Reliably produce the Leaders you need:
Leadership Readiness: Reliably Produce the Leaders You Need
A book by Jon Mason
It seems obvious that any organisation should want to reliably produce the leaders it needs. The aim of this book is to chart a path towards this goal, and to do so at organisational scale.
But we need to be realistic about where we are starting from.
You see, there is a problem in 21st Century Organisations. It is not a new problem, but it gets harder and harder to ignore:
People - who are often good and, up to this point, successful employees - get promoted into leadership roles. And fail.
Leadership failure is not an individual problem, it's a systemic one. And to change the way we prepare leaders we really have to understand what leadership actually is - and what it never should have been...
Part One: What is Wrong with Our Leadership?
To start with, we are going to deconstruct some of the constituent parts of “leadership as it is currently practiced”, and suggest what might need to change. The truth is, we are all starting on the back foot. There is a strong sense in which our own history is against us; and if we are to build better and more sustainable organisations, it will take understanding and perseverance on the part of all.
Part Two: How Does Self-Awareness Drive Leadership Readiness?
What we are going to do in Part Two is a reasonably deep dive into some components of human behaviour. What we will see is that ‘lack of self-awareness’ is rather baked-in to human existence; but also that the levers for making change are intimately connected to enlarged self-awareness. As we understand ourselves better, we acquire powerful and compelling leverage with which to activate and develop our ability to self-manage, for the benefit of everyone: not just ourselves.
Part Three: Towards a Systems Approach to Leadership Readiness, at Scale
Much of what we cover in Part Three is aimed at addressing, directly, the obvious problems of Part One, using the insights of Part Two. This last section of the book is a ‘first sketch’ of what an integrated solution might look like. Getting from here to something which is fully proven in practice and accepted as ‘the new normal’, will take many people taking the bits they can ‘see’ clearly, and running with that vision.
Is this book for me?
What is "Leadership Readiness"?
Leadership Readiness is the extent to which a person is ready to lead. While there are many who feel this implies a curriculum of leadership topics needing to have been absorbed, our own view is that Leadership Readiness comprises practical, ‘activated’ self-awareness, plus intentional development of behaviours to mitigate gaps and blindspots, plus experience of leadership modelled well by others, and adopted by the individual.
Is Leadership Readiness relevant for my organisation?
Here are three questions:
Do we have an abundant supply of leaders at every level?
Are newly appointed leaders prone to significant failure?
Do we have employee turnover issues attributable to leadership?
If the answer to any of those is yes, then it looks like you have issues which would be addressed by building Leadership Readiness capacity and capability.
Is this book for individuals or organisational leaders?
Both! That is, any person who is wanting to build a better understanding of what it would take them to become Leadership Ready will find it eminently relevant, especially Part Two.
But so will any organisational leader who is looking to build a better organisation and to do so in a predictable and sustainable manner; Part Three in particular addresses developing a Systems Approach to Leadership Readiness, at organisational scale.
We already invest in developing our leaders, how is this any different?
The fact that you are investing in developing your leaders is laudable; but how do you know that you are investing in the right people and in the areas which will make a difference? Leadership Readiness is ultimately about leadership becoming ubiquitous in your organisation, and supported by high levels of individual self-awareness - including the ability to leverage previously untapped individual potential. Stop making big risky bets on future leadership and spread your risk, by democratising the process.
Do you do speaking engagements?
Jon Mason has been speaking in public in a wide range of contexts and cultures for most of his working life. He is able to challenge accepted paradigms with a mixture of humour and deep insight, based on long experience working with organisations of all kinds - and a strong grasp of mapping culture and performance with perceptual and motivational data. Contact corporate@elaura.com for more on availability and fit with your event.
Do you offer Leadership Readiness solutions?
Yes we do!
See the Birkman Offer page for an individual starting point.
For leadership coaching starter packages, please go to birkman.me/new-leader
For leadership cohorts of 40-100 needing to undertake a Leadership Readiness journey, please go to expresso.work
To discuss custom organisational interventions, please contact corporate@elaura.com
Reliably produce the Leaders you need:
