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Effective Predictors of a Leader
By Ben Accomando, Ph.D.
The need for creative leadership to deal with the challenges and complexities in our society, institutions and corporations, has become increasingly more critical. The need to understand our organizations, ourselves and each other, the way change happens and the contexts in which we must all work to attain our goals require new and more creative thinking. Understanding how to assess, identify and develop leadership, at a time when change is inevitable and complex, requires accurate and data based information and training.
There are thousands of books, articles and training programs on leadership and the effective predictors of a good leader. Unfortunately, in our busy world very little time and thought is given when looking for or trying to assess and recognize the necessary skills of candidates we try to select as leaders in our organization. A reasonable consensus has emerged over the years as to a definition of leadership. The general beliefs are that: A good leader is capable of persuading others to transcend their personal concerns and to pursue a collective goal that is meaningful for a group and that will further their collective welfare. It is persuasion not domination, it involves creating cohesive and mission oriented teams. Effective leadership has a direct casual relationship to group performance.
The research strongly points to some predictors as most reliable indicators of leadership potential. The following are some of those predictors that should be considered when assessing and/or selecting a leader.
- Actual performance of the candidate’s organization. Real time performance data should be assessed.
- Peer, supervisor and most importantly subordinates feedback about the candidate’s effectiveness has a high predictive validity.
Receiving formal feedback from the above sources by utilizing a 360 degree instrument makes the data even more valid and useful.
- Look for patterns in the candidate’s history for tendencies to: over control, exploit, micro-manage, resist using appropriate
consequences, be arrogant, political, egotistical, irritable, passive-aggressive, vindictive, abrasive, insensitive, aloof. All of
these traits are proven correlates of a poor leader. There are formal tests available to assess many of these traits.
- The following psychological characteristics account for the most variance in leadership effectiveness:
- General Intelligence: Broad range of interest, creative, broad-minded, curious, open to experience, and intellectual power.
- Conscientiousness: Will to achieve, responsible, solid integrity, strong work ethic, ability to plan and organized.
- Assurgency: Extraverted, assertive, high energy, fluent speaker, desire to advance, eager decision maker and persuasive.
- Emotional Stability: Self confident, self accepting, balance, stress resistant, tolerant of uncertainty, graceful under pressure,
flexible, effective at handling conflict and negative feedback.
- Agreeableness: Diplomatic, cooperative, empathic, friendly, effective communicator, trusting and good natured. Again, there are
assessment tools that can evaluate a candidate for a leadership position on all of these psychological characteristics.
In summary, the above information is designed to offer the busy executive some insight into what effective predictors need to be considered
and assessed, formally or informally, when choosing an employee for a leadership position. It is crucial to be aware of the costs incurred by
an inaccurate hiring, especially when the choice is for a leadership position. Finally, it is important to recognize that a simple step of
formally evaluating a candidate before hiring can save an organization significant financial and human costs. The need for creative leaders
in today’s complex world is crucial. Knowing what the skills of a good leader should be and understanding ways to assess these predictors can
make a significant difference in any organization.
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