Build the team that can deliver

Your business plan assumes people who can carry it out. Define the leadership responsibilities the plan requires, then review who has demonstrated the necessary skills. Include work across functions, resource decisions, and developing other leaders.

Give leaders shared, observable definitions of those skills, with examples and supporting documents they can use in their work. Use the same expectations in coaching and performance reviews so feedback accumulates into evidence of capability. This applies the principle in Skills are for People too: skills are the unit of management.

Compare the evidence with the demands of the next stage. Distinguish a skill you have not observed from one the person has attempted and needs help developing. Consider whether to develop existing leaders, hire for a missing capability, change responsibilities, or adjust the plan.

Keith and I treat developing leaders as executive work. Choose a real assignment with each leader, such as resolving a shared staffing need with another function. Agree on authority, coaching, and a review while there is still time to make corrections. Keep the agreement in development notes; Admire’s development plan is one place to record it.

When a leader coaches a colleague through a decision they previously handled alone, point out that change. Give them further opportunities to develop that colleague, with support matched to what each person can now do.

Prepare coverage for critical roles. Give potential successors opportunities to practice with support, and check their interest before making plans around them. Assess readiness against the skills the next role requires, using observed work rather than success in the current role alone. Review readiness as the business changes.