Succession planning – who will make a better leader, an extrovert or an introvert
Succession planning is of paramount importance in an organization’s life. Every other guy in trade can narrate a tale about a failed boss and in the same stroke same guy can tell you a story about a successful leader in the organization. Leaders have their own style. Some will shout on top of their voice while some will just watch and speak their mind through body gestures and mannerisms. Effectiveness has nothing to do with whether a boss is an extrovert or an introvert. Leadership styles also vary depending upon the person to person. One distinguishing feature which is found in almost all effective business leaders is emotional intelligence. This therefore is an integral part of succession planning.
Emotional intelligence constitutes virtues and qualities like self confidence, openness to change, self assessment, optimism, empathy, customer focus, organizational commitment, killer instinct, persuasiveness, leading change effectively. The list is not complete. In addition to these, there are many other desired virtues which distinguish a leader from non-performing to a performing one.
All these soft skills can be learned gradually. Organizations when going for succession planning tend to map the profiles of selected candidates and analyze their strengths and weaknesses. It is only after these senior professionals have acquired and gained in emotional intelligence that they feel more confident to lead the change and take tasks head on. The training modules designed for top rung leaders should not make them change their inherent personalities. Rather, training should make them aware about their own strengths and weaknesses. Once they are aware of their weaknesses, they will definitely work towards ironing out the same.
May also like to read: Can you train yourself to be an effective leader?
