The AMA Handbook of Leadership

CHAPTER 6

Developing Exceptional Leaders:

Critical Success Factors

➤ James F. Bolt

What does it take to develop really exceptional leaders?

There are 12 key characteristics of great executive/lead-

ership development processes and programs. This chapter

describes each of the characteristics, or success factors,

and ends with a checklist that should prove useful for

assessing and improving your own practices.

The characteristics of these programs are:

1. Linked to strategy

2. Thorough front-end analysis

3. Custom designed

4. Custom leadership profile, feedback,

and development planning

5. Action-oriented learning methods

6. A strategy and system

7. Top-down implementation

8. High-potential identification and development

9. Succession management

10. Integrated talent-management system

11. Measurement

12. Driven by top management

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How do we know that these factors are critical? In the last 25 years, I’ve had

the privilege of consulting on executive and leadership development with

half of the Fortune 100 companies and many Global 500 organizations. In

addition, I’ve conducted surveys on trends in executive/leadership develop-

ment approximately every two years since 1983, and have led in-depth

research projects on topics such as talent management, executive coaching,

and identifying/developing high-potential talent. For many years I was for-

tunate to lead peer-to-peer networks made up of the heads of executive

development, leadership development, talent management, organizational

development, human resources, and so on from leading companies all over

the world. This provided a great way to keep abreast of best and innovative

practices.

Before we review each of these success factors, note that the words

execu-

tive/leader are used broadly throughout to refer to the following:

➤ Members of boards of directors. The chairman of the board,

the CEO, and those who report directly to the CEO. Anyone in

a C-suite position. All elected officers.

➤ Corporate vice presidents (including functional heads). Heads

of/presidents of groups, divisions, business units, or profit centers

and their direct reports. All people included in the executive

compensation program.

➤ High-potential managers. Managers who have been formally

identified as having the potential to fill any of the executive-level

positions noted above.

Executive development refers to any formal activity that is aimed at broaden-

ing or building mindsets, knowledge, skills, and experience and at enhanc-

ing capabilities. Executive development will often be used as shorthand to

include the organization’s executive/leadership development and talent man-

agement strategies, systems, processes, and programs.

Of the 12 critical success factors, several are directly related to executive/

leadership development programs and others are applicable to the broader

talent management system.

62 Part Two Developing People

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THE 12 CHARACTERISTICS OF SUCCESSFUL EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT

PROCESSES AND PROGRAMS

1. Linked to Strategy. Our executive development efforts are directly

linked to our organization’s strategy. It is clear how these efforts

help address our business challenges and achieve our strategic

objectives.

While trying to choose which of the 12 factors are most

important might be a fool’s game, in my mind, this one and the

last (top-management driven) are clearly the most critical because

without them it’s highly unlikely that any investment in executive

development will have a significant impact on either leader

effectiveness or business performance. Of course, they are closely

related. The best way to ensure that executive development is

linked to the strategy is to work with the CEO and her or his team

to ensure that whatever is done is driven by them, and specifically

aimed at achieving their strategic agenda.

2. Thorough Front-End Analysis.

No significant executive

development effort is begun without a thorough front-end needs

assessment.

Two or three times in my consulting career, I’ve agreed to

design a new executive development strategy and program without

conducting a needs analysis. Big mistake! These were all failures

because they ended up addressing needs that were not on target.

The typical situation included a client who believed that the

organization had been “surveyed to death” and that executives

would not tolerate any kind of needs analysis. As a result, we

essentially had to guess what the development needs were and/or

use the opinions of a small number of senior executives who

were not close enough to the marketplace realities and real needs

of the target audience. In effect, we developed programs that were

not dealing with mission-critical topics and didn’t achieve the

intent of the first characteristic—that is, we were not

linked to

the strategy!

Effective needs assessment is typically done via a combination

of survey and interviews of the target audience and key executives

and other critical stakeholders. Regardless of the method, the

assessment must identify the capabilities (mindset, knowledge,

63Chapter 6 Developing Exceptional Leaders

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