"You can dream, create, design, and build the most wonderful place in the world..... but it requires people to make the dream a reality"
- Walt Disney

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You can "feel" the energy of an exceptional organization as soon as you walk into the doors of the company, meet the leadership team, speak with a customer service representative, or…talk with their customers. There is a vitality and commitment that runs deep. People are engaged with what they do and how they do it. It's as if everything….well…almost everything is synchronized together to achieve a common vision.

Among the people there is:

• Engagement;
• Accountability;
• Autonomy;
• High performance;
• A sense of urgency;
• Respect for others; and
• Rewards systems in place to support the execution of goals.

There are stated values and clear evidence that values are being lived. The culture is aligned and dynamic - change is constant and employees thrive on challenges. These organizations attract the best talent. Productivity is high and continuous. Most often, sustainable competitive advantage has been reached, or can be seen as achievable.

To become exceptional, leaders understand that the role of leaders is to develop more leaders. The culture of learning is systematically linked to the organization's overall strategies. Employees understand where they're heading in the organization and there is a sense of excitement, energy and passion around this potential future. The tools are in place to make it happen, including succession management, individual development plans, mentoring and coaching.

"Companies that last - companies such as Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, General Electric and Merck - are far more likely to have succession plans in place than are their less successful counterparts. These organizations spend a substantial amount of their resources on executive development, and they do so in a consistent manner. They don't cut back on developmental activities the moment there are financial difficulties, for example. On the contrary, they see such difficulties as reason for increasing investment in development."
   Manfred Kets de Vries, The Leadership Mystique (2001), P120.

The exceptional organization understands that development is a key priority of its employees, and these new skills and knowledge are of great significance to continued growth. Senior leaders know they will not be facing a shortage of real talent in the future because this exceptional organization will attract exceptional people.

What We Know About Leadership Development