The ‘DNA’ of 
       leadership
       potential
       Human Capital Consulting | Deloitte Leadership UK
       © 2020 Deloitte MCS Limited. All rights reserved.
             The ‘DNA’ of leadership potential
            Deloitte Leadership Capability Model: Theory
                                                                                                         The aim of this document is to provide an                                                    It was David McClelland (1975) who first publicised 
            Deloitte Leadership has                                                                      account of the development of the Deloitte                                                   the term ‘competency’, and the concept was 
            developed a leadership                                                                       Leadership model, based on psychological                                                     popularised further by Richard Boyatzis (1982) in 
            model which identifies the                                                                   theory and studies, leadership literature, and                                               his seminal book ‘The Competent Manager: A 
                                                                                                         empirical research.                                                                          Model for Effective Performance’. There are many 
                                                                                                                                                                                                      reasons for the popularity of competency models. 
            ‘building blocks’ or ‘DNA’ of 
            potential for senior                                                                         Background
            managers. The ‘Leadership                                                                    At the heart of any leadership talent                                                        They provide a common language about what is 
                                                                                                         management system is a model of capability.                                                  expected of people, a foundation for 
                                                                                                         Since the 1970s, behavioural competencies                                                    performance management discussions, 
            Capability Model’ forms the 
                                                                                                         have been used by organisations to capture the                                               transparency about what matters for promotion 
            basis of Deloitte’s                                                                          criteria associated with successful leadership. It                                           and a ‘syllabus’ for management development.
            processes for assessing the                                                                  is estimated that 80% of organisations apply the                                             However, despite their success in other areas 
            capability and potential of                                                                  approach (CIPD, 2007).                                                                       difficulties arise when competencies are used as 
            individual leaders.                                                                                                                                                                       the basis for forming judgements about leaders’ 
                                                                                                                                                                                                      potential.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            © 2020 Deloitte MCS Limited. All rights reserved.       2
             The ‘DNA’ of leadership potential
             Assessing potential
             In the assessment of leaders’ potential,                                                    Another criticism levied towards                                                             For example, below are real examples of 
             competencies can be criticised because they                                                 competencies is that of complexity. If you                                                   competency descriptions. The different 
             focus heavily upon past behaviour rather than                                               analyse most competency descriptions, you                                                    colours represent discrete
             future potential. The mantra behind                                                         will find that each competency is in fact an                                                 psychological skills.
             competency-based assessment is ‘the best                                                    amalgamation of a variety of different areas of 
             predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour’                                            knowledge, skills and motivation.
             (Smith, 1989). Consequently, competency-based 
                                                                                                                                                                                                           “Is clear and consistent in decision making,
             interviews are inherently retrospective; “tell me                                           “ ..it often emerges that competencies do not                                                     takes actions andinspires trust in others”
             about a time you…”. Therefore whether a leader                                              make psychological sense. Either the 
             has sufficient ‘relevant’ experience will be a                                              psychological qualities required for different                                                    “Takes responsibility within the group, 
                                                                                                                                                                                                           keeps the group working together by 
             significant factor in determining their                                                     behaviours described under a single                                                               adjusting own interventions, supports and 
             competence rating. Furthermore, if an individual                                            competency conflict with each other, or the                                                       challenges others”
             has not demonstrated a competency in the                                                    same thing is true across two (or more) 
             past, what can we conclude about their                                                      different competencies - implying that it is                                                      “Uses a combination of logical argument, 
                                                                                                                                                                                                           personal conviction and passion to create a 
             potential to develop and display that                                                       unlikely that an individual could score highly                                                    winning case”
             competency in the future?                                                                   on both”.  Clive Fletcher (1996)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            © 2020 Deloitte MCS Limited. All rights reserved.       3
             The ‘DNA’ of leadership potential
             Assessing potential
                                                                                                         As Fletcher (1996) states:  “the same                                                        Consequently, the strength of competencies in 
                                                                                                         psychological factors contribute to different                                                guiding performance management by 
                                                                                                         competencies. A common example would be                                                      describing clearly observable behaviours is also 
                                                                                                         ‘emotional control’. This contributes to the                                                 their weakness in assessment; they are typically 
                                                                                                         assessment of competencies such as ‘customer                                                 a mix of psychological factors which do not
                                                                                                         relations’, ‘resilience’ and  ‘interpersonal                                                 co-vary and differ in their ability to be 
                                                                                                         sensitivity’”.                                                                               developed.
                                                                                                         The reason for this is that competencies are 
                                                                                                         descriptions of behaviour, not psychological 
                                                                                                         skills. They are the manifestation of the 
                                                                                                         interaction of a variety of psychological 
                                                                                                         processes, such as thinking, memory and 
                                                                                                         emotions. Indeed, Boyatzis’ definition of a 
                                                                                                         competency is:  “a motive, trait, skills, aspect of 
                                                                                                         one’s self-image or social role, or a body of 
                                                                                                         knowledge which he or she uses.”
                                                                                                         Boyatzis (1982)
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