Living through this pandemic is like living in a bad sci-fi film full of unknown and inexplicable forces and a lot of science that no one fully understands.

So, what leadership competencies do we need to get us through this sci-fi film?

Not long ago, in the assessment and development field commentators coined the IQ, EQ, LQ formula to express leadership competencies. The formula signified that leaders needed an intelligence quotient to find new ways of solving old problems, emotional quotient to build relationships in structures that were no longer top down and learning quotient to rapidly adapt to technological change. The underlying concept here was that there were core leadership competencies that held true for all roles in all sectors.

Do these competencies apply now? Certainly, in a world where we can’t see further than tomorrow the LQ factor still does and high levels of EQ are needed to keep our people motivated and on track, and IQ to deal with diminishing resources of all kinds but that is all very broad.

Dig deeper and the specifics vary considerably. Many leaders are having to deal with operational matters they thought they had left behind, managing risk is about the risk of not doing something rather being adventurous, scrutinising cashflow is paramount, and managing relationships has taken on a somewhat pixelated hue.

My point is that we must rethink the leadership competencies that our business requires, then we can support people, allocate roles, and raise business performance.

Living through this pandemic is like living in a bad sci-fi film full of unknown and inexplicable forces and a lot of science that no one fully understands.

So, what leadership competencies do we need to get us through this sci-fi film?

Not long ago, in the assessment and development field commentators coined the IQ, EQ, LQ formula to express leadership competencies. The formula signified that leaders needed an intelligence quotient to find new ways of solving old problems, emotional quotient to build relationships in structures that were no longer top down and learning quotient to rapidly adapt to technological change. The underlying concept here was that there were core leadership competencies that held true for all roles in all sectors.

Do these competencies apply now? Certainly, in a world where we can’t see further than tomorrow the LQ factor still does and high levels of EQ are needed to keep our people motivated and on track, and IQ to deal with diminishing resources of all kinds but that is all very broad.

Dig deeper and the specifics vary considerably. Many leaders are having to deal with operational matters they thought they had left behind, managing risk is about the risk of not doing something rather being adventurous, scrutinising cashflow is paramount, and managing relationships has taken on a somewhat pixelated hue.

My point is that we must rethink the leadership competencies that our business requires, then we can support people, allocate roles, and raise business performance.

Get in touch with us at Scala to discuss how to review your leadership competencies.

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©Janice Caplan 2020