Directors and Business Leaders 360 degree feedback competency framework

Intended for: people who are at or near the top of their organisation. Business leaders need to think strategically as well as facing the challenges of both managing their organisation and being and ambassador for the business. Employees, shareholders, customers, financiers and other stakeholders all have high expectations and this 360 is an opportunity to test those skills.

Our Directors and Business Leaders competency framework is designed to cover all the skills that someone doing – or aspiring to do – a job at this level needs to have.

2. Directors and Business Leaders

You're at the top of your organisation. But do the people who work for you believe that you genuinely care about the culture or is it just the profits? Sometimes you need to take the lead and here's your opportunity to prove that you really are up for some good honest feedback about the way you run the show.

Competency Framework

You must complete all mandatory competencies.

Mandatory Competencies

Analytical thinking

The ability to analyse, investigate & interpret data, issues & situations

• Checks underlying evidence, data and assumptions before drawing conclusions
• Is able to take multiple pieces of complex information from multiple sources and make sense of them
• Makes sure that all the business implications are properly researched and taken into account when considering plans or actions
• Sees behind what is going on to identify the dynamics of a situation, process or problem
• Understands when an analysis or argument is valid, relevant and appropriate or not
• Will test the feasibility of a course of action before implementing it

Drive for results

The ability to focus oneself and others on achieving specific outcomes

• Articulates expectations for others and communicates the benefits
• Constantly reviews and monitors progress of the organisation against agreed targets
• Creates an ethos of challenge and drives for business success
• Drives self and others on when facing difficulty
• Encourages continuous improvement across the organisation
• Promotes a drive for quality across the organisation
• Pursues new business opportunities and makes them a reality
• Responds positively, with commitment and enthusiasm to setbacks and obstacles
• Treats major obstacles as challenges

Planning and Decision Making

The ability to make decisions on the best course of action and then to plan, organise, prioritise and balance resources to achieve that action

• Allocates corporate resources to optimise the results of all plans
• Can make tough decisions in the absence of complete information
• Demonstrates awareness of how decisions and actions impact the profitability of the business~
• Encourages bold win-win business planning
• Identifies and makes unpopular decisions when necessary
• Identifies the critical point, by when decisions must be made
• Knows when to take a risk in decision making
• Looks at the bigger picture and plans for the long term
• Manages to deliver maximum results for the least cost in terms of time and resources

Integrity and Ethical management

The ability to work ethically according to professional & company values

• Makes the right decision for the whole business, rather than own function or department
• Performs to high standards, and maintains constructive interpersonal relationships~ when under pressure
• Personal behaviour exemplifies company values
• Proactively takes ownership of problems affecting the business
• Promotes organisational honesty at all levels
• Risks unpopularity to make the right business decision
• Takes responsibility for own actions and decisions

Leadership and Inspiring others

The ability to use personal skills to guide and inspire individuals/groups towards achieving goals

• Behaves like a high profile leader
• Builds teams with appropriate expertise to achieve results, and empowers teams to take action and resolve own issues
• Champions empowerment by ensuring that people have the freedom and authority they need
• Creates a compelling picture of the organisation's vision, consistent with its values, which inspires others to feel a personal stake in its future
• Creates an expectation of a high performance culture and stretches others beyond what they thought was possible
• Motivates the organisation through positive leadership style
• Publicly recognises the contributions of individuals and teams
• Says thank you on behalf of the organisation

Commercial and Financial Awareness

The ability to apply understanding of the company & industry to improve effectiveness & profitability

• Able to organise and marshal resources to drive profitability
• Adheres to relevant commercial and financial regulation
• Anticipates trends (social, economic, political, technological and regulatory) that potentially impact the business
• Constantly takes into account the longer term needs of the business and identifies risks and opportunities which will arise
• Demonstrates broad and astute business sense
• Recognises global trends in markets and their relevance for the business
• Takes calculated risks in order to achieve significant business gains
• Understands the key financial drivers in the internal and external business environment, and looks for cost effective solutions.

Team-working

The ability to develop teams at company level, to improve their effectiveness through personal commitment and to role-model team behaviours

• Clearly communicates the contribution that individual teams make towards achieving the corporate vision
• Creates a climate of trust and collaboration across the organisation
• Demonstrates commitment to team-working by personal example
• Encourages input and advice from others on company strategy
• Encourages team members to use their diverse skills to complement one another
• Encourages teamwork to resolve business problems
• Focuses on team objective rather than personal agenda
• Promotes a team culture at all levels of the organisation
• Understands how teams work

Strategic Awareness

The ability to steer the organisation towards a goal using strategic vision to focus business activity

• Accurately anticipates emerging trends in the marketplace and associated customer expectations
• Balances strategic vision against demands of immediate operational challenges
• Chooses and develops strategies that differentiate business from competitors
• Creates and communicates an inspiring vision, which wins commitment
• Generates a clear vision for the future of the business
• Makes sure that the business is driven by the needs of its customers
• Translates the organisation's vision into successful, new, strategic initiatives.

Developing self and others

The ability to improve own performance and to help others to develop into the next job

• Creates a broad pool of talent to meet future business needs
• Develops successors by accurately assessing the strengths and weaknesses of others.
• Encourages people to develop themselves by taking responsible risks
• Goes out of the way to put self into new situations in order to learn and enhance his/her own skills
• Is open about own personal development as an example to others
• Makes sure that people have the support they need to realise their aspirations
• Makes sure that people understand that their personal development goes hand in hand with the health of the business
• Responds positively to feedback and acts upon it
• Sets challenging and stretching goals for self even after having achieved significant personal success

Influencing and Communication.

The ability to influence and persuade others and to actively manage the organisation's communication processes

• Demonstrates understanding through active listening, which shows respect for views and perspectives different from own
• Effectively lobbies key people and then uses them to support a position
• Encourages and enables others to talk with openness and honesty
• Has excellent negotiating skills
• Is able to creatively tailor communication in terms of both message and delivery to the audience
• Is able to deliver a powerful message which motivates people at difficult times
• Makes sure that there is a good two way flow of communication throughout the business
• Projects authority without aggression
• Uses the informal networks within the organisation to influence change

Adaptability/Change Management

The ability to respond & adapt to changing circumstances and to manage, solve problems and provide solutions in a climate of ambiguity

• Able to cope effectively in situations where there is a large amount of incomplete, complex and/or ambiguous information
• Balances conflicting agendas
• Balances drivers for change against potential constraints
• Can switch easily between different jobs and situations
• Finds ways of achieving change without provoking opposition
• Is a source of strength in times of uncertainty
• Looks for the opportunities that arise during times of change
• Prepares the organisation to cope with continuous changes

Conceptual Thinking and Innovation

The ability to generate new ideas through original thought

• Able to see parallel situations and draw lessons from them
• Able to understand and quickly see the key issues in a broad range of subjects
• Comes up with and presents new, original and workable business ideas
• Good at finding ways of tackling situations they haven't seen before
• Is able to work lots of novel ideas into a coherent plan
• Looks to different industries and disciplines to find new ideas that may apply
• Overthrows conventional views and makes radical changes to achieve business success
• Takes decisions that position the business as the market leader ahead of emerging trends
• Turns abstract ideas into models that others can understand

Relationships

The following relationships are available for this questionnaire:

•   Employee

•   Shareholder

•   Line Manager

•   Colleague

•   Direct Report

•   Customer or external contact

•   Fellow director