Lessons Learned Key Success Factors in Leadership Capacity Building
Develop a management philosophy that articulates the culture you want to develop, share the philosophy with staff and hold managers accountable for demonstrating management philosophy through daily interactions with staff.
Incorporate leadership development into your strategic plan. This may also include opportunities for the E.D. to develop her/his core competencies and leadership skills.
Recognize what it takes to be an effective leader in your organization and community and develop those core strengths. In addition to expertise on the sector, good leaders are creative, inspiring, innovative and visionary. Seek out opportunities to improve upon your core competencies as part of your own leadership development plan.
Stay as flat an organization as you can: treat all staff as equal, allowing staff to share as equally as possible in the responsibilities of administration and decision-making.
Place a high value on open communication. Encourage staff to participate in Board meetings, strategic planning meetings, annual planning meetings, etc. to understand the whole picture and the role of each position in the functioning of the organization.
Recognize high performing staff who display leadership skills and encourage them to take on new roles with more responsibility, develop new skill sets and expand horizons. Ensure that staff who take on these roles get the training, support, mentoring and regular feedback they need.
Enable each staff person to take on some responsibilities of other positions and to represent the organization when necessary.
