Whether navigating a series of layoffs, integrating senior teams after an acquisition, or struggling to spur company innovation, it is the leaders who sit at the nexus of strategy and execution—the directors—who often have the biggest impact on delivering performance. It’s common for directors to find themselves in these roles after years of solid execution as functional experts. They start out managing a team and rise through the ranks. Sometimes, suddenly, they are promoted to a director or other senior leadership role. However, the skill sets and relationships that earned them the promotion—getting work done and leading their teams—may not be the same skill sets and relationships needed for success in the more expansive and strategic role.
Organizations need leaders who are adequately prepared for these critical roles. Research across multiple industries shows that organizations are more siloed than ever before. Different units—whether identified by function, geography, product line, or otherwise—struggle to integrate. This has been exacerbated by the pandemic, as remote and hybrid work kept teams physically separated. When teams do meet, and especially when meeting remotely, groups often are limited to a specific project team. The free flow of ideas and cross-departmental communication has suffered.
Reading the Signs
In our recent research into newly promoted directors, nearly half of the survey respondents identified “engaging others around the strategy” as their biggest stretch coming into the director role—around both clearly communicating the strategies passed down from above and “filling in the blanks,” which involves creating strategies for their own teams and translating the company’s direction into more focused, local strategies to drive execution. Beyond the communications challenges, the survey identified critical aspects of delegating, team leadership—both vertically and across the enterprise—and time management as areas for professional development. While line managers gauge effectiveness through production, the output and effectiveness of a director can be hard to discern. And yet, their impact—for better or for worse—is immense. How do you know if your organization needs to focus on directors? Look for the signs:
- Do you have high turnover in this role or in the managers who work under them?
- Do you have new people growing into this role through internal promotions?
- Do you have a newly formed leadership team?
- Are you seeing enough strategic activity out of the role or are your directors spending most of their time in the weeds of their teams’ projects?
- Are your departments/units/geographies aligned with overarching organizational priorities?
- Is there trust and positive discourse across functions?
If the answers to these questions reveal room for improvement, it might be time to concentrate on the leadership development of your directors.
Designing Effective Development Experiences for Directors
One of the most effective means of supporting these leaders is through a cohort program. Cohort programs lead to stronger relationships across the organization and often result in quicker cultural change. We recommend including elements that increase self-awareness of leadership capabilities and opportunities for development, such as 360-degree assessments, as well as group and/or individual coaching to provide more customized support and development as a supplement to the full cohort sessions.
Our research on this population suggests a few critical topics that deserve focus when designing director development experiences.
- Often, new directors have strong vertical leadership abilities (i.e., managing their team or managing “up” to their supervisors), but struggle with lateral agility. Taking an enterprise perspective and nurturing relationships across the organization without positional authority are at the heart of leading across. This requires building trust with others, listening to them to learn about their area of the business, and being able to walk in their shoes. Activities in which the participants, as a small group, examine a real business challenge or opportunity through different functional perspectives can be powerful for broadening a leader’s perspective and further developing their empathy for cross-enterprise colleagues.
- The next key capability is around time management, teambuilding, and delegation. Directors feel pulled in many directions and struggle to carve out the space in their day to think and act strategically. Often, they find themselves doing the work that got them the promotion—executing tasks. We encourage these leaders to take a critical look at how they spend their time and how well their team is equipped to help them achieve their objectives. By examining their priorities against the capability and capacity of their current team members, a leader can identify tasks they can delegate to team members so they can better utilize and be more thoughtful about how they’re developing the individuals they lead.
- Finally, these leaders are looking for guidance on how to better translate and engage their team members around the strategy. While they are comfortable communicating objectives and clarifying tasks, many don’t know how to do so in a way that excites the team and links their work to the broader organization’s mission or strategy. Our solution here is relatively straightforward: practice. In our programs, we ask the leaders to craft a message aimed at creating clarity and engagement, to practice it, and then receive immediate feedback from their peers and the facilitators. This is a highly practical activity with learnings that can be applied right away.
As with most training and coaching programs, true success rests on what happens outside the program. An initial flush of excitement can wane after time, so create systems for ongoing support.
- Align compensation and performance management systems with the behavior you desire.
- Periodically check in to ensure the learning and skills development are sticking.
- Offer ongoing coaching or future programs to reinforce learning outcomes.
- Create ways for the cohort of directors to connect and maintain a sense of community outside of their area or department.
With so many leaders thrust into director-level roles without the proper preparation, balancing between strategy and execution can be a challenge. An organization that invests in these critical players demonstrates its commitment to its people’s success and realizes the true benefits of breaking down silos to align everyone with its overarching goals. For the individuals who nurture these skills, the leadership confidence they gain inspires trust from their teams and colleagues.
