14 Nov THE MOST CRITICAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT … THE PEOPLE AT THE TOP
I had an interesting conversation at Sunday breakfast with a friend of mine, who also happens to be an excellent leader and CEO. This helped me to distill a thought:
Developing your top talent is important. So is developing your talent at the top.
Your executive team, and your board members.
Findings from the Leadership Confidence Index H1 2025 include:
- 59% of leaders said their ELT effectively works together as a team. Which means 41% do not.
- 58% of leaders believe their leadership team has the right capabilities to lead the organization successfully. So, 42% do not believe in the capability of their leadership team.
- 55% of CEOs, and even fewer C-suite leaders (49%), believe the executive team gets good input and advice from the supervisory board.
Your people need to trust in the leadership of the most senior leaders to be engaged and productive. Without quality leadership at the top of your organisation, how is this possible?
Without continuing their development, these most senior of your leaders can be left behind…particularly as the world changes quickly around them. Targeted strategic development of your most senior leaders is critical to ensure they are well equipped and will confidently lead at a wholistic level.
Contrary to popular belief, the best way to climb to the top of the ladder is to take others up there with you.
Maria Eitel, Founder and Chair of the Nike Foundation and The Girl Effect
So how do you activate the continuous learning and development of your most senior leaders?
This responsibility sits with the CEO. Both up to the board, and down to the executive team.
You need a capable executive team – how close are you?
- Have you identified and defined the key capability requirements for each executive role?
- Have you assessed your current executive team members against each of their individual job role capability requirements?
- Have you identified the gaps between where each person is operating and where they need to be?
- Does each member of your executive team have an agreed and active development plan to close these gaps?
If the answer to one or more of these questions is not a clear yes, there is work to do. How can you expect them to perform at the highest level if you are not setting them up for success?
Consider the priority you are giving this. Then, take clear action to support their learning and development.
The growth and development of people is the highest calling of leadership.
Harvey Firestone, founder of Firestone tires
Hold the mirror up.
Next, have you considered each of the questions above for yourself as CEO?
You too need to continue your leadership growth.
What priority are you giving this?
And the same goes for your Board members. Each of these questions needs to be considered for each member of your board. Then the same priority focus given to developing them and closing any capability gaps.
You can have the best intentions and an agreed agenda, yet without the capability needed it is challenging to deliver.
How are you setting yourself, your executive team, and your organisation up for success?
I’d love to know your thoughts.
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