How Do You Build a High Performing Leadership Team?

Last week, we talked about big data and how to be a better leader by better understanding how your market is changing. The challenge for most CEOs is to find individuals who can help develop and implement strategies to meet changing market needs by accurately reading the trends you see in big data. It’s not enough for the CEO to see the patterns; his team must be able to apply what they see to create growth and opportunities for their customers. I thought it would be helpful to help you better understand what type of people you need on your leadership teams in this ever changing big data driven marketplace.

The challenge is CEOs must begin developing leaders who can thrive in an environment where there is too much information available to their leadership teams, markets, and ultimately, their customers. Many executives are being overwhelmed by all this big data.  If leaders aren’t careful, they will miss the opportunity this new economy provides their businesses for growth and profits.

I’ve worked with my clients to better understand the new market conditions and what it means to their organizations. For many of my larger clients, executives may not need all of the qualities because there are enough specialists to fill in the gaps. But in my smaller, more agile, high growth clients, finding the right people with these new skills is even more important because they don’t have the resources or the time to follow up on every opportunity in emerging markets. They must focus on the best opportunities to win and grow their organizations.

Here are the qualities I suggest my clients look for and develop in their leaders:

The first quality is that your people must be good at understanding people and their behaviors. They must be able to work well with others during stressful times.  All successful strategies come down to an individual who sees the world as it is and not how they would like it to be. Your team must know how to deal with the reality of the marketplace, while remaining optimistic to the opportunities the market offers.

The second quality is that they understand what is essential and what is not. They must focus on the 10% that makes 90% of the difference. An effective leader applies resources to the right things and not everything. They must have the ability to discern critical patterns and then act upon them.

The third quality is they possess an inquisitive mind. They possess a higher level of creativity than others in their areas of expertise.  Your team members must avoid the easy answers while applying simple solutions to the challenges they face.  They must be able to apply their disciplines in unique ways to create breakthrough value to your best clients and customers.

The fourth and final quality they possess is the ability to express their ideas clearly, briefly, and in an interesting way. They must able to learn quickly from others and be willing to share others ideas when making the case.  These individuals are able to identify major ideas in their markets and then adopt a strategy to leverage them to their own advantage.

How do you develop these capabilities in your team? We will continue to expand on how to identify and find the right people and opportunities for your growing business in future blogs.  Next week we will talk about building strategies that will give you an unfair edge in the market and produce breakthrough results. See you next week.