or an honorable action to assist others and help the organization. The manager could have made a 5-minute phone call to the subordinate, which would have made it clear that her intentions were honorable. However, no call was made. The manager’s assistant was highly confident that the mistake was intentional. The manager chose to let his assistant draft a disciplinary letter to the subordinate. The letter was then distributed to several people. Upon receiving the letter, the subordinate provided the manager with documentation that proved that her actions had good intentions. In addition, independent reviews of the matter (union, peers, etc.) also concluded that the subordinate indeed had good intentions. The manager had clearly made a mistake, but never apologized. As a result, the subordinate doubted whether her manager had the leadership qualities to succeed in the future. Ultimately, loss of trust occurred between the manager and his other subordinates.

A leader made a decision with no input from others and little background research. When the decision was announced, and those people affected were asked for background information to support the decision, none was forthcoming. Thus, the leader and her support staff spent many hours to try to ‘spin’ the decision, making up data along the way. There was no ownership of the decision. The leader’s lack of using a participatory style was so offensive that even those who internally agreed with her decision resisted supporting it due to her autocratic style. She did not spend the time gathering relevant information or input from key subordinates and experienced resistance for her decision.

(
LEADING
OTHERS
)

Core Competencies of Leading Others

Communicating

·
Communicating with Coworkers:

Communicating information using either face-to-face, written, or via telephone or computer.

·
Active Listening:
Listening intently to what others are saying and asking for further details when appropriate.

·
Facilitating Discussion:
Promoting the involvement of various individuals and a norm of openness and collegiality during group discussions.

·
Public Speaking:
Vocalizing clearly, maintaining a comfortable pace, and using appropriate non-verbal behaviors during formal presentations. Utilizing visual aids during presentations. Engaging the audience and responding to questions from the audience.

·
Developing External Contacts:
Developing portfolio of external contacts within the professional community.

·
Communicating Outside the Organization:
Exchanging information with others outside the organization (e.g., customers, other organizations) using face-to-face, written, telephonic or electronic means.

(
LEADING
OTHERS
)

Core Competencies of Leading Others

Interpersonal Awareness

·
Psychological Knowledge:
Knowledge of human behavior, mental processes, and individual and group performance.

·
Social Orientation:
Being comfortable interacting and working with others.

·
Social Perceptiveness:
Awareness and understanding of how and why others are reacting the way they are.

·
Service Orientation:
Actively seeking out ways to assist people in their duties.

·
Nurturing Relationships:

Building positive and cooperative working relationships with others. Maintaining relationships over time.

(
LEADING
OTHERS
)

Core Competencies of Leading Others

Motivating Others

·
Taking Charge:
A willingness to initiate the activities of groups and lead others toward common goals.

·
Orienting Others:

Orienting new employees to provide an overview of the organization and its policies, work rules, and job responsibilities. Reviewing current job assignments for existing employees to identify work experiences that will help the employee develop.

·
Setting Goals for Others:

Setting challenging but attainable goals for individuals and groups. Specifying actions, strategies and timelines necessary for goal attainment.

·
Reinforcing Success:

Measuring and tracking progress toward goals to evaluate individual and group performance and provide feedback. Rewarding positive work behavior to reinforce activities that are aligned with the goals of the work group and the organization.

·
Developing and Building Teams:

Managing inertia and conflict during the formative stages of group functioning. Enhancing the performance of a group and the satisfaction of its members by promoting cooperation, trust, and confidence in the group.

(
LEADING
OTHERS
)

Core Competencies of Leading Others

Developing Others

·
Knowledge of Principles of Learning:
Knowledge of learning theories and design of individual and group teaching plans.

·
Interpreting the Meaning of Information for Others:

Translating or explaining information in a way that can be understood and used to support responses or feedback to others.

·
Assessing Others:
Evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of others’ efforts at learning or performing tasks.

·
Coaching, Developing, Instructing:

Coaching, teaching, and advising others to help them develop their knowledge and skills. Creating individual development plans. Selecting appropriate training courses to address developmental needs.

(
LEADING
OTHERS
)

Core Competencies of Leading Others

Influencing

·
Cooperating:
Working well with others to jointly achieve goals.

·
Persuading:
Communicating with others to convince them to perform a task or approach something in a different manner.

·
Resolving Conflicts/Negotiating:

Dealing with complaints, resolving conflicts and grievances of others. Encouraging others to come together and reconcile differences.

·
Empowering: Delegating authority and investing power in others.

·
Inspiring:
Convincing others to believe in the organization’s values and to act in accordance with those values.

·
Political Savvy:
Knowledge of the political climate and how decisions will be affected by the organization’s culture.

(
LEADING
OTHERS
)

Situations Requiring Focus on Leading Others

·
Employee Participation:
When employees are active participants in the decision-making process, cooperation, coordination, and conflict resolution
strategies are important competencies for leaders.

·
Type of Team: Based on the type of team being lead (new or experienced, high interdependence vs. low interdependence), leaders must be able to adapt how they guide, direct, interact with, and motivate group members.

·
Group Socialization: When a new member joins the group, the leader must
use teaching, coaching, and mentoring to acclimate the person to the group.

·
Multiple Modes of Communication:
When leaders must communicate with different types of groups and individuals, they must be able to recognize and adapt to the necessary modes of communication that will fit their needs.

·
Supervisory Roles:
When leaders are expected to train, coach, or supervise
others, they need to understand others’ beliefs, abilities, and perspectives.

·
Sales and Marketing Roles:
When leaders must be able to persuade or influence people easily, they need to have good communication and negotiation skills and listen effectively to others.

(
Task-Relevant Knowledge

Delegating
Attention to Detail

Coordinating Work Activities
Providing Feedback

Multi-Tasking

)

(
Executing
Tasks
)

(
Solving
Problems
)

(
Enhancing
Performance
)

(
Analytic Thinking

Analyzing Data

Mental Focus

Decision Making
Designing Work Systems
)

(
TASK
MANAGEMENT
)

(
Enhancing Task Knowledge

Eliminating Barriers to
Performance
Benchmarking
Strategic Task Management
)

(
Managing
Human
Resources
) (
Managing
Information and
Material
Resources
)

(
Succession Planning
/Recruiting
Personnel Decision Quality
Managing Personnel Policies
Maintaining Safety
)

(
Managing Materials & Facilities

Managing Information Resources

Performing Administrative Activities

Maintaining Quality
)

A Model of Core Competencies for Task Management

(
TASK
MANAGEMENT
)Task Management Dimension

Leaders use task-specific knowledge and experience to guide the group to attaining its goals. Leaders must engage in problem solving, delegation, time and resource management, and eliminating barriers to performance. Leaders also must strive for results and provide feedback to ensure effective contributions from all constituents

Examples of Excellence in Task Management

A group of students was involved in a consulting project. One of the students emerged as a leader and mobilized them to achieve a goal. He took on the role of a communicator and a liaison between the client, the group, and the instructor. In addition, he worked hard to allow all group members to contribute to the project, despite their different skill levels and backgrounds. The group was extremely diverse and the situation was ripe for a conflict due to misunderstanding. The leader assigned tasks to group members and clarified responsibilities and deadlines. He also made sure that everyone was focused on the same goals because the nature of the project made it easy to shift the focus from essential tasks to other activities that were less important. Because of this, the group members invested a large amount of time, energy, and enthusiasm in the project. The leader achieved this level of group performance by empowering others.

A leader provided feedback to her employees effectively and in a timely manner. She set aside specific times to meet with the employees individually. She was mindful of the various work schedules and allowed the employees to schedule the sessions at their convenience. When it was time for a meeting to take place, she ensured that it was in a private setting. During the meeting the leader used constructive criticism, avoiding a negative focus. She explained what influenced her assessment by describing the task-specific behaviors over which the employee had direct control. When she outlined recommendations to address the employee’s performance improvement, she allowed the employee to comment and then actively listened to the employee’s perspective. Finally, the leader and employee came to an understanding of the next steps the employee needed to undertake for future success.

(
TASK
MANAGEMENT
)

Examples of Poor Task Management

A student organization was planning an event, which would require a substantial amount of funding from their private account. The treasurer of the organization informed the president that they did not have enough funding to host the event. An emergency meeting was called by the president of the organization, in which all of the executive members of the organization would attempt to resolve the situation. The president emailed the executive board members about the meeting one day before it was scheduled to be held. Upon arriving to the meeting, the president convened without even acknowledging that three of the eight executive members were not present. The treasurer fielded questions about the situation and took charge of the meeting by delegating tasks and responsibilities. There seemed to be no order to the schedule of the meeting. The president sat idly by, paying little attention, while the meeting was underway. The meeting came to a close without the president questioning the treasurer about the current allocation and history of the funds. The issue was never resolved and the event did not take place.

A company expected leadership and customer maintenance from its recruiters. A recruiter who was not very organized lost track of many of the people with whom she had been in contact. By not keeping in touch with these potential contractors meant to fill the company’s openings, she lost track of many individuals that could have filled these positions. When she was ready to recruit for these positions, she could remember talking to the people that would have been great fits, but, because of her lack of organization, she was unable to find their resumes or their contact information. Because of this, she had to spend extra time recruiting people. It cost her and the company valuable time and money.

(
TASK
MANAGEMENT
)

Core Competencies of Task Management

Executing Tasks

·
Task-Relevant Knowledge: Knowledge of standard practices and procedures necessary to accomplish tasks.

· Delegating: Assigning tasks to the appropriate people based on knowledge of individuals, work processes, organizational planning and work group flow.

·
Attention to Detail:
Placing focus on the details of the task to be accomplished.

·
Coordinating Work Activities:
Coordinate the work-related activities necessary for task completion of all relevant constituents (both inside and outside of the group/organization). Adjusting one’s own plans in light of how others are acting or how the environment is changing

· .

·
Providing Feedback:
Providing both positive feedback and critiques, in a timely and constructive manner, to allow others to know how they are doing and improve on weaknesses.

·
Multi-Tasking: Working on a variety of tasks simultaneously and shifting one’s resources between multiple systems when needed.

(
TASK
MANAGEMENT
)

Core Competencies of Task Management

Solving Problems

·
Analytic Thinking: Using existing information to logically evaluate situations and solve problems. Utilizing inductive and deductive logic to make inferences.

·
Analyzing Data: Summarizing and making inferences from information
through the application of statistics and qualitative analyses.

·
Mental Focus: Concentrating and avoiding distractions when making
sense of information that is not immediately coherent.

·
Decision Making:
Quickly prioritizing and evaluating the relative costs and
benefits of potential actions needed to complete a task.

·
Designing Work Systems:
Designating the responsibilities of individual jobs and structuring the work of groups in organizations.

(
TASK
MANAGEMENT
)

Core Competencies of Task Management

Managing Information and Material Resources

·
Managing Materials and Facilities:
Monitoring the delivery, inventory and flow of materials using tracking systems as well as, identifying and designing facility location/layout to maximize productivity.

·
Managing Information Resources:
Understanding information needs and providing access to efficient tools for project management, data analysis, strategic planning, and process controls.

·
Performing Administrative Activities:
Approving requests, handling paperwork, and performing other daily administrative tasks. Entering, transcribing, recording, or storing either written or electronic information.

·
Maintaining Quality: Evaluating materials and information produced against a set of standards through the use of measures of quality in order to track system and/or group progress.

(
TASK
MANAGEMENT
)

Core Competencies of Task Management

Managing Human Resources

·
Succession Planning/Recruiting: Examining organizational structure to identify staffing issues needed to achieve strategic objectives. Attracting many qualified applicants for open positions within the organization.

·
Personnel Decision Quality:
Making good personnel decisions by identifying and assessing the knowledge, skills, and experiences needed to successfully perform a role in the organization.

·
Managing Personnel Policies:
Developing and monitoring policies, programs, and procedures related to work practices and compensation.

·
Maintaining Safety:

Minimizing potential safety hazards and maintaining compliance with company policies, safety laws, and regulations.

(
TASK
MANAGEMENT
)

Core Competencies of Task Management

Enhancing Performance

·
Enhancing Task Knowledge:
Involving the group in discovering methods to enhance task performance and redirecting the group to achieve better task completion.

·
Eliminating Barriers to Performance:

Identifying roadblocks and redundancies in work processes. Promoting improvements in task performance.

·
Benchmarking:
Facilitating communication outside of the organization to identify and integrate the best practices in task design and performance.

·
Strategic Task Management:
Matching the appropriate people and resources in the organization to maximize task performance. Maintaining task performance through times of turbulence.

(
TASK
MANAGEMENT
)

Situations Requiring Focus on Task Management

·
Formalization: When the rules, procedures, and communication of an organization are written down, a leader must communicate and enforce the rules while setting a good example.

·
Job Enrichment: When leading groups that have jobs characterized by autonomy, a variety of responsibilities, and extensive feedback, competence in many areas of task management will be important.

·
Task Assignment: When the immediate supervisor is expected to assign tasks and goals for the group, deductive reasoning, implementing ideas, and attention to detail are particularly important.

·
Responsibility/Accountability:
When leaders will be judged only by the end result of their work, leaders should be extremely careful that everything happens according to plan so as not to adversely affect the end result.

·
Significance of Details:
When thoroughness is key for success, leaders must be able to manage details and ensure the successful completion of tasks in a timely manner.

·
Frequency and Strictness of Deadlines:
When the work must be done by frequent, stringent deadlines, leaders must be able to manage time well and prioritize.

(
Generating Ideas
Critical Thinking
Synthesis/Reorganization
Creative Problem Solving
)

(
Creativity
)

(
Enterprising
) (
Managing
Change
)

(
INNOVATION
)

(
Sensitivity to Situations
Challenging the Status Quo
Intelligent Risk-Taking
Reinforcing Change
) (
Problem Identification
Seeking Improvement
Gathering Information
Independent Thinking
Technological Savvy
)

(
Forecasting
)

(
Integrating
Perspectives
)

(
Openness to Ideas
Research Orientation
Collaborating
Engaging in Non-Work Interests
) (
Perceiving Systems
Identifying of Downstream
Consequences
Visioning
Managing the Future
)

A Model of Core Competencies for Innovation

(
INNOVATION
)Innovation Dimension

Leaders must be able to think creatively while taking initiative and calculated risks. Effective leaders have a vision beyond the immediate work of the group. This involves exploring and integrating diverse perspectives and recognizing unexpected opportunities.

Examples of Excellence in Innovation

A team was having difficulties with meeting a customer’s deadlines and expectations. The individual was a long-standing customer with whom the team had previously completed project work successfully; however, the current project was causing many problems for the team members. The leader held a quick meeting to discuss the problem, where she implemented a creative problem-solving approach. She asked each team member to interview three other members of the team (including the customer) to understand their perspectives about the problem. They were not allowed to include their own perspective when reporting their findings; rather, they had to be objective and professional. The process of debriefing these interviews provided the group an opportunity to analyze objective information, which led to a consensus about the problem and how to fix it. This creative approach was useful because it involved everyone and eliminated the conflicts that typically arise from hidden agendas and defensive egos. The project was completed in an efficient manner and the customer was happy.

A manager approached his division leader with a new technical solution that his group was eager to solve a difficult problem that the company was facing regarding electronically linking external trading partners. The division leader was very apprehensive about implementing the program. However, the manager and his group had strong feelings about the capability of the technical solution proposed. He convinced the division leader to permit a one-week trial run, and was willing to assume complete responsibility for the project outcome. He used technology to electronically link partners to information about the company’s schedules, product rules, and ability to deliver in the order-fulfillment chain. A process that previously took days was completed instantaneously. The result was a significant financial savings for the organization and the partners.

(
INNOVATION
)

Examples of Poor Innovation

A grocery store emphasized to its newly hired employees that they should perform given tasks strictly according to the company’s preferred manner. After several months of following these traditional procedures, three employees developed a new method for doing the work. They discovered that by working in teams, they were more efficient, the work became more enjoyable, and they could interact more with customers. The manager discovered this new practice after the employees had tried it for several weeks. Despite the increased productivity of the teams, he could not accept this change from the status quo. He no longer allowed the employees to work together. Therefore, productivity declined and the work atmosphere became less enjoyable.

The leader of an information technology division was asked to shorten a process that was used to test software solutions. She was provided with some of the brightest technical and analytical people as resources and was also given access to many research organizations. She was too focused on examining current problems with the process rather than envisioning what it may become in the future. Instead of trying a different approach and engaging the collective creative power of the team, she made it her personal agenda to keep making adjustments to the ways things had always been done (something that had been tried before with no success). The final software development project was ineffective due to its incapacity to withstand dynamic and unforeseen issues. This led to financial losses for the company.

(
INNOVATION
)

Core Competencies of Innovation

Creativity

·
Generating Ideas:
Coming up with a variety of approaches to problem solving.

·
Critical Thinking:

Logically identifying how different possible approaches are strong and weak, and analyzing these judgments.

·
Synthesis/Reorganization:

Finding a better way to approach problems through synthesizing and reorganizing the information.

·
Creative Problem Solving:
Using novel ideas to solve problems as a leader.

(
INNOVATION
)

Core Competencies of Innovation

Enterprising

·
Identifying Problem:

Pinpointing the actual nature and cause of problems and the dynamics that underlie them.

·
Seeking Improvement:
Constantly looking for ways that one can improve
one’s organization.

·
Gathering Information:

Identifying useful sources of information and gathering and utilizing only that information which is essential.

·
Independent Thinking:
Thinking ‘outside the box’ even if this sometimes
may go against popular opinion.

·
Technological Savvy:
Understanding and utilizing technology to improve work processes.

(
INNOVATION
)

Core Competencies of Innovation

Integrating Perspectives

·
Openness to Ideas:
A willingness to listen to suggestions from others and to try new ideas.

·
Research Orientation:
Observing the behavior of others, reading extensively, and keeping your mind open to ideas and solutions from others. Reading and talking to people in related fields to discover innovations or current trends in the field.

·
Collaborating:
Working with others and seeking the opinions of others to reach a creative solution.

·
Engaging in Non-Work Related Interests:
Being well-rounded and seeking information from other fields and areas of life to find novel approaches to situations.

(
INNOVATION
)

Core Competencies of Innovation

Forecasting

·
Perceiving Systems:

Acknowledging important changes that occur in a system or predicting accurately when they might occur.

·
Evaluating Long-Term Consequences:

Concluding what a change in systems will result in long-term

·
Visioning:

Developing an image of an ideal working state of an organization.

·
Managing the Future:

Evaluating future directions and risks based on current and future strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

(
INNOVATION
)

Core Competencies of Innovation

Managing Change

·
Sensitivity to Situations:

Assessing situational forces that are promoting and inhibiting an idea for change.

·
Challenging the Status Quo:
Willingness to act against the way things have traditionally been done when tradition impedes performance improvements.

·
Intelligent Risk-Taking:
Being willing and able to take calculated risks when necessary.

·
Reinforcing Change:
Encouraging subordinates to come up with innovative solutions. Recognizing and rewarding those who take initiative and act in a creative manner. Facilitating the institutionalization of change initiatives.

(
INNOVATION
)

Situations Requiring Focus on Innovation

·
Importance of Organizational Goal Setting: When organizational goals are explicitly stated, identification of downstream consequences and appraisal of solutions are critical innovation competencies.

·
Lack of Direction and Focus: When an organization lacks clear vision, leaders will need to develop an image of the future, utilizing creative ideas and information.

·
Unexpected Problems: When a difficult problem arises, leaders must critically appraise the problem, arrive at a solution, and evaluate the solution quickly and effectively.

·
Lack of Task Clarity:
When tasks are not clearly defined, leaders must be able to be creative, inventive, and move in new directions when they arise.

·
Lack of Task Specificity:
When tasks are performed at one’s discretion, leaders must be able to figure out the best way to accomplish their work.

·
Competitive Challenges:
When leaders must compete or be aware of competitive pressures, they must be innovative in their approach to work and create new ideas before competitors.

(
Communicating with the Community
Helping the Community
Civic Action
Adopting Beneficial Values for Society
Providing a Good Example
Social Action
)

(
Civic Responsibility
)

(
Acting with
Integrity
)

(
Social
Knowledge
)

(
Financial Ethics
Work-Place Ethics
Honesty and Integrity
Being Accountable
Courage of Convictions
) (
Knowledge of:
Sociology and Anthropology
History and Geography
Foreign Language
Philosophy and Theology
Organizational Justice Principles
Legal Regulations
)

(
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
)

(
Leading Others
Ethically
) (
Ethical
Processes
)

(
Open-Door Policy
Instituting and Following Fair Procedures
Explaining Decisions in a Respectful Manner
Ensuring Ethical Behavior of Subordinates
) (
Servant Leadership
Valuing Diversity
Distributing Rewards Fairly
Responsibility for Others
Avoiding Exploitative Mentality
)

A Model of Core Competencies for Social Responsibility

(
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
)Social Responsibility Dimension

Leaders must act with integrity, honesty, and justice. They must work in the best interest of others, showing respect and empathy for unique individual and cultural differences. Good leaders create a culture that promotes high ethical standards along with personal, organizational, and civic responsibility. Ethical leaders recognize and conduct themselves in concert with universal moral principles as well as specific values, laws, and ethics relevant to their group or organization.

Examples of Excellence in Social Responsibility

A Resident Hall Advisor realized that none of her residents had received an invitation to compete for Freshman of the Year. She knew that all students who were in the top ten percent academically during their year as a freshman should have received a letter inviting them to compete for the honor. She immediately checked with other RAs in various halls and confirmed her suspicions. She also found out that finalists had already been selected and the process was closed. She called the chair of the selection committee for Freshman of the Year and the committee’s president. She found out that the wrong year group had mistakenly received invitations to compete. She persisted in her efforts to ensure fair treatment of the students for whom she was responsible. She rallied other students and administrators to get the selection committee to restart the process and the appropriate students were allowed to compete.

An older couple was seated in a restaurant next to another family waiting for service. After a short while, a waitress came to take the couple’s order. The couple told her that the other family was there first she should wait on them. She replied, “That’s okay; they can wait. Besides, I don’t like to wait on those kind of people anyway.” They were an ethnic-minority family. The couple thanked the waitress, got up and began to walk out. At the register, the manager asked if everything was all right. The couple told him what had happened. He said he appreciated their thoughts, invited them to go back into the dining area, and said he’d take care of the situation. He walked over to the African-American family, apologized for the wait, and took their order. As he walked back toward the kitchen, he stopped to talk with the waitress. He served the family himself and again offered his apologies for the wait.

(
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
)

Examples of Poor Social Responsibility

Several years ago a group of students were taking a class together as a cohort. These students all knew each other and were living together in the same residence hall. One influential member of this group had an idea that could result in everyone getting a good grade on the class final. The final was going to be essay questions selected from 4-5 questions given to the class in advance. His idea was to have everyone have their blue books filled out with the answers to the questions before the exam. He was inappropriately using his strong interpersonal skills and his charisma to persuade others to commit an unethical act. Fortunately, others in the group had the courage to notify the appropriate authorities the night before the exam. The authorities dealt with this individual and prevented the scheme from coming to fruition.

A student group planned to sponsor a concert, but had problems securing finances. To acquire enough funds, the group’s chair agreed to work with two other student groups in a collaborative effort to sponsor a campus wide concert. She subsequently became the chair of this new collaborative committee and began meeting with students from the other groups. The make up of the committee was demographically diverse. The chair advocated for hiring a performer liked by the student group she represented.. When concerns about the group’s lyrics were mentioned, the committee came up with a more multicultural group to hire. The chair rejected this alternative because her student group had hired the band in the past. She again advocated for hiring the performer preferred by her student group and then insisted they vote. She was insensitive to the cultural diversity of the committee and her attempts at persuasion alienated the other people on the committee. The college ultimately rejected the performer that the chair supported due to concerns over racist and misogynist lyrics. The collaborative committee broke up, and it resulted in strained relations of the three groups.

(
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
)

Core Competencies of Social Responsibility

Civic Responsibility

·
Communicating with the Community:

Communicating organization’s intentions and activities to the public (e.g., local press, radio, television) and representing the organization in community affairs and public activities to promote awareness and foster goodwill.

·
Helping the Community:

Meeting the needs of the community by promoting opportunities for corporate giving of financial and human resources.

·
Civic Action:
Supporting participation in civic duties by encouraging others to vote and engaging in other duties of the political system.

·
Adopting Beneficial Values for Society: Seeking and embracing values that benefit society rather than the organization.

·
Providing a Good Example:
Always acting in accordance with society’s and the organization’s laws, rules, and guidelines, and behaving in fair and ethical manner.

·
Social Action:
Actively creating necessary change in one’s community or country by advocating for underrepresented or needy groups.

(
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
)

Core Competencies of Social Responsibility

Social Knowledge

·
Sociology and Anthropology Knowledge:
Knowledge of the political systems, values, beliefs, economic practices, and leadership styles of countries other than one’s home country, as well as knowledge of universal group dynamics, behavior, and socio-cultural history.

·
History and Geography Knowledge:
Knowledge of the physical location and relationships between different land and sea regions and the historical events that have shaped the culture of inhabitants of these regions.

·
Foreign Language Knowledge:
Understanding a non-native language in order to communicate in oral and written form with people who speak that language.

·
Philosophy and Theology Knowledge:
Knowledge of ethics and the philosophical viewpoints behind various ethical models and understanding how different philosophical and religious systems affect behavior of groups and individuals within a cultural context.

·
Knowledge of Organizational Justice Principles:
Knowing and understanding distributive justice, informational justice, interpersonal justice, and procedural justice and being able to apply those principles to ensure subordinates are treated fairly.

·
Legal Regulations:
Awareness of local, state, and federal laws and regulations and abiding by these regulations at all times.

(
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
)

Core Competencies of Social Responsibility

Ethical Processes

·
Open-Door Policy: Promoting a climate of openness and trust. Allowing individuals who are upset about an aspect of the organization to voice displeasures without retribution or repercussions.

·
Instituting and Following Fair Procedures:
Instituting and applying rules and procedures in a consistent, unbiased, accurate, and correctable fashion to ensure that subordinates know that fair rules are being used.

·
Explaining Decisions in a Respectful Manner:
Explaining decisions that affect subordinates thoroughly and in a manner that demonstrates dignity and respect for the subordinates.

·
Ensuring Ethical Behavior of Subordinates: Instituting, training, and reinforcing policies to ensure that subordinates treat each other and the organization fairly and with respect and dignity. Disseminating information about laws and regulations to subordinates and make sure that they follow laws and regulations by overseeing, monitoring, and auditing behavior. Disciplinary action should be taken against those who do not comply with laws and regulations.

(
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
)

Core Competencies of Social Responsibility

Leading Others Ethically

·
Servant Leadership:
Being attentive to the needs of followers, empathizing with their concerns, and serving their best interests.

·
Valuing Diversity:

Encouraging a wide range of viewpoints among team members in order to avoid groupthink and create more culturally sensitive solutions.

·
Distributing Rewards Fairly:
Ensuring that pay, recognition, and other rewards are distributed in a fair manner, with clear guidelines and enforcement of those guidelines.

·
Responsibility for Others:
Willingness to be responsible for the behavior of subordinates in one’s organization and correct their unethical behaviors.

·
Avoiding Exploitative Mentality:
Not sacrificing concern for others or using people and exploiting them to achieve goals for the organization.

(
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
)

Core Competencies of Social Responsibility

Acting with Integrity

·
Financial Ethics:
Understanding and following ethical financial management and accounting principles.

·
Work-Place Ethics:
Understanding and following ethical guidelines at one’s work place.

·
Honesty and Integrity:
Behaving in an honest and ethical manner.

·
Being Accountable: Accepting responsibility for the effects of one’s own actions.

·
Courage of Convictions: Avoiding behavior that is unethical even if it may appear ethical to the public or may be consistent with the public opinion. Upholding decisions that are ethical yet unpopular.

(
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
)

Situations Requiring Focus on Social Responsibility

·
Information Sharing: When there are multiple sources of information, leaders must ethically and honestly communicate all information to subordinates, peers, and clients.

·
Recruitment Processes: When employers must hire new members, leaders must recruit in an honest manner, following all relevant laws and regulations and recognizing the diversity in the workplace.

·
Conflict Between Personal and Organizational Values: When organizational values vary significantly from the leader’s values, honesty, courage, integrity, and acting ethically are important competencies for leaders.

·
Communicating Subjective Information:

When the job involves communicating emotionally/psychologically valued subjective information, leaders need to respect the anonymity and confidentiality of the information.

·
Responsibility for Safety of Others:
When leaders have to be careful not to cause harm to others or are in charge of establishing policies to protect others, they need to understand social responsibility and behave ethically.

·
Significance of Error:
When the consequences of mistakes are severe and widespread, leaders must know the most ethical way to handle a situation so as not to cause terrible outcomes.

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate the participation of the community of Central Michigan University in the development of this competency model. The contents of this report were greatly influenced by information gathered from interviews and surveys of seventy-five members of this community, including students, alumni, faculty, administrators, the Leadership Council, and employers of graduates of Central Michigan University.

A variety of sources of academic literature also influenced the development of this competency model (a complete reference list is included in a technical report that is available by emailing Steve Wagner at wagne1sw@cmich.edu ).

Three books in particular were utilized extensively. Northouse (2004) furnished information on leadership theories and his chapter on Leadership Ethics was especially useful. Schippman (1999) provided a great deal of practical information on topic of competency modeling. Peterson, Mumford, Borman, Jeanneret, & Fleishman (1999) supplied a detailed description of the O*NET, a database of job information maintained by the United States Department of Labor. The O*NET system was utilized by the authors to identify leadership competencies across a wide range of occupations. References for these books are presented below.

Northouse, P. G. (2004). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Peterson, N. G., Mumford, M. D., Borman, W. C., Jeanneret, P. R., & Fleishman, E. A.

(1999). An occupational information system for the 21st century: The development of O*NET. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.

Schippmann, J. S. (1999). Strategic job modeling: Working at the core of integrated

human resources. Mahwah, NJ: LEA.

About the Authors

Ashwini Bapat received her M.A. in Psychology from Osmania University, Hyderabad, India in1999. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Central Michigan University.

Misty Bennett is currently a second-year doctoral student in the Industrial/Organizational Psychology program at Central Michigan University. She received her B.S. degree in Chemistry and Psychology with a Mathematics minor from Central Michigan University.

Gary Burns is completing a PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology at Central Michigan University. He received a Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from West Virginia University.

Cathy Bush received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Masters of Business Administration from Central Michigan University. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Central Michigan University.

Kirsten Gobeski attended Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa, where she received BA in Psychology. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Central Michigan University.

Sara Langford graduated with a bachelors degree in Psychology at Central College in Pella, IA. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Central Michigan University.

Matthew Monnot received a B.S. in Psychology and B.A. in Sociology from Colorado State University, a M.S. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Florida Tech, and is completing a PhD in Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Central Michigan University.

Brigitte Pfeiffelmann received a BS in Psychology from Central Michigan University. She is currently pursuing her M.A. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Central Michigan University.

Brian Siers has a B.S. in Psychology, with minors in Business Administration and Philosophy, and an M.A. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology, both from Central Michigan University. He is currently completing his Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Aaron Stehura graduated from Ohio University with a BA in Psychology and Sociology. He is currently a second-year doctoral student in the Industrial/Organizational Psychology Program at Central Michigan University.

Stephen Wagner is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at CMU. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Northern Illinois University in 2000.

3M’s Leadership Competency Model: An Internally Developed Solution • 133

3M’S LEADERSHIP COMPETENCY MODEL: AN
INTERNALLY DEVELOPED SOLUTION

Human Resource Management, Summer/Fall 2000, Vol. 39, Nos. 2 & 3, Pp. 133–145
© 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc

Margaret E. Alldredge and Kevin J. Nilan

This article describes the development of an executive-level global competency model at 3M.
The work on this model was completed in partnership with the company’s top executives and
a global team of in-house professionals. The competency model itself consists of 12 competen-
cies and generalizable behavioral anchors for each competency. The applications for the work
include the assessment of the level of readiness of candidates for the company’s top 500 global
positions, development of incumbent executives, and improved objectivity in the placement
of future leaders. The article concludes by outlining some key lessons learned from this ongo-
ing work. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Introduction

During the last 20 years, the tumultuous,
global business climate has challenged hu-
man resource professionals to help organi-
zations survive and even flourish in the face
of constant pressure to change. Marke

emerge, enlarge, or disappear with ever in-
creasing speed. Competition in areas of new
product development, information manage-
ment, manufacturing capacity, and sourc-
ing is genuinely global. Technological
changes have radically altered how organi-
zations deal with their business, creating
increased pressure for speed and the capa-
bility of the information technology infra-
structure. For many companies, traditio

nal

competitive advantages for numerous prod-
ucts have virtually evaporated. What re-
mains constant is the differentiation achiev-
able through the skills and contributions of
the employees of an organization. This dif-

ferentiation can be unleashed or inhibited
by the behavior of the organization’s leaders.

The structural changes taking place in
business have impacted very directly the in-
dividual differences or capabilities needed by
executives and managers. As stewards of suc-
cession planning, selection/placement activi-
ties, and development processes, human
resource professionals are definitely in the
middle of the fray. With state-of-the-art sys-
tems and processes, human resource profes-
sionals are able to help their organizations
navigate through these turbulent times and
maintain their competitive positions. The good
news is that they have the potential to use
knowledge, learning, and tools to impact dra-
matically their organizations.

Focus

In this article, we outline 3M’s response to
the environmental challenges that necessitate

Technological
changes have
radically altered
how
organizations
deal with their
business,
creating
increased
pressure for
speed and the
capability of the
information
technology
infrastructure.

134 • HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Summer/Fall 2000

strengthened leadership. This article details
the creation of a 3M template of global lead-
ership competencies for use in assessment,
development, and succession.

The principal driver at 3M for the creation
of this leadership model is the need of the or-
ganization to survive and grow. As product dif-
ferentiation narrows, margins shrink, and
pressures on pricing mount, the effectiveness
of leadership becomes more critical for sur-
vival. As Bass (1990) notes, leaders have a di-
rect influence on the performance of the
organization as well as on the satisfaction and
performance of those whom they lead. Both
enhancing the efficacy of the appointed lead-
ers and developing future leaders with more
intentionality were expected at 3M as direct
consequences of the successful implementa-
tion of this work.

A secondary motive was the ever-pressing
demands of succession planning. At 3M, plac-
ing the right people in the right jobs at the
right time is complicated by the diversity of
businesses and by the company practice of pro-
moting from within. The fact that it takes years
to develop the understanding necessary to
function effectively within 3M’s breadth of
businesses and technologies encourages pro-
motion from within. Key openings that pro-
vide development and the opportunity for
growth of leaders, therefore, must be managed
as the rare jewels they are. Thus, the intended
applications of the leadership model were:

• accurate assessment of leadership
capability

• more effective development of talent
within the organization

• selection and placement of leaders
into key positions

Understanding 3M As a Company

3M is roughly a 100-year-old company, with
approximately 40 business divisions as well as
many departments and subsidiaries, involved
in the manufacture and sales of an unusually
wide array of products. In addition to the core
businesses, which manufacture tapes and
abrasives, the company also produces and sells
products in markets as diverse as printing,
health care, automotive, construction and

home improvement, office supplies, transpor-
tation, and specialty materials. 3M has enjoyed
a reputation as an organization that fosters in-
novation and new product development. It ac-
complishes these while maintaining a culture
where there is:

• a high level of loyalty to the company
among employees

• encouragement to take risks on new
ventures, often outside the scope of
their approved projects

• leadership and management talent
within the enterprise

• high job stability

Almost since its inception, 3M has en-
joyed success. The company often invents
a product and then dominates that market.
New products seem to have flowed continu-
ously while the company has used patent
protection to its full advantage. 3M’s tech-
nical community operates much like an aca-
demic environment where both applied and
basic research are shared openly and tech-
nologies are available freely across business
units. New technologies are created or
adapted as a direct result of informal net-
works that can be traced back to internal
technical conferences. Learning through
personal experiences with customers or
from experimentation has lent strong cred-
ibility to discoveries. The result of this learn-
ing is the development of a culture in which
direct 3M experiences are often perceived
as necessary for validation of insights and
findings. This aspect of the culture has
helped create an intensely independent at-
titude throughout the company.

Models of Leadership Competencies

This intensely independent attitude has re-
sulted in the desire of 3M management to cre-
ate a customized model of leadership compe-
tency rather than accepting an existing model.
After all, innovation is a core competence at
3M; employees “tinker” constantly with prod-
ucts, systems, and ideas from whatever source.
It is because of this dynamic innovation that
3M management decided to develop a 3M-
specific leadership competency model.

Learning
through
personal
experiences with
customers or
from
experimentation
has lent strong
credibility to
discoveries.

3M’s Leadership Competency Model: An Internally Developed Solution • 135

The Beginning of a Customized Model of
Leadership Competence

The original work on the development of this
customized model of leadership competency
started in 1986. At that time, the goal was to
identify competencies necessary for success
in general manager positions. A group of vice
presidents (executive, group, division, staff,
and international) met periodically to identify
and articulate competencies required for suc-
cessful general management at 3M. Through
ongoing dialogue and enhancements, a basic
competency model evolved.

During the next nine years, that early work
was implemented and used initially in succes-
sion planning. Later on, the application of the
model broadened to include assessment of
incumbent capabilities and succession candi-
date readiness and development. Concur-
rently, human resource professionals and
executives continued to work on refinements
of the leadership competencies and support-
ing materials.

Leadership Development—A Global H

Priority

In 1995, as a result of continuing concerns
about the depth of leadership bench-strength
for the top executive positions, the Vice Presi-
dent of Human Resources involved the talent
of participants in a global conference of the
top HR professionals to identify leadership
selection, assessment, and development as the
number-one priority in HR. At the conclusion
of this global HR conference, Alldredge and
Nilan were identified as the co-leaders of the
project to create a portfolio of products and
processes for use with 3M’s leaders. Clear
positional responsibility was given to the them
to develop comprehensive systems for the
above mentioned applications targeted at in-
cumbents and candidates in the top 500 posi-
tions.

Top Executive Involvement and
Consensus Building

To take advantage of the external changes to
the field of leadership development, an initial
step in the process included a review of litera-

ture that was oriented toward leadership com-
petency and development. Nilan and Alldredge
also compared 3M’s earlier work on general
manager competencies to existing corporate
models of leadership competency. When 3M
professionals juxtaposed work from the mid-
1980s with the current state-of-the-art think-
ing in leadership, they realized that those ear-
lier competencies needed to be updated. Spe-
cifically, 3M’s competency model needed to
incorporate changes in leadership philosophy
and to address the hypersensitive global busi-
ness environment.

As Alldredge and Nilan began to respond
to the needed changes, they focused on thr

critical success factors. First, it was critical
to involve key executives and senior manag-
ers actively in the process. Second, they de-
cided that this competency model would have
three elements: competency labels, compe-
tency definitions, and behavioral anchors for
each competency. Third, in order to achieve
the desired global implementation of the com-
petency work, they convened a group of in-
ternal HR practitioners in the area of
leadership development and assessment from
around the globe. This global HR team in-
cluded representatives from Europe, Asia,
Latin America, Canada, and the United
States. Through this global team approach,
the quality of the work and the likelihood of
worldwide acceptance were enhanced.

Executive Partnerships

As mentioned, for success on this project, we
strongly believed that it was necessary to es-
tablish a group of executive clients as working
partners. These partners would input, review,
and edit the work and determine when to move
to the next stage of this initiative. With the
sponsorship of the Vice President of Human
Resources, three groups of executives were
established as our clients (see Table I).

To explain the table, the first group refers
to 3M’s Executive Resources Committee
(ERC) or top nine executives. The key respon-
sibilities of this committee are the selection
and development of individuals through their
placement in the top 500 positions at 3M. The
second group is the Human Resources Policy
Committee (HRPC), which approves all policy

Specifically,
3M’s
competency
model needed to
incorporate
changes in
leadership
philosophy and
to address the
hypersensitive
global business
environment.

136 • HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Summer/Fall 2000

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I

3M’s Leadership Competency Model: An Internally Developed Solution • 137

with human resource impact. The third group
is called the Operations Committee, charged
with overseeing 3M’s operations and made up
of the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and his
13 direct reports. In the end, the impact of
these partnerships on this work was immense.

The first task was to clarify and simplify
the existing set of competency labels and defi-
nitions. With those in hand, we met individu-
ally with each member of the ERC to review
the material and discuss leadership philoso-
phy, business complexity, and verbiage. The
objectives were to use the language of the
business and represent the philosophy of ex-
isting 3M leadership. At several points, the
entire set of competencies was presented to
the HRPC. Debate about the importance of
wording, phrasing, and interpretation helped
these executives clarify their beliefs about lead-
ership. It also served as a catalyst for these
executives to coalesce around current expec-
tations and future needs of leaders at 3M (see
Table

As can be seen in Table II, the result of
individual meetings and group discussions
with executives was a series of modifications
to the competency labels and descriptions.
This active review process helped ensure that
the executive group could speak with knowl-
edge and genuine commitment about the com-
petencies and subtleties contained within their
competencies’ definitions. Without provoca-
tion, these executives took every opportunity
to expound on personal beliefs and expecta-
tions of leadership at 3M. In one particular
instance, this growing passion led the head
of engineering and manufacturing not only
to draft a “white paper” detailing his personal
philosophy and views of leadership, but also
to discuss its contents with members of his
management team.

Clustering the Competencies

The global HR team immediately contributed
by clustering the 12 competencies into a frame-
work that illustrated how these competencies
develop during an executive’s career. Table III
reveals competencies and their definitions in the
framework as agreed to by 3M executives.

While readers familiar with the litera-
ture may not see anything particularly

unique in Table III’s list of competencies
and their definitions, it is important to rec-
ognize that each word was intentionally
chosen by the three groups of clients. The
consequence of this process is that the cli-
ents “owned” the labels and definitions that
capture issues unique to the priorities held
by these executives.

These updated competencies were used
almost immediately for succession deci-
sions. A tool was created by merging the
competencies with an existing list of job ex-
periences critical for successful general
management at 3M. The result of using this
tool is more objectivity and greater disci-
pline in developing candidate slates for ex-
ecutive positions at 3M. By working with
this Position Profile and Candidate Analy-
sis form, the hiring executive creates a pro-
file of the priority competencies and work
experiences needed for a specific, open po-
sition. The hiring executive can easily com-
pare the competencies and work experiences
of all potential candidates against that de-
sired profile (see Table IV).

3M’s Competency Framework

The global HR team identified a framework
for organizing the competencies in Table III.
In this section, a description is provided of
some of the thinking behind each of the 12
competencies and the organizing frame-
work. This should help clarify the complex-
ity inherent in each of these competencies.
It should also help explain the logic of ap-
plying these competencies to some mana-
gerial positions. For example, there exist a
few managerial jobs in larger, mature busi-
nesses that demand capability in areas such
as business health and results, customer ori-
entation, and the inspiration of others.

Fundamental Leadership Competencies

Within that framework, the first three lead-
ership competencies are considered “fun-
damental”, particularly with respect to char-
acter. While new employees possess these
fundamental competencies at the time of
hire, they refine them through job experi-
ences at successive management levels. The

138 • HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Summer/Fall 2000

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B
LE

3M’s Leadership Competency Model: An Internally Developed Solution • 139

• ETHICS AND INTEGRITY
Exhibits uncompromising integrity and commitment to 3M’s corporate values, human resource prin-
ciples, and business conduct policies. Builds trust and instills self-confidence through mutually
respectful, ongoing communication.

• INTELLECTUAL CAPACITY
Assimilates and synthesizes information rapidly, recognizes the complexity in issues, challenges as-
sumptions, and faces up to reality. Capable of handling multiple, complex, and paradoxical situations.
Communicates clearly, concisely, and with appropriate simplicity.

• MATURITY AND JUDGMENT
Demonstrates resiliency and sound judgment in dealing with business and corporate challenges. Rec-
ognizes when a decision must be made and acts in a considered and timely manner. Deals effectively
with ambiguity and learns from success and failure.

• CUSTOMER ORIENTATION
Works constantly to provide superior value to the 3M customer, making each interaction a positive one.

• DEVELOPING PEOPLE
Selects and retains an excellent workforce within an environment that values diversity and respects
individuality. Promotes continuous learning and the development of self and others to achieve maxi-
mum potential. Gives and seeks open and authentic feedback.

• INSPIRING OTHERS
Positively affects the behavior of others, motivating them to achieve personal satisfaction and high
performance through a sense of purpose and spirit of cooperation. Leads by example.

• BUSINESS HEALTH AND RESULTS
Identifies and successfully generates product, market, and geographic growth opportunities, while con-
sistently delivering positive short-term business results. Continually searches for ways to add value and
position the organization for future success.

• GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE
Operates from an awareness of 3M’s global markets, capabilities, and resources. Exerts global leader-
ship and works respectfully in multicultural environments to 3M’s advantage.

• VISION AND STRATEGY
Creates and communicates a customer-focused vision, corporately aligned and engaging all employees
in pursuit of a common goal.

• NURTURING INNOVATION
Creates and sustains an environment that supports experimentation, rewards risk taking, reinforces
curiosity, and challenges the status quo through freedom and openness without judgment. Influences
the future to 3M’s advantage.

• BUILDING ALLIANCES
Builds and leverages mutually beneficial relationships and networks, both internal and external, which
generate multiple opportunities for 3M.

• ORGANIZATIONAL AGILITY
Knows, respects, and leverages 3M culture and assets. Leads integrated change within a business unit
to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. Utilizes teams intentionally and appropriately.

TABLE III

FUNDAMENTAL

ESSENTIAL

VISIONARY

3M Leadership Competencies.

140 • HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Summer/Fall 2000

P
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.

TA
B

LE
IV

3M’s Leadership Competency Model: An Internally Developed Solution • 141

The final
competency
within the
visionary set is
“organizational
agility”, one of
the most difficult
skills to develop
but one of the
most significant
for the future.

first competency encompasses “ethics and
integrity” and relies on a commitment to 3M
values as a way to build trust. The follow-
ing are the 3M values:

• We satisfy customers with superior
quality, value, and service.

• We provide our investors with a fair
rate of return through sustained
quality growth.

• We respect our social and physical
environment.

• We work to make 3M a company em-
ployees are proud to be part of.

The words and actions of a leader need
to be consistent and clear. The message con-
veyed by every leader’s actions and decisions
should be one of honesty and integrity. It is
expected that every transaction with cus-
tomers, suppliers, and employees is an ethi-
cal one.

“Intellectual capacity,” another of the 12
competencies, is also fundamental to leader-
ship at 3M. The leader’s intellect must con-
tinuously sharpen and expand. The complexity
of the business, the new technological plat-
forms, and challenging market issues require
total system understanding. The leader must
be able to articulate complex thoughts, ideas,
and visions in ways that communicate effec-
tively with colleagues at 3M as well as with
customers and vendors.

To these competencies add “maturity and
judgment”, the third competency within the
“fundamental” category. The leader should
respond to extreme stress and ambiguity with
predictability and resiliency. The leader’s de-
meanor must communicate calmness to oth-
ers. After all, sound judgment is expected from
a leader in whom the corporation places con-
fidence and responsibility.

“Essential” Leadership Competencies

The “essential” four competencies develop as
individuals become responsible for a func-
tion or department. These set the stage for
readiness for larger and more complex execu-
tive positions.

Contained within this set of competen-
cies is one 3M believes to be critical for busi-

ness success—“customer orientation.” Since
we as a company expect to be “the preferred
supplier”, then every contact with a customer
must be a positive one. The leader must align
every activity and decision with the customer’s
actual strategy and needs. All that the leader
accomplishes, however, is achieved through
others. The ability to develop relationships,
therefore, is an essential competence of lead-
ers. Leaders must dedicate time, energy,
thought, and action to the development of
human capital.

The time the leader spends with employ-
ees carefully listening and modeling dedica-
tion puts the leader in a better position to
“inspire others”, another critical leadership
competency. In the end, the leader can never
be solely responsible for successfully com-
pleted work. No matter how productive the
leader, it is the members of the business unit
who are responsible for accomplishments. For
those people to be successful, it is essential
that the mission of the business unit be clearly
communicated to all members. It is essential
that the leader be able to articulate an end
state sufficiently compelling for others to ex-
ert whatever extra efforts are required to main-
tain a healthy business in today’s globally
competitive marketplace.

The last competence in the “essential”
set is achieving “business health and results.”
The leader understands that 3M is a busi-
ness enterprise that must create profit; lead-
ers are responsible for the profitability of the
business units they support. A leader must
also cultivate, throughout the organization,
an orientation that leads to business genera-
tion and improved results. In the final analy-
sis, leaders remind all others that the
objective is to create an attractive return on
shareholders’ investment.

“Visionary” Leadership Competencies

For leaders to assume increased levels of re-
sponsibility, they need to develop additional
capabilities that can be characterized as the
“visionary” set of competencies. Leaders need
to look outward beyond their own locus of
control—to other organizations and must ac-
cept much broader responsibilities. These
competencies and behaviors will be used ex-

142 • HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Summer/Fall 2000

The words and
actions of a
leader need to
be consistent
and clear.

tensively as individuals advance and grow in
leadership responsibility.

The visionary leadership competencies
begin with a “global perspective” or mindset.
3M’s customers and competitors come from
six different continents. Thus 3M leaders
must understand and appreciate what diver-
sity of cultures means to 3M since those cul-
tures impact customs, currencies, geographies,
languages, available products, and changing
economies. Increasing the current revenues
from businesses outside the United States can
only be accomplished by understanding and
serving customers worldwide, especially in
economically challenging times.

The success of 3M’s activities globally, of
course, also requires a vision of the enterprise
as a global entity accompanied by a strategy
to achieve global results. The leader must
know where the organization is heading and
align all resources toward the goal of achiev-
ing global results. The vision is the purpose of
the organization and strategy is the roadmap
for getting there. Effective 3M leaders are ca-
pable of keeping their organizations aligned
with the corporate vision while pursuing their
own units’ immediate business objectives.

The corporate vision for 3M is to be “the
most innovative enterprise” in each business
or market. It naturally follows, therefore, that
3M expects its leaders to excel in “nurturing
innovation”. The 3M leader first creates a cli-
mate that supports new ideas and takes risks
often. Then the leader must develop a per-
sonal relationship with each inventor of ideas
or products, recognizing that commercializa-
tion cannot be accomplished in isolation and
must be taught.

The interconnectedness of business and
organization today offers a challenge that the
leader meets by “building alliances” to reach
business objectives. A leader develops net-
works and fosters alliances inside and outside
his/her organization to achieve results. These
networks may range from joint ventures to
informal professional groups. The point is that
a successful leader actively initiates mutually
beneficial partnerships.

The final competency within the vision-
ary set is “organizational agility”, one of the
most difficult skills to develop but one of the
most significant for the future. The rate of

organizational change today is so rapid that
both leaders and entire organizations are too
often caught off balance. Fortunately, an out-
standing leader can practically “see around
corners” to anticipate changes in markets and
economies before they are officially noted. An
individual with such capability can lead inte-
grated change efforts that achieve sustainable,
competitive advantage.

In the project plan, establishing compe-
tencies was the first step. With that step
reached, attention turned to identifying the
particular behavioral characteristics possessed
by leaders who consistently excel in each com-
petency. Through these behaviors, executives
could demonstrate the competencies that lead
to business success.

Behavioral Definitions of Leadership
Competencies

Because the needed consensus both on the
set of competency labels and on the general
definitions had already been established, the
next objective was the anchoring of the com-
petencies within the 3M experience. This
phase of the work was based on critical inci-
dent methodology. This step was of major im-
portance because for two constituencies it
would drive the success of the project. For the
executive clients, this work would personalize
the competency model. If done well, it would
bring to life the model’s potential to pinpoint
what 3M executives have successfully done.

For employees, who are ultimately the re-
cipients of this work, clarity of the behavioral
manifestations of each competency would help
demystify the path to executive roles at 3M.
The objective was to describe, in behavioral
terms, what a high degree of each competence
looks like. In contrast with how some profes-
sionals anchor competency scales with highly
specific behaviors, the approach chosen was
to seek informative and general, but not ex-
clusionary, detail. This approach allowed
broader application that better fit the diverse
businesses of 3M.

Methodologically, a global team worked in
pairs during the critical incident interview
phase. In these pairs, human resource team
members began intensive interviews with 70
executives across 3M’s global operations. All

3M’s Leadership Competency Model: An Internally Developed Solution • 143

12 members of the team conducted inter-
views, but in regularly changing pairings.
Each executive was provided with two
competency areas and, also for each area,
descriptive examples of individuals or spe-
cific incidents that demonstrated a high
d e g r e e o f t h e c o m p e t e n c e b e i n g a d –
d r e s s e d . A s a p p r o p r i a t e , n e g a t i v e i n –
stances were discussed.

From these vignettes, behaviors as-
sociated with each of the leadership com-
petencies were extracted. The objective
was to identify general items that could
be observed on the job and used to assess
and develop leadership competence. A
second criterion was that the behavior be
generalizable across markets and regions
of the world.

Only three to five definitive behaviors
for each competency area were identified.
The assumption was that observation of
these behaviors should enable an observer
to judge the degree of competence. As an
illustration, the set of behaviors for the area
of “global perspective” is shown in Table V.
Because the application of this model
needed to be global in scope, behaviors that
are global in nature are interwoven through-
out the work; they are not restricted to this
specific competence of “global perspective”.

Capturing 3M Culture and Value

This product has vitality and relevance for
the executives at 3M because 3M values and
culture permeate the language of both com-
petencies and behaviors. The handling of
incidents and the behavioral examples pre-
sented in the interviews continually repre-
sent a corporate perspective. Interviewees
delivered highly consistent messages,
aligned with 3M’s corporate vision, objec-
tives, and motivations. The excitement and
enthusiasm generated by this work has
carried over to countless presentations
(internal and external) by top executives.
3M leaders are now sharing their insights
with others and, in turn, all are becoming
better leaders.

Developing Applications

3M’s Chairman and CEO, L. D. DeSimone,
insisted that an assessment tool be developed
that would be succinct and simple. This tool
would profile the degree of an executive’s over-
all leadership competence in each of the 12
areas (see Table VI). This assessment process
was to be conducted through personal dia-
logue to evaluate the leadership competence
of direct reports.

Leadership Assessment and Measurement.

Global Perspective: Behaviors

• Respects, values, and leverages other customs, cultures and values. Uses a global management
team to better understand and grow the total business; able to leverage the benefits from working in
multicultural environments.

• Optimizes and integrates resources on a global basis, including manufacturing, research, and busi-
nesses across countries, and functions to increase 3M’s growth and profitability.

• Satisfies global customers and markets from anywhere in the world.

• Actively stays current on world economies, trade issues, international market trends and
opportunities.

TABLE V

144 • HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Summer/Fall 2000

We tested this approach with each mem-
ber of 3M’s Operations Committee (the top
13 executives) individually. These executives
discussed the leadership behaviors of each of
their direct reports. The standard applied was
for the interviewer to identify which behav-
iors were driving the overall rating of each
competence. Once these 70 profiles were
summarized, Mr. DeSimone used those data
to lead a consensus review of the 70 execu-
tives at a monthly ERC meeting. This appli-
cation worked so well that it has become an
annual process.

A second application is focused on de-
velopment. In this application, executives
use the behaviors to set expectations for

leaders within their organizations. Indi-
vidual executives talk through the behav-
iors that they establish as criteria to be
used later for judging performance. Execu-
tives also use the behaviors to provide feed-
back on each individual’s strengths and
needs for refinement.

A third application is in the area of suc-
cession planning. Here, the behaviors are used
to identify long-range potential of other em-
ployees. 3M believes that high-potential em-
ployees who consistently exhibit effective
leadership behaviors will progress in satisfy-
ing career paths. This process will be validated
and closely monitored against business results
and objective performance assessments.

Competency Area

Ethics and Integrity

Intellectual Capacity

Maturity and Judgement

Customer Orientation

Developing People

Inspiring Others

Business Health and Results

Global Perspective

Vision and Strategy

Nurturing Innovation

Building Alliances

Organizational Agility

Not a
Strength Sufficient A Strength

Degree of Competence

Name:

TABLE VI Leadership Competence Profile.

3M’s Leadership Competency Model: An Internally Developed Solution • 145

Out of this work comes the ability to pro-
vide career paths and developmental experi-
ences that will allow employees to enhance
and refine leadership competencies. While
much work remains to be done, 3M leader-
ship believes we are well on the way to deep-

Bass, B.M. (1990). Handbook of Leadership. The Free
Press.

ening bench strength and developing stron-
ger incumbent leaders. With further develop-
ment of leadership and talent assessment and
succession applications, 3M leaders expect the
extra time invested in customizing these solu-
tions to result in measurable business success.

MARGARET E. ALLDREDGE is Executive Director of Selection, Assessment, and Leader-
ship Development at 3M. She has spent 22 years at 3M in competency modeling, su-
pervisory and management development, human resource operations (including an
international assignment in Europe), expatriate administration, succession planning,
and leadership development. She spent ten years in community college instruction and
administration at colleges in Michigan and Virginia, teaching literature, composition,
speech, drama and TOESL. She received a B.A. in English from the University of Rhode
Island, an M.A. from Michigan State University, and has completed coursework for an
MFA in Artistic Theater Direction from the University of Virginia.

KEVIN J. NILAN is currently Manager of 3M’s Development and Measurement Center.
In this role, he has corporate responsibility for Supervisory Development, Management
Development, employee testing, opinion survey and attitude measurement, Employee
Contribution and Development process, 360 Degree Feedback Programs, HR
benchmarking, and environmental scanning. He is is past chair of the Board of the
Mayflower Group. Before joining 3M he was a principal at MDA Consulting Group.
Nilan holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in Industrial and Organization Psychology from Ohio
State University and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Minne-
sota, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in psychology.

REFERENCE

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Attainment Standards for assessment Levels

A Model of the Dimensions of Leadership Competency

Self-Management

Core Competencies of Self Management

Core Competencies of Self-Management

Work Habits

Stress Management

Situations Requiring Focus on Self Management

Core Competencies of Leading Others

Examples of Leading Others Poorly

Interpersonal Awareness

Situations Requiring Focus on Leading Others

Task Management

Core Competencies of Task Management

Examples of Excellence in Task Management

Situations Requiring Focus on Task Management

Innovation

Core Competencies of Innovation

Examples of Poor Innovation

Situations Requiring Focus on Innovation

Social Responsibility

Core Competencies of Social Responsibility

Examples of Excellence in Social Responsibility

Examples of Poor Social Responsibility

Situations Requiring Focus on Social Responsibility

A Model of Core Competencies for Self-Management

( SELF MANAGEMENT )Self Management Dimension

Examples of Poor Self-Management

A Model of Core Competencies for Leading Others

A Model of Core Competencies for Task Management

A Model of Core Competencies for Innovation

A Model of Core Competencies for Social Responsibility

( SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY )Social Responsibility Dimension

Acknowledgements

About the Authors

(
SELF
MANAGEMENT
)Self Management Dimension

(
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
)Social Responsibility Dimension