A new capability framework has helped a global organisation transform and align its leadership team for future growth, its people leader says.
Dr Amanda Green – the organisational psychologist known for helping the Richmond Football Club deliver a premiership season after a decades-long drought – was appointed Movember’s chief people officer in late 2020. The organisation – which is now 19 years old, operates in 21 countries and employs about 300 people – had at the time already achieved significant growth and had just appointed a new CEO, and it was looking to implement an ambitious new strategy.
Green started to consider the leadership capability required to deliver on that strategy and, with help from a tool called AbilityMap, began building a context-specific framework that would generate a deeper understanding of the team’s inherent strengths and potential weaknesses.
First, she asked its 19 members to consider a list of 31 recognised leadership capabilities and select the eight they considered most critical for delivering on the current strategy in the current context.
In 24 hours, the results were in. What was most fascinating to Green was the overlap in the 19 responses. Despite the group’s diversity of experience – it included experts in everything from fundraising to law to technology – five capabilities were common to every single response:
- leading others;
- achieving plans;
- influence and persuasion;
- adapting to change; and
- working with teams.
The remaining three capabilities the leaders chose varied. Some placed more importance on goal orientation, planning and execution, others were more concerned with cultivating fellowship via good management and communication – but standing back, the differences “absolutely” made sense, Green tells HR Daily.
The executive leadership, who work with the board and look “out”, tend to be biased towards execution and delivery, while operational leaders who work closely with their teams tend to have more immediate concerns around communication, she explains.
