We Hold These Leadership Truths to Be Self Evident

Are you committed to creating a winning leadership culture in your company? At Stronger Leaders Stronger Profits, we work with mid-sized, fast-growing companies, BUT…only if they align with our values and vision. 

“We hold these four leadership truths to be self-evident!” - Thomas Jefferson. Well, he said something like this, but seriously, these principles are the hallmarks of an effective leadership culture.

Leadership Truth #1: Leadership and people development must be a core competency.

Developing better humans and leaders must be a key reason your organization exists. If developing your people is just expected to happen by osmosis as a byproduct of normal business functions, you are way behind. If leader development is an extra task and not a reason you exist, it will be the last priority and the first thing to go when the budget gets tight. 

Leadership Truth #2: Leadership development should be inherent to daily operations.

Nearly every interaction a manager has with their team is an opportunity to develop their people, but it takes intention and preparation. This could include stretch assignments, coaching through challenges, and delegating with support to those who work for you. If leader development is an extra task that gets done at once-a-year retreats or quarterly meetings, you are falling behind.

Leadership Truth #3: Participation and buy-in for the development program must come from the top down.

You don’t want to know the number of times a senior leader has hired me to do a leadership training workshop, then proudly introduced me to their team, and then…they walked right out of the conference room. A successful leadership development program includes the CEO to the individual contributor. If senior leaders think they know everything or aren’t bought into leader development, the program will fail.

Leadership Truth #4: People should be trained and evaluated for the next role before placing them in it.

I know, common sense right? Why would you put someone in a role you hadn’t specifically trained them for or tested their abilities to function at a basic level on day 1? This is the Truth that I see violated most often. Companies promote the best seller to be a manager but move them up BEFORE manager training. The rockstar manager gets promoted to senior manager but keeps leading directly instead of indirectly through their junior managers. Again, this takes intention, but failure to do so is the recipe for the Peter Principle. 

You can do all the training and model adjustments on sales, operations, marketing, HR, etc.., but if your leadership culture isn’t excellent, you are just playing whack-a-mole. It’s like shoveling buckets of water out of a sinking ship. First, you need to plug the holes and ensure that the ship is solid (your people and culture are the ship); then, you can focus on all the other functions. Effective leadership is the greatest competitive advantage because people are the most dynamic and expensive resource most companies have. The cost to replace one salaried manager has been estimated to be 6-9 months of their salary. Turnover is expensive. A poorly engaged workforce is expensive. The new generation of workers wants to be developed through their job, not just be a cog in the machine. 

Check to see how your company leadership culture rates by taking this free quiz!

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