A recently published research study sheds some intriguing light on the competencies that appear to be the strongest predictors of leadership effectiveness  (Kozminski, et. al, 2022).  242 leaders in top managerial positions provided data for the study. The results showed that four out of five competencies studied – anticipation, visionary, value-creation, and mobilization–were significant predictors of leadership effectiveness. Of the four, mobilization competencies were the strongest positive predictors of leadership effectiveness. Self-reflection competencies showed no relationship with leadership effectiveness.

A leader competent in the most critical area of Mobilization effectively encourages others to work hard and achieve important goals, instills respect and appreciation in team members and co-workers, and inspires others to action. Getting others to act in meaningful and collaborative ways is clearly a skill mastered by the most effective leaders.

A leader competent in Anticipation accurately foresees other people’s opinions, identifies obstacles and threats, considers various possibilities and action plans, and creates plan B.

Visionary leaders find promising opportunities, use intuition, predict the future accurately, support new and interesting ideas and solutions, and show others opportunities and threats.

Value-creation competencies are demonstrated by leaders committed to perfection and professionalism, who set high operating standards along with ambitious but achievable goals and do not withdraw when encountering problems.

The effectiveness of a leader is strongly dependent on their leadership skills and competencies. The competencies identified in this study appear to offer a clear set of functional tools for current and aspiring leaders.

Reference

Kozminski , A., Baczyn, A., Skoczen, I., & Korzynski, P.  (2022). Towards leadership effectiveness: the role of leadership individual competencies and constraints. Introduction of the Bounded Leadership Model. Leadership & Organization Development Journal 43 (4), 596-611