As a P&G alumna, I really enjoy the articles that come out about how great P&G is to work for and how it is considered as The School for Marketing. Yet, I feel that very few of the articles truly capture the magic ingredient to P&G’s success. So when I hear that P&G is the School for Marketing, I agree, but I would hate to think that its focus on building leaders is overlooked. That is why I would say it also a School for Leadership.
In P&G, leadership is needed and demanded at all levels in all functions if you seek to grow and outperform your competition. It really starts with the great vision and ultimately is delivered through execution of the strategy in the products and in the go-to-market fundamentals like competitive media plans, shipping products on time or to simply having advertising with the correct copy in the correct language.
So in a world where complexity is rife, many markets, many brands and lots of resources…P&G did a very smart thing…they standardised their definition of Leadership and made it an expectation for everyone to understand it and to deliver against it. Sounds really cold, right? Like taking the magic out of it…but can you imagine the alternative when you have over 100,000 folk making their own interpretation? It would be like Chinese whispers on steroids. What a thought.
The great companies of this decade are acutely aware of how important it is to drive this due diligence when building capabilities. Just look at how competencies are defined and transmitted through your own organisation or others like L'Oreal, Unilever or BCG. So no matter how you frame leadership (or any other competency for that matter) in your organisation, take some tips from others who take building leadership capabilities seriously.
1. Define Leadership as a skill- that's teachable
Document your definition of Leadership. Spell out clear measurable behaviours for all levels. Simply put, don't leave anything to interpretation. On top, you must get people's buy-in that leadership is a teachable skill (regardless of level). This fundamental belief of teachability is what will eventually separate the Good leaders from the Great leaders.
You must have a teachable spirit. If you don’t, you will come to the end of your potential long before you come to the end of your life. If you want to be successful tomorrow, then you must be teachable today. You need more than a great mind for learning. You need to have a great heart for learning.” - John Maxwell.
2. Recruit for Leaders at entry level
If leadership is one of the key skills, then recruit for it at entry level. Look for historical examples where candidates have demonstrated it and then judge potential for it in the future. When we would interview candidates from university we would extensively understand their leadership achievements from when they were at high school until the present day. This level of focus means more leaders as of Day 1.
3. Build Leadership Capabilities
Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar." - Orrin Woodward
P&G is highly recognised as a great training ground. It recruits graduates who are deemed strong leaders vs. their peers and it invests in growing their leadership even further. The formula for doing this is simple. Combine classroom training with on the job coaching from your manager namely. There are series of leadership classroom trainings designed for seniority, but the magic is in the everyday coaching of the leadership framework. The coaching in essence is coming from the top to the bottom continuing the culture of Leadership. There is a great Q&A from Roisin Donnelly, brand director for northern Europe at Procter & Gamble on this subject.
4. Evaluate & Reward Leadership behaviour
You get what you measure. So it makes perfect sense to document each individual's leadership skill development at the most granular level. See an example below of a skills matrix template. Now this is an oversimplified view on a skills matrix, but the principle of tracking performance against skills desired is critical.
5. Sponsor it.
It is no surprise that to make leadership an aspirational skill it needs to start from the top. Senior management must walk the leadership talk by explicitly calling out good leadership when they see it regardless of levels. So be a role model and find someone you fine aspirational.
Leaders are more powerful role models when they learn than when they teach.” ― Rosabeth Moss Kantor
Of course this is my simplified outlook in the world and let's face it, the implementation requires a good definition of leadership to start off with. That itself is a meaty subject I will cover another time.
For the time being, what are your personal experiences with building leadership capabilities? What worked? What could be improved?
Thank you taking the time to read my article. If you like this post, please leave a comment, like and hit theFollowbutton at the top of the page so we cancontinue to collaborate together.
Author:Michelle spent 16 years at Procter & Gamble, most of her time in Prestige Beauty, then moved to become the CMO atVertu(British luxury handmade mobile handsets) followed by leading Strategy & Transformation at Samsung Electronics.For upcoming posts, follow Michelle onLinkedInand twitter. All statements made, opinions expressed in this article only reflect her personal opinion.
Michelle has also written
- How to improve your leadership overnight with these 3 simple steps.
- True grit success gene
- My 5 tips to my younger self
- Why some emotional advertising misses the mark
