By Doug Van Dyke, Leadership Simplified, www.leadershipsimplified.com

Greetings leaders and welcome to 2010, a year that will be filled with interesting challenges and incredible opportunities! Challenges, you say? You betcha. We are still embroiled in a sputtering economy, speckled with financial landmines. Opportunities? Oh yes. The best leaders I know have shown great agility in embracing changing price points and customer expectations, which positions them well to thrive in the beginning of a new decade. In addition, they have engaged their teams in multi-day strategic planning sessions. The action plans stemming from these sessions contain gold (pricing strategies, marketing ideas, new directions for old product lines, customer satisfaction tactics, an affirmation of corporate culture, and talent development plans). From a corporate standpoint, I refer the latter item as breeding leaders.

What I mean by breeding leaders is to ensure that your organization can consistently pluck talent from your fold in order to lead your organization into the future. This ability creates a consistent corporate culture, with minimal disruptions when leadership changes occur. The implementation of breeding leaders sounds easier than it is. High-performing organizations, however, have positioned themselves nicely in this area. Let’s take a look at the four steps necessary to mirror their competitive advantage. 

0. Direction. Crafting a direction for your organization is paramount to its success. The artful communication and reinforcing of your vision is also a critical component. An overall Success Plan (some might say business plan) is broad in scope, yet narrow with regard to meaningful action. If you do not have one, build one soon. 
    
0. Intelligence. Yes, yes IQ and EQ are marvelous things to possess. However, knowledge and data about your market, competitors, trends, and, gulp, the economy are critical to an organizationssuccess. Some of the best ways to gather these types of intelligence are:

• Industry reports
• Surveys
• Customer roundtables
• Conversations with experts and consultants
• Newspapers (Remember them?) and trusted Internet data
• Conferences that include known industry specialists 

0. Succession Planning. This is a key component of your overall success/business plan. The keyword here is planning. Without a plan, a guide of sorts, nothing congruent is going to happen. Planning here connotes that internal team members are being groomed and are in line for specific leadership positions. The gold standard for succession planning is General Electric. They have such a structured succession plan that when someone is promoted or leaves the company, an announcement regarding their successor is announced on the same day as their departure or ascension. The same day. Wow. Now that is good planning! 
      
0. Talent Development. Certainly you develop your people. That is a big part of what good leaders do. How structured are your actions? Not very? Do not worry, you are not alone. Consider creating a system, a rhythm, for how you grow talent. Also, consider hiring a coach to work with your high-performers and high-potential team members. Whatever methods you pursue, if done smartly you will recognize a handsome ROI on your time and investment in outside resources. 

Is this newsletters self-serving? Of course. I am a professional coach, consultant, and strategist. So are you. Use this information wisely and structure your actions as appropriate. Do not allow the direction of your company to be a wavy line. Rather, focus your actions in 2010. Set your sights on what you desire to achieve, and make it happen. Economy be damned. 

Be well, my friends. Let’s make 2010 sizzle.

Doug Van Dyke is a leadership and communication consultant, executive coach, and business planner. He is the author of Leadership Simplified – THE Field Guide for Savvy Leaders.  Doug’s audios and videos are also available at www.leadershipsimplified.com. To learn more about consulting services, coaching, and training, or to have Doug speak at your next event, contact him today at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). 

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