Page 192 - The extraordinary leader

New Insights into Leadership Development • 169

Current Approach to Change Plans

More
Desired
Current Better
Performance Future Faster
Performance
Smarter

People People
question have
ability on confidence in
Technical Technical
Expertise Expertise

Figure 8-1 Current Approach to Change Plans (Linear Development Model)

competencies. To her surprise, she was rated lower than the average of her
colleagues on technical expertise. In this organization, the one quality that is
highly valued is technical expertise. To Jane, these results were a blatant wake-
up call, and so she decided to make a significant change. Even though she
felt fairly current, she decided to rededicate herself and broaden her under-
standing of related fields. She attended a technical conference, read every
journal from cover to cover, and started an independent research project with
a university. To get a sense of how all this work was helping, she asked her
manager to have a career discussion with her. In the discussion she described
all of her efforts to hone her skills and build a broader knowledge base. Her
manager was pleased with all her efforts, but then she asked the critical ques-
tion: “Do you think that all this work will help others see that I have a great
deal of technical knowledge and expertise?” Her manager sat back in his seat
and paused to prepare his answer carefully. “Well, Jane, I don’t know if any
of this is ever going to make any difference until you have the guts to speak
up in a meeting and share your knowledge with people. The problem isn’t
how much you know, it’s what you do with what you know!”
Jane Larson is a good example of a linear action plan (see Figure 8-1) not
being helpful. In reality, Jane did not need to take additional classes, read
journals better, or do more research. Her problem was that she failed to share