“The scarcest resource in the world today is leadership — leadership capable of continuously transforming organizations to win in tomorrow’s fast-changing and increasingly more competitive world.” — A.G. Lafley, retired chairman, president, and CEO of Procter & Gamble.
Do you know how to develop leadership competencies that work best for your organization?
We all know that future business leaders don’t emerge by chance. The best ones step into their biggest roles after years of intentional development. What looks like a natural next step is often the culmination of years of hard work. Work that entails building the exact skills, knowledge, and experiences required for that position at that moment.
This is especially crucial as demographics shift; for instance, Millennials became the largest generation in the U.S. labor force in 2016, and now, in 2025, 62% Millennials are in a managerial role. Developing this cohort, and indeed all potential leaders, means moving beyond accidental leadership. When you meet a great leader, the impact is inspiring and energizing. Conversely, ineffective leadership can be just as noticeable, though perhaps harder to articulate why it falls short.
So, what has been happening behind the scenes? Do you know how to develop leadership competencies that work?
Define Your Core Leadership Competencies
Effective leadership starts with a clear vision. As George Harrison sang, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road’ll take you there.” Leaders—and their teams—need direction.
Senior leadership must define where the company is headed and what matters most. Every leader should be able to communicate that vision and connect it to their team’s work. Only then can you identify which leadership competencies are essential to achieve it.
Fortunately, there are many leadership competency models to start from. When you’re ready, select and define the competencies required for success at your organization. While some leadership skills like strong communication, curiosity, an ability to delegate, and a sense of humor are universally valuable, other competencies will be unique to your specific context.
Consider whether your culture prioritizes collaboration or competition, creative thinking or adherence to strict plans, or if you’re delivering rapidly evolving technology versus products with exact specifications. It’s important not only to identify and define these competencies but also to consider how they will be assessed and rated when selecting a competency model that supports your goals. These defined competencies should also be clearly articulated in your job descriptions for leadership roles.
Most companies identify somewhere between 5 and 30 key leadership competencies. Here, as a sample reference, is a list of leadership competencies defined by the Deloitte Leadership practice:
- Inspirational leadership: Inspire others to take action
- Execution: Get teams to achieve results
- Influence: Persuade and influence in all directions
- Collaboration: Collaborate with others
- Direction: Set vision, direction, and a compelling course of action
- Business judgment: Make business decisions that drive positive bottom-line performance
- Competitive edge: Know their markets and innovate to stay ahead
- Building talent: Develop people for competitive advantage
Identify Potential Leaders
Use web-based skills assessments, manager assessments, and career conversations with employees to identify which employees can potentially become future leaders. Look for those professionals who are already stepping up. For example, those who are volunteering for additional tasks or responsibilities. Or those who are speaking up with ideas and constructive feedback. And don’t forget those who are actively collaborating with others to complete a project or solve a problem.
Be sure those who are showing capability are interested in pursuing a leadership role. Take time to discover their vision for themselves, their teams, and your company. At the same time, ask those who say they want to be leaders to demonstrate their willingness to do what it takes to get there. Both attitude and aptitude are essential ingredients.
Then, outline a development plan with your future leaders. Identify current strengths, interests, experiences, and skill gaps. This is crucial. To effectively measure whether a leader is making progress, it’s beneficial to conduct competency assessments not just for identified future leaders but also as new leaders step into their roles. This establishes a solid, objective baseline, clarifying where a leader currently excels and where they will benefit most from targeted development, experience, and support. Create a supportive, progressive plan for developing leadership competencies. The plan should encompass the skills, knowledge, and experiences they need to grow.
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Build Core Leadership Skills
Effective leaders master a mix of hard skills (technical and business know-how) and soft skills (the way people do their jobs). Being able to clearly communicate, inspire others, and actively listen is as important as analyzing a balance sheet, tracking a project, or making strategic business decisions.
For instance, competencies frequently highlighted for developing leaders include effective communication (encompassing business writing and in-person speaking), teamwork (especially leading diverse groups to high performance), and influence. Other critical skills often cited are critical thinking, stakeholder management, and broader business/management acumen.
Interestingly, while seasoned executives might prioritize these, emerging leaders themselves often emphasize the importance of leadership impact, interpersonal skills, and global/cultural acumen, reflecting a potentially evolving perspective on what tomorrow’s agile, team-focused workplace requires.
Mastering such a broad skillset requires a training program that starts with basic learning opportunities and expands to more diverse development exercises. Classes and courses. Mentoring. Books, videos, and movies. Practical application and practice. All of these learning options have their place in developing essential skills.
It’s important to remember that while many aspiring leaders are curious and eager to grow, not all are naturally inclined to work on their weaker areas. As learning guru Donald H. Taylor points out, the role of learning and development “is no longer to provide information, but rather to inspire and support learning.” Thus, a key part of the development process is to foster this desire for continuous improvement.
In this article highlighting four companies’ leadership development best practices, Phil Geldart, CEO at Eagle’s Flight, reminds us that articulating the “why” behind the “how” of skill-building is also important. “Gone are the days . . . of simply lecturing about tactics when it comes to making great leaders. Instead, there’s a focus on principle-based training: people must understand the principles then be coached to apply them in their own specific work environments.”
Together with your young leaders, emphasize the “why” behind the targeted skills. Use ongoing skills assessment to track their progress – and the level of proficiency – to ensure their development plan stays aligned with their goals.
Develop Essential Knowledge
Unlike an individual contributor, leaders must know about areas of the company beyond one core operational area. Knowing the history of your company, the products and services you offer, and the clients and partners you serve are all important. Understanding people – including best practice for recruiting, hiring, and team-building – is also essential. Many emerging leaders, particularly from younger generations like Millennials, often bring strong technical competencies, an aptitude for working with diverse colleagues, and a global perspective. While these are valuable assets, developing a comprehensive understanding of the entire business remains critical.
As Merck highlights in its leadership development recruitment video, one common way to build knowledge about a company is for potential leaders to rotate through assignments in different functional areas and geographies. That direct exposure to different areas of the business is tremendously effective in building first-hand knowledge of the company and the market you operate in.
Expand Leadership Experiences
Over time, your young leaders should be taking on broader and higher-level responsibilities. Map out experiences for young leaders to experience success – and failures – to build upon. These should include “stretch” experiences that offer progressively challenging opportunities within a supportive environment.
Future leaders should experience leading meetings, projects, teams, departments, and, when ready, cross-organizational activities. Give them opportunities to speak up, make recommendations, then decisions and, later, to set the direction of an initiative.
Young leaders should be visible to internal colleagues as well as clients and partners. Through mentorship guidance, shadow opportunities, support roles, then lead roles, individuals will build experiences that shape their own best practices for leading. As leaders become more competent in their roles, look for opportunities for them to lead through coaching and mentoring others.
As author and speaker Simon Sinek outlined in his now-famous TEDTalk, “How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” the goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe. Leaders who are connected to the fundamental “why” of your business – and who can communicate that “why” – will inspire employees, clients, partners, and others to join you. So, when building the competencies of your next great leaders, don’t stop with the tactics of building skills, knowledge, and experience. You’ll know when your leaders are ready. It’s when you see them inspiring others to act in a way that supports your people, your company, and the clients you serve.
To support this journey, it’s vital to provide regular, data-driven performance feedback. While leaders often have a sense of their performance, objective data from tools like 360-degree reviews—collecting insights from managers, peers, and direct reports—can pinpoint specific strengths and areas for improvement. This feedback is essential for converting potential into intentional, effective leadership, helping individuals make informed choices and adjustments. Moreover, the process should be open to feedback from the developing leaders themselves, allowing for plan adjustments as needed.
Remember that leadership itself is not static; it’s crucial to systematically refresh leadership goals, skills, and competencies to align with changing demographics, market conditions, and evolving company objectives. This forward-looking approach also informs succession planning, using data to identify future leaders and ensure the organization is prepared for what comes next. Traditional leadership styles that worked for previous generations may not always be optimal for the next, and embracing new, potentially better ways of doing things will position companies for sustainable success.
Ready to Start the Conversation?
If you’re just getting started with developing leadership competencies that work for your organization, read our white paper: 5 Key Competencies to Develop Your Future Leaders. Or contact us to find out how Avilar’s WebMentor Skills™ and WebMentor LMS™ can help you develop the skills, knowledge, and experience of your future leaders.
*This blog was originally published Oct. 21, 2020 and has been modified to bring you the most up-to-date information.
