Leadership Selection: How a Data-Driven Approach Transforms Organizations and Prepares Them for the Challenges of Tomorrow

The success of any organization depends on the quality of its leaders, yet despite the critical need for effective leadership, organizations often struggle to identify the right leaders. Over half of the newly hired or promoted leaders will fail within their first 18 months, and the cost of failed leadership selection efforts is enormous.

Effective Leadership

Effective leadership fosters healthy work environments, boosts employee engagement, and drives team performance. An effective leader can build and maintain a high-performing team, create a positive work environment, inspire trust, and is capable of handling challenges and conflicts.

Good leadership positively affects customer satisfaction, revenue, productivity, and more. But, good leadership also creates behaviors that trickle down through the organization. Behaviors include self- and other-development, strategy, cooperation, integrity, and global thinking. These positive behaviors can significantly affect an organization’s ability to sustain success during turbulent times.

Identifying Leaders

Traditional hiring practices often rely on resumes and interviews, which may not accurately predict a candidate's leadership abilities, as they tend to prioritize charisma and likability over the characteristics that determine effectiveness. As a result, organizations may select leaders based on a candidate’s confidence rather than competence.

However, there is a better way.

Understanding the Dynamics

The first step in selecting more effective leaders is to understand the dynamics of the team they will lead. By looking at the team’s situation, needs, and performance expectations, you can identify the behaviors and characteristics a new leader will need to bring together or maintain a high-performing team.

Identify Success Factors

In addition to understanding the team’s dynamics and needs, reviewing the job requirements and expectations is essential to identifying how success will be measured. Often, organizations will use the successes or failures of the previous leader to judge their current candidates. However, this assumes the newly hired or promoted leader will have the same behaviors and values. By reviewing and establishing success factors, organizations can better ensure the candidate they select is a fit.

Incorporate Data

Incorporating scientifically valid assessments provides objective data for evaluating a candidate’s potential and increases the likelihood of selecting a leader with the qualities necessary to succeed.

Combining assessment data with expert interpretations informed by the needs of the role, the team, and the organization's goals can increase the likelihood of identifying effective leaders who can boost engagement, retention, and performance.

Integration Coaching

The first 3-6 months for a new leader are critical to their long-term success, yet many organizations focus only on the basics of onboarding and overlook the integration support new leaders need. A joint research initiative between Genesis Advisors and Egon Zehnder found that leaders who receive transition coaching can get up to speed 50% fasterand make decisions to advance the business earlier than those who only undergo onboarding. This can be exponentially more challenging when leaders operate in a remote environment. Providing your selected candidate with integration coaching during their first 3-6 months increases the likelihood of a successful transition.