What exactly is the Leadership Challenge research, and how can it help my leaders?
Your company has an operating system. But does your leadership?
I've seen this challenge in growing organizations many times.
A founder builds a great company.
They know how they want customers treated. They know how decisions should be made. They know what “good” looks like.
And, very often, they're a pretty good leader themselves.
Then the company grows.
10 people become 50.
50 become 200.
And suddenly the founder can't lead everybody.
You need more leaders.
So you promote some of your best people.
But here's the question I think growing organizations sometimes forget to ask:
Have we ever actually explained what we mean by “great leadership”?
Is a great leader someone who gets results?
Someone who's a great manager?
Someone who keeps everyone happy?
Someone who makes decisions quickly?
Someone who behaves like the founder?
Without a clear answer, every new leader develops their own version.
And that's where things can become dangerous.
Because whether you intentionally create one or not, a leadership culture will develop.
The question is whether it's helping your organization grow—or quietly working against you.
That's why I like the idea of a Leadership Operating System.
Something that allows everyone—from a first-time manager to the CEO—to understand:
“This is what great leadership looks like in our organization.”
One of the best Leadership Operating Systems I've found is Kouzes and Posner's The Leadership Challenge.
What I particularly like is that it isn't based on one charismatic leader's personal philosophy.
It's built on decades of research into what people actually do when they're leading at their best.
That research identifies Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership:
MODEL THE WAY
Be clear about what you believe and make sure your behaviour matches it.
INSPIRE A SHARED VISION
Help people see and believe in where you're going together.
CHALLENGE THE PROCESS
Look for ways to improve, experiment and learn.
ENABLE OTHERS TO ACT
Build trust, collaboration and people's ability to succeed.
ENCOURAGE THE HEART
Recognize contribution and create a culture where people know that what they do matters.
What I love about these Five Practices is that they give an organization a shared leadership language.
Instead of telling a newly promoted manager:
“You need to become a better leader.”
we can have a much more useful conversation:
Are you Modeling the Way?
Are you creating a Shared Vision?
Are you willing to Challenge the Process?
Are you Enabling Others to Act?
Are you Encouraging the Heart?
Now we have something we can teach, observe, discuss, coach and measure.
And importantly, this isn't about turning everyone into the same kind of leader.
Quite the opposite.
People can lead with very different personalities, backgrounds, generations and cultures while sharing an understanding of the behaviours that great leadership requires.
That's what a good Leadership Operating System should do.
So here's my challenge:
If I asked 10 leaders in your organization to independently write down what “great leadership” looks like, how similar would their answers be?
If you'd get 10 very different answers, you might have some excellent individual leaders.
But you probably don't yet have a leadership culture.
And as your organization grows, that's worth addressing.
Because developing more leaders isn't simply about promoting more managers.
It's about intentionally creating a shared understanding of how we lead around here.
If you're a CEO or HR leader trying to build that kind of leadership culture, get in touch.
The Leadership Challenge is one of the tools I use to help organizations create a practical, research-based Leadership Operating System—so leadership becomes something that supports your growth rather than accidentally getting in its way.
And hopefully helps you love growing your organization.