Page 199 - The extraordinary leader

176 • The Extraordinary Leader

interpersonal skills facilitates the sharing of knowledge, the persuasion
of others to a new position, and positive interactions in terms of
solving problems. We do not believe that improving interpersonal
skills makes technical knowledge grow or makes a person smarter. It is
possible that because of good interpersonal skills, a person may choose
to coach and mentor colleagues. This may improve actual technical
ability. For the most part, however, the impact of interpersonal skills
on technical ability seems to be that it facilitates the communication
of technical knowledge and enhances the appreciation other people
have of a person’s technical skills. When Jane speaks up in meetings,
others start to see how smart and capable she is, and their perception
of her technical ability goes up.
3. Achieving a high level of skill in one behavior helps develop a related
behavior. For example, one of the strongest competency companions
for “developing other people” is being skilled and interested in
developing yourself. If leaders do not have a good career plan for
themselves, it is most difficult to assist their direct reports in creating
career plans. If people feel stuck in their careers with no place to go, it
is harder for them to be of much assistance to others. However, if
leaders learn to develop their own careers, that will be an invaluable
start to assisting others with the same process.
4. One competency is a building block or a core element of the other
competency. One of the most interesting competency
companionships that we found related to integrity. A strong
companion behavior to integrity is concern and consideration for
other people. Simply put, those perceived with high integrity have a
high level of concern and consideration for others, and those
perceived with low integrity lacked consideration for others.
Consideration for others is a vital component of the broader
competency labeled “integrity.” A person who has no problems taking
advantage of another person lacks integrity.
5. Competency companions change the context in which we operate.
We found a strong relationship between a person’s ability to
communicate and the extent to which a person is trusted. Typically,
when people attempt to improve their ability to communicate, they
focus on the message and the delivery (e.g., what they say and how
they say it). This research indicates that if people trust a leader, then
the leader does not need to give a world-class speech. The fact that