Skills Approach
AGED 3153
Thought of the day…
Leadership has a harder job to do than just
choose sides. It must bring sides together.
~Jesse Jackson
Overview
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Defining skills
Skills approach perspective
Three-skill approach
Skills-based model
How the skills approach works
Defining Skills
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Leadership Skills
Skills Approach Description
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Skills can be acquired
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Can train and develop them
Katz
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“skills of an effective administrator”
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Harvard Business Review, 1955
Three-skill approach
Mumford and colleagues
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1990s studies brought recognition of skills approach
Three-Skill Approach (Katz)
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Includes
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skills
skills
skills
Leaders need all
Technical Skills
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Having knowledge about & being proficient in a
specific type of work or activity
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Essential role in producing actual products
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Most important at lower management levels.
Human Skills
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Having knowledge about & being able to
work with people
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Important at all levels.
Conceptual Skills:
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Abilities to work with ideas & concepts
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Central to creating a vision & strategic plan for an
organization
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Most important at upper management levels.
Management Skills
Necessary
Skills Needed
human conceptual
technical
technical human conceptual
technical human
conceptual
Summary
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Skills: use of one’s knowledge and competencies
Skills can be acquired
Three skill approach
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Technical
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Human
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hands-on
people
Conceptual
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vision/ ideas
For next class…
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Complete the Skills Inventory on page 65 of
Northouse.
Be prepared to discuss results in class.
Skills Model
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Mumford and colleagues
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U.S. Army and Department of Defense
1990s
Develop a comprehensive theory of leadership
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new measures & tools were used
 assessed skills, experiences and work situations.
Skills Model
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Questions included
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What accounts for why some leaders are good
problem solvers and other are not?
What specific skills do high-performing leaders
exhibit?
Capability model
5 components of Skill Model
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Individual attributes
Competencies
Leadership outcomes
Career Experiences
Environmental influences
Skills Model
Individual
Attributes
Competencies
• general cog. ability
• problem-solving skills
• crystallized cog. ability
• social judgment skills
• motivation
• knowledge
• personality
Career Experiences
Environmental Influence
Leadership
Outcomes
• effective problemsolving
• performance
Individual Attributes
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General cognitive
ability
Crystallized cognitive
ability
“person’s intelligence”
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linked to biology not
experience
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“acquired intelligence”
linked to experience
doesn’t diminish in
adulthood
Individual Attributes
Motivation
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Leaders must be:
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Personality
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willingness
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dominance
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social good
Impacts development of
your leadership skills.
Related to leader
performance.
Competency Skills
Social judgment
Problem solving
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creative ability to solve
new & unusual
organizational problems
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capacity to understand
people & social
systems
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perspective taking
social perceptiveness,
behavioral flexibility
social performance
Competency Skills
Knowledge
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accumulation of information &
mental structures used to
organize info.
Leadership Outcomes
Effective problem
solving
originality & quality of
solutions
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Logical, effective,
unique and go beyond
the problem
Performance
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how well the leader
has done her/his job.
positive evaluations
Career Experiences
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Influence knowledge/skills
Improved by:
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challenging job assignments
mentoring
appropriate training
hands-on experience
Environmental influences
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Lie outside the leader’s
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competencies
characteristics
experiences
Outside the leader’s control
What strengths of the
skills approach make it
acceptable to you?
What weaknesses of the
skill approach do you see?
How can we apply this
approach?
Summary
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Mumford and Colleagues study
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Competencies are the core
Leadership outcomes are results
Individual attributes, career experiences and environmental factors all play role
Skill approach is leader-centered
Provides skill set necessary for effective leadership
Doesn’t clearly explain impact of different skill levels
Important for leadership development