Welch's 21 Steps to Management Greatness - 14
Cultivate Leaders
Time is the most valuable resource we have available to us. With that in mind, let's look at some of things Welch looked for in his people before he'd be willing to commit his and company time on cultivating leaders within General Electric (GE).
Welch first looked for four things in a person to see if he would make that commitment to them. He called them the four E's of leadership: Energy, Energize, Edge, and Execution. They're pretty self-explanatory, so we'll go a little further into the other vital attributes he sought.
More than anything else, he looked for people who shared the values of the company. This must be the foundation of leadership of any company if it's to thrive. If the values aren't shared, there will never be a flow between our people. It will keep everything from going forward as different values fight for preeminence.
This of course should be part of the hiring process from the very beginning. There should be no doubt about what the values of a company are from day 1 of workers' tenure with the company.
The other major thing Welch sought was someone who was not only willing to make commitments, but also found ways of delivering on them. He didn't want theoretical, potential leaders, he wanted people that had proven they will commit so much that they will find a way to make something happen.
One of the key reasons General Electric is such a great company is their high standards for leaders in the firm. Many companies would be happy with the things we've already talked about so far, but with Welch, this was the cost of entry of just getting started on a management career in the company.
When we talk leadership here, we're talking upper level leadership, not entry level. Entry level is there to weed out those that have it and those that don't. Welch looked for those that had it.
As he's said in the past, you don't put your "B" team on the field to play the game, you put your best out there. Welch looked for the best; so should we.
The first step to cultivating leaders should be having measurable standards in place that leave no doubt as to where a potential candidate stands. Those mentioned above are very good guidelines to have as standards to measure against.
Another important thing to keep in mind, is execution and delivering of the goods. What this implies, is a person must be there long enough to show they can accomplish things at certain levels - to prove themselves. Someone wanting to pass that up isn't worth the effort. They think they're special in comparison to others. You'll get nothing but trouble from those that think they have a birthright to leadership, rather than working their way of by proving themselves over a period of time.
If we follow these things, we should be very successful at cultivating the types of leaders in our companies that will lead it to even greater success.
Other Jack Welch Resources:
Jack Welch's advice to MIT Sloan students
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