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Are my leadership skills ahead of, or behind, the business growth curve?

What can I do to ensure that I am leading the business and not constraining its growth?

The Leadership Advantage is an assessment that helps you to look forward to the leadership styles and competencies you will require as you step up to the next level of personal and business growth.

The leadership skills that got you here  - your current level of success, can often inhibit you from making the changes needed to get you there – the next level that you have the capability to reach. The potential of strengths to become liabilities is one of the most common reasons for top executive derailment and business failure. How often is a leader who, at one point, is described as decisive and setting high standards, later seen as autocratic or dictatorial? This assessment gives you a ‘heads up’ on what you need to change to become more successful.

The assessment is directly linked to an enterprise development model known as the 7 Stages of Growth. This is a unique approach to growing a business that gives you the tools, practices and methodology you need to successfully grow your company to the next level. The 7 Stage Growth Curve identifies the appropriate leadership styles at each stage of business growth as well as the competencies you will require for top executive leadership.

The Leadership Advantage measures your leadership effectiveness on eighteen Emotional Intelligence (EI) leadership competencies. It draws upon the extensive research into leadership behavior which shows that superior performance in these competencies differentiates outstanding CEO's from their peers. To complement your own opinion, several senior colleagues and executive team members will be asked to conduct the assessment and to provide constructive feedback on your current leadership effectiveness.

Your ability to step up to the next level will not only depend on the ‘depth and breadth’ of these competencies now but the versatility with which you can apply them to different growth situations in the future. You will want to know whether you are ‘ahead of or behind the curve’ in planning the next stage of your business growth.

Prior to the assessment there is a Stages Of Growth discussion that identifies the past, current and next stage of growth over say, the next twelve to eighteen months. Identifying the correct stage of growth will allow us to specify what leadership styles and competencies you should be demonstrating now and developing over the next phase.

The entire approach, from the online multi-rater assessment, to the report preparation, to the executive coaching on the competency development plan is conducted by a certified Growth Curve Specialist. The tone is intimate and confidential and is the foundation of the relationship.

Executive Team Profiling

While the Leadership Advantage is primarily focused on the top executive the same approach can be applied to the assessment and development of the executive team. As a result of your personal experience you might like to extend a personal invitation to them. A composite profile of their preferred leadership styles and competencies is a valuable tool for team and individual development and will ensure that your team is both abreast of and potentially ahead of the growth curve.

An executive team profile is also a desirable requirement in the conduct of a Stage of Growth X Ray. It allows your executives to select ‘breakthrough’ projects that are not only significant business challenges but also provide them with leadership development opportunities too.

The Leadership Advantage assessment can also be targeted on talent management and succession planning issues providing you with valuable leadership intelligence. Such issues as:

• What is executive team member’s ability to step up to the next level?
• Is there a competent successor in the team who may be able to lead the business in say, 2–3 years time?
• Do I need to recruit from outside the business? If so, what competencies should I be looking for in a new executive team member?