LEADERSHIP
ON THE FRONTLINE
Martin Dean, Senior Manager, DuPont Sustainable Solutions, looks at
developing critical leadership competencies.
Think about the best boss
or teacher you ever had.
What was it they did that
made you remember them? If
we took ve minutes, we could
all easily describe what it takes
to be a great leader but, if it’s
that easy, how come everyone
isn’t a great leader? Imagine
the competitive advantage
your organisation would have
if you surrounded yourself not
just with great leaders but also
with excellent safety leaders.
In ground handling, it’s
commonplace to promote
people into a leadership
position largely based on their
technical knowledge or length
of service rather than their
leadership skills. Furthermore,
once they are in a leadership
position, we say “go on then,
go lead” without supporting
them or providing clarity on
what a great leader looks like
in the organisation. We mostly
learn how to lead by how we
have been led ourselves. If my
supervisor was a shouter, I
shout louder (also known as
Management by Volume).
The right skills
If people are not equipped with
the right skills that they need
to ll leadership positions,
how can organisations avoid
the so-called Peter Principle?
“In hierarchy, every employee
will rise to his level of
incompetence.”
Techniques to avoid that
pitfall begin with building
leadership competencies
into the selection/promotion
process. So how does one
decide which competencies are
Figure 1: The DuPont Health & Safety Leadership Competencies Model
critical? Great leaders bring
a whole range of capabilities
to their role. ey inspire,
engage and motivate but they
also keep an eye on the main
objective and track how close
they are to reaching it. ey
constantly evolve and adapt to
changing circumstances and
anticipate what needs doing.
Ultimately, we follow the
people we have trust in, who
inspire us and who lead by
example.
Working on building and
enhancing leaders’ skills with
companies around the world,
we have come to realise what
makes for e ective leadership
in Health & Safety is applicable
to all other elds as well. In an
ideal world, leaders develop
the full range of competencies
set out in Figure 1.
Deciding what skills are really
needed
But it’s a big wish list and
likely to overwhelm people,
especially if newly promoted
into a leadership position. It is
better to take a step back and
consider what it is you want
to achieve. A helpful approach
is to de ne what front line
leaders in your organisation
need to do and how they
should do it. What skills will
be critical in their new role?
e diagram (le ) illustrates
what this could look like. Here,
the organisation has decided
initially to focus on developing
the new leader’s capacity
to engage people, to create
a culture of openness and
support, the ability to provide
focus and reinforce rules, as
well as the skill to observe
what is actually
going on. ghi
Footnote:
To learn more about training, coaching
and other ways to develop leadership
skills, visit www.consultdss.com
“Ultimately, we
follow the people
we have trust in”
Martin Dean,
DuPont Sustainable Solutions
28 February 2020 Ground Handling International
/www.consultdss.com