"The willingness to take calculated risks in order to drive the business forward."
To realise the Full Potential of any opportunity Smiths? leaders need to drive change to ensure that what needs to be done gets done.
Taking Risks
Positive Indicators:
Takes calculated risks in initiating better ways of doing things
Consistently drives and encourages change
Identifies and seizes new opportunities
Reacts quickly in uncertain circumstances
Development Indicators:
Takes an overly safe and cautious approach
Struggles with change or unable to adapt plans to changing environments
Happy to accept the status quo
Tends to follow past practices
Driving Results
Positive Indicators:
Consistently drives high standards and ethical behaviour for self and others
Agrees realistic actions, performance indicators and deadlines
Monitors, reviews and adapts to achieve plans
Applies learning from past mistakes and setbacks
Development Indicators:
Tends to give up under pressure
Works without plans, performance indicators timelines or specific actions
Does not actively take responsibility for achieving results
Does not apply learning from past mistakes
Strategic Decision Making
"The ability to make good judgements by thinking both quickly and broadly."
To realise the Full Potential of any opportunity Smiths? leaders need to drive change to ensure that what needs to be done gets done.
Thinking Quickly
Positive Indicators:
Analyses complex information
Able to focus on the critical issues quickly
Makes timely decisions and takes action based only on critical information
Works well with ambiguity and uncertainty
Development Indicators:
Has difficulty identifying root causes of issues
Struggles to interpret complex information
Over deliberates when making decisions
When under pressure may find it difficult to make rational judgements
Thinking Broadly
Positive Indicators:
Generates a wide range of solutions
Considers the consequences of actions on ther areas of the business
Sees beyond the task to the ?bigger picture?
Proactively seeks others? perspectives when making decisions
Development Indicators:
Tends to be narrow in approach
Does not consider the effect of decisions on other areas of the business
Focuses on the short term at the expense of the longer term
Rarely seeks out others? perspectives
Emotional Intelligence
"The ability to deal effectively with your own and others? emotions."
Effective execution often means getting things done through people. How well a leader manages their impact on others and understands others? emotions will be a determining factor in their success.
Managing Own
Positive Indicators:
Shows self control under pressure
Demonstrates self awareness
Remains calm even when opposed
A positive role model in interactions
Development Indicators:
Readily shows inappropriate emotions
Gets aggressive or upset under pressure
Gets too emotionally involved and loses objectivity
Takes disagreements personally
Anticipating Others?
Positive Indicators:
Demonstrates understanding of how people feel
Respectfully responds to what matters to people
Anticipates the reactions of others
Manages their own behaviours to engage people
Development Indicators:
Overly task focused at the expense of the people focus
Does not tend to notice emotional reactions
Does not respond to body language
Shows little concern for people issues
Influencing
"The art of effective persuasion, winning hearts and minds."
Smiths is a complex and global organisation and, regardless of reporting structure, Smiths? leaders must be able to bring people with them whilst maintaining openness to others? perspectives.
Challenging
Positive Indicators:
Respectfully expresses unpopular opinions
Expresses views openly
Shows personal conviction
Actively challenges the majority view
Development Indicators:
Tends to go with the majority
Unlikely to raise controversial issues
Seeks consensus to avoid conflict
Easily swayed by others? opinions
Adapting to Others?
Positive Indicators:
Proactively uses a range of influencing skills
Asks lots of questions to clarify others? positions
Communicates what is the benefit for others?
Values and accepts diverse perspectives
Development Indicators:
Does not adapt their style to the audience
Does not tend to ask for input or feedback
Focuses predominantly on the message rather than adapting its delivery
Shows limited respect for others? views
Managing People
"The ability to effectively lead and performance manage people."
An important dimension of leadership is ensuring employees understand their role in delivering the business priorities for achieving Full Potential. An effective leader is a role model to others, monitors progress on objectives and coaches others for success.
Leadership
Positive Indicators:
Inspires people to follow their role model
Communicates a clear motivational vision
Adapts leadership style to suit the situation and culture
Ensures a pipeline of talent is developed for the current and future needs of the organisation
Development Indicators:
Does not consistently lead by example
Tends to encourage others? to mostly focus on tactical rather than strategic issues
Does not openly demonstrate passion for the business
Does not bring the strategy to life for people
Performance Management
Positive Indicators:
Agrees specific, measurable objectives with people and monitors progress
Coaches people to improve performance
Gives honest, timely and balanced feedback
Delegates work in an empowering and developmental way
Development Indicators:
Sets unclear or unrealistic objectives
Does not consistently monitor peoples progress
Struggles to give constructive feedback
When delegating tends to tell people what to do and how to do it
Managing Stakeholders
"The ability to build effective relationships both internally and externally."
An important skill for Smiths? leaders in the achievement of Full Potential is to understand key stakeholders and their needs and to proactively manage important internal or external relationships.
Stakeholder Focus
Positive Indicators:
Can articulate who the key stakeholders are
Identifies the future needs of stakeholders
Considers the stakeholders? key drivers and motivators
Consistently delivers or exceeds stakeholder expectations
Development Indicators:
Considers a narrow range of stakeholders
Struggles to identify a full range of stakeholders? needs
Does not consult with stakeholders to understand their drivers
Limited focus on improving standards for internal and external customers
Relationship Management
Positive Indicators:
Proactively builds networks inside and outside Smiths
Actively works cooperatively across Smiths
Looks for ?win:win? situations in relationships
Invests in relationships
Development Indicators:
Has a limited network
Tends to work in isolation
Engages in inappropriate conflict situations with some stakeholders
Acts competitively with internal stakeholders
Commercially Astute
"The understanding of commercial management."
Identifying market opportunity and the effective implementation of strategies for improved financial performance for the short and long term are key skills for Smiths? leaders.
Market Drivers
Positive Indicators:
Talks knowledgeably about the market
Actively monitors the competition
Differentiates Smiths from the competition
Proactively identifies and acts upon market opportunities
Development Indicators:
Knowledge of the market sector is out of date
Plans in isolation and without reference to the external market
Lacks awareness of competitor activities
Misses opportunities to differentiate Smiths
Financial Management
Positive Indicators:
Uses financial information in decisions
Implements the Full Potential Planning strategy
Uses effective metrics to track business performance
Identifies and acts upon opportunities to improve the top and bottom line
Development Indicators:
Tends not to identify opportunities to increase profitability
Makes decisions in absence of financial data
Struggles to explain how their activity adds value to the business
Tends not to use business performance measures
Professional Development
"The personal and technical skills growth to optimise Full Potential."
Full Potential requires continuous improvement in all areas. Having the motivation to identify and seize opportunities to learn and develop both personally and professionally is key to being a successful leader in Smiths.
Personal Development
Positive Indicators:
Actively seeks opportunities to learn and develop
Seeks feedback to increase self awareness
Reflects on and uses their past experiences
Develops oneself by teaching others
Development Indicators:
Reluctant to try new learning experiences
Tends not to ask for feedback
Is defensive when receiving feedback
Lacks self awareness
Functional Development
Positive Indicators:
Actively keeps specialist knowledge up to date
Finds ways to pass on functional knowledge
Increases their knowledge of other functional areas
Proactively learns relevant functional knowledge for next move
Development Indicators:
Functional knowledge not up to date
Does not share functional knowledge with others
Struggles to speak about other functional areas
Makes repeated mistakes due to a lack of functional understanding
