Behave Yourself: Leading the Way to Organizational Success
Organizations striving for excellence recognize that leadership development is a cornerstone of their targeted operating model. Embedding intentional leadership behaviours ensures every strategic choice, goal, and outcome is driven by aligned actions at all levels. This article outlines how to define the critical leadership behaviours needed to achieve your objectives and offers a practical approach to answer the key questions that shape a robust Leadership Blueprint.
The Role of Leadership Development in a Targeted Operating Model
Effective leadership development integrates seamlessly with the other pillars of a targeted operating model:
Organizational Objectives
Intentional Culture
Organizational Alignment
Systems of Work
Employee Capability
Organizational Design
Digital Adoption
Process Optimization
By weaving in a structured Leadership Development program, organizations ensure that leaders possess the behaviours, mindsets, and skills necessary to execute strategic choices and reach defined goals.
Defining Your Leadership Blueprint
A Leadership Blueprint captures five essential elements:
Aligned Behaviours
Prioritized Goals
A Vision of the Future
An Organizational Mission
Clear Strategic Choices
This blueprint becomes the North Star for all leaders. It lists non-negotiable behaviours and connects them directly to the mission, vision, goals, and strategic decisions that guide the organization forward.
What Leadership Behaviour Will Be Needed to Achieve Our Goals?
To pinpoint the right behaviours, follow a three-step process:
Map Behaviours to Goals
Identify your top organizational goals. For each goal, list the behaviour that will most directly drive success.Define Each Behaviour
Articulate clear, observable definitions so leaders understand exactly what “drive for results” or “collaboration” looks like in everyday practice.Align Behaviours with Strategic Choices
Ensure each chosen behaviour reinforces the strategic decisions you’ve made. This tight alignment accelerates execution and maintains focus.
Examples of goal–behaviour alignment include driving for results to hit capacity targets, practising collaboration to boost cross-functional efficiency, owning outcomes with accountability for safety and quality, tapping a sense of urgency to streamline decision cycles, and applying learning agility to adapt rapidly to market shifts.
How to Answer These Questions
Crafting your Leadership Blueprint and defining critical behaviours involves structured inquiry and collaboration:
Self-Reflection and Baseline Rating
Each leader rates themselves (1–5) against the defined behaviours and reflects on strengths and areas for growth.Peer Feedback
Collect peer ratings to surface perception gaps. Discuss discrepancies openly to uncover blind spots.Workshops and Coaching
Facilitate group workshops to co-define behaviours and roles. Use one-on-one coaching to build personalized action plans.Team Charter and Vision
Co-create a Team Charter that outlines expected behaviours and norms. Define a shared Team Vision to rally everyone around a common destination.
Measuring Behavioural Maturity
Embed a continuous feedback loop to track progress:
Conduct regular maturity assessments on each key behaviour.
Share individual and team scores transparently to drive accountability.
Summarize results for the executive team, highlighting areas for reinforcement or new interventions.
Key Takeaways
Leadership development must be intentional and tailored to organizational goals. A clear Leadership Blueprint ties mission, vision, goals, strategic choices, and behaviours into one cohesive framework. Mapping behaviours to goals ensures leaders know exactly what to do day-to-day. A structured approach—combining self-reflection, peer feedback, workshops, charters, and regular measurement—answers the critical questions behind effective leadership development.
By defining the leadership behaviours you need and creating a disciplined process to instill and measure them, your organization will unlock the full potential of its people and accelerate toward its strategic objectives.
