Organizations need leaders. How do we find them? How do we develop them? At one level we are still struggling with defining what leadership is, how it differs from management, and so forth. Professionals in disciplines such as management, human resources, and organizational behavior have varying perspectives but no clear answers. Consequently we may use different approaches to understanding “leadership.”
 
In a 2017 issue of The Leadership Quarterly, Michael Mumford and associates focus on problem-solving skills critical to leader performance. In an article rich in ideas and information they argued that effective “real world” leadership occurs in situations where the leader has knowledge, experience, and creativity nurtured through experience. Effective leaders may have seen it before, seen similar, and have mental maps that help them work through problem resolutions. They also have the abilities to see potential problems, alternative solutions, and can evaluate potential consequences. Mumford et al. identified nine cognitive skills critical to effective leader performance. Here are the nine skills. For each I have posed a question for leaders based on my reading.

• Identifying and defining problems.

         Do you actively seek or search for information, external and internal?

• Analyzing causes and goals to address problem.

         Can you identify the biggest actionable causes affecting the problem?

• Identifying constraints on solutions.

         Do you have a systems perspective? Can you perceive the constraints on problem solutions?

• Formulating realistic plans.

         Can you identify and sequence the tasks and resources to work the problem?

• Forecasting specific outcomes from plan execution

         How successful have you been in predicting outcomes in similar situations?

• Formulating solutions to pitfalls foreseen and not foreseen

         Can you find creative solutions when implementation issues arise?

• Evaluating alternative ways to implement plan.

         Are your decisions go-no-go or do you seek to improve alternatives?

• Evaluating alternatives in context of situation.

         Do you have the experience to consider aspects that only arise out of experience?

• Visioning and sensemaking in communicating with followers.

         Can you simply and effectively communicate the vision/plan?

Mumford and associates suggested that these cognitive skills critical to effective leadership can be improved by training programs and other organizational development interventions. Additionally they may provide the foundation for new methods to assess leadership potential.
 
My take-aways:
 
1.  This contribution of Mumford, Todd, Higgs, and McIntosh is significant. While there is little we can do to effect adult intelligence (and intelligence is correlated positively with leaders), there is much we can do to effect development of these cognitive tasks.
 
2.  While leaders with these cognitive skills may be desirable, a leader may not need to possess each skill. Effective leaders should know their strengths and weaknesses. Leaders should engage their groups and teams in all of these areas. Identifying these skills in others and letting them contribute help make effective leaders. 
 
3. For me this article underscores the importance of active learning.  Do we provide opportunities for experiences where people can learn through the experiences? Do we discuss “lessons learned” afterwards and guide development of mental models, that is how to handle different situations? In our busy day-to-day workplaces, do we as leaders find the time, make the time, to develop others?
 
Mumford, M. D., Todd, E. M., Higgs, C., & McIntosh, T. (2017). Cognitive skills and leadership performance: The nine critical skills. The Leadership Quarterly, 28, 24-39.
 
Image, "Thinking" by Tumisu.
Retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/en/thinking-brain-head-idea-2006869/
Public domain: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ 
 
© John Ballard, PhD,  2017. All rights reserved.
 
Author of Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK Next Generation Indie Book Awards.

Bias in hiring and other personnel decisions may be common. Why? Because we may not even be aware of some of our biases. Implicit biases can affect our judgments without our even being aware we have a bias.
 
Jay Van Bavel and Tessa West, both social psychologists at New York University, recently wrote in The Wall Street Journal about implicit bias in hiring. Their premise is we prefer people similar to ourselves and this can unconsciously affect our hiring practices. It especially makes hiring a diverse workforce more problematic. Here are several of their suggestions followed by my comments:

• “Check the job description.” Be sure the job description is not inadvertently biased, thus limited the applicant pool. For example, recruiting for a “salesman” vs. neutrally phrased “position in sales.”
• “Recruit outside your comfort zone.” Does your company usually hire from the same three or four universities or colleges? Are you looking for people demographically the same as your current employees?
• “Evaluate every resume the same way.” Critical. We read resumes and process them through our lens. We may unknowingly respond to subtle cues that bias us for or against an applicant.
• “Identify what you want before interviews begin.” Often overlooked. What you really want may vary based on whom you ask? I may want someone with good leadership skills to head up a project. You may want someone with the most up-to-date technical skills. We should have some agreement on the what we want from our new hire.
• “Stick to a script during interviews.” This is standard, often repeated advice – but usually not followed. Nolan and Highhouse (2014) cited Ryan and associates who found “only 35% of U.S. companies reported using standardized interview questions for each applicant.”
• “Ensure decisions are based on the right metrics.” If you agree prior to interviews on what you want and stay aware of potential implicit biases, then you should be able to make evidence-based decisions.
• “Continually analyze the process.” Improvement in hiring is difficult without an “after hire” review of what went well and what did not. In my experience this is rare. Continuous improvement should be built into the hiring process, just like other processes.

​
My take-aways:
 
1. Van Bavel and West offer excellent suggestions to improve hiring. In my opinion the first and most important activity though is not listed: job analysis. Job analysis will determine “the job-relatedness of the tasks and competencies needed to successfully perform the job” (OPM). A good job analysis makes all personnel decisions easier and more accurate.
 
2.  In Decoding the Workplace I stated that “many (organizations) are looking for people who fit the organization’s culture, people who will assimilate more quickly into its workforce – people who have ‘the right stuff’ for that organization” (p. 68). This is not inconsistent with acquiring a diverse workforce. Standardized, job-related questions, especially involving often encountered workplace situations, may be useful.
 
3. We all have implicit biases. The key is to be aware they exist and try to recognize our own. For example, in Decoding the Workplace I discuss how most of us probably have implicit biases associated with sex-role stereotypes. Examine performance appraisals you may write. Do you use different types of words describing men (“true leader, dynamic”) versus women (“good administrator, works well with others”)? Self awareness can be tough but the insights developed can make us better leaders -- and people.
 
Van Bavel, J. J., & West, T. V. (2017, February 21). Seven Steps to Reducing Bias in Hiring. The Wall Street Journal, p. R2.
 
Nolan, K. P., & Highhouse, S. (2014) Need for autonomy and resistance to standardized employee selection practices. Human Performance, 27(4), 328–346.
 
Ryan, A. M., McFarland, L., Baron, H., & Page, R. (1999). An international look at selection practices: Nation and culture as explanations for variability in practice. Personnel Psychology, 52, 359–391.
 
Image, "Now Hiring Sign" by JAnstee (WMF) February 2014.
Retrieved from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Now_Hiring.png
Used with permission:  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
 
© John Ballard, PhD,  2017. All rights reserved.
 
Author of Decoding the Workplace, BEST CAREER BOOK Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
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"Decoding the Workplace: 50 Keys to Understanding People in Organizations is as informed and informative a read as it is thoughtful and thought-provoking. . . Decoding the Workplace should be considered critically important reading for anyone working in a corporate environment." —Midwest Book Review