Leadership: Leaders, Followers, Environments

Recruiting and retaining high-performing teams

The previous section indicates that failure to mold and retain effective top management teams is a serious deficiency in leaders, often resulting in derailment or bad organizational outcomes. Effective leaders seem to be selfaware. They recognize their areas of imperfection and how to offset those weaknesses. They don’t surround themselves with individuals who contribute in the same ways as they do; they bring people around them who are strong in areas they are not.⁸⁷ This makes sense because leaders at the top of organizations rely on others to do things. A key function of CEOs and other top managers is to find and encourage individuals who can help propel the organization forward, who are in the right place, have enthusiasm, integrity, passion, and the right kind of motivation. Many organizations have programs to develop the next generation of managers. It’s usually less expensive to “grow your own” talent than to hire it from the outside. Effective programs incorporate a series of elements:⁸⁸

• Job rotation through diverse but challenging jobs—exposure to a wide variety of functions and activities gives potential leaders exposure to the broader organization.
• Mentoring assignments, including older mentors who have retired—matching younger employees with older mentors can have significant benefits, especially if programs are carefully coordinated and planned.
• Feedback and coaching—ample opportunities for feedback and for corrective ...