The higher you go in an organization the more the skill set needed changes from technical competence to the broader skill of conceptualization. Getting in the door requires technical knowledge of your chosen field, the right attitude and the inherent characteristics valued by the hiring organization. The first several positions you hold are quite likely to be based upon your knowledge, job skill and the ability to delivery specific results. Results get you promoted to higher and higher levels, but at some point the skill set requirements change.

Leading an organization requires the ability to conceptualize about the issues and concerns of an organization, as well as, what is needed in the future. Conceptualization is all about being able to see that which is not there. The ability to look at a set of actual circumstances and see beyond them in order to determine the problem or opportunity they present. This skill is about recognizing how the functions of an organization are all interdependent; how changes in one area impact all the others. The ability to see customers needs and project the solution in not-yet-developed products or services your organization can provide. Conceptualization is critical both in solving today’s problems, as well as, anticipating the needs of the market and then having the solution prepared in time to capture the opportunity.

Conceptualization is not a skill learned once you are at the executive level. It is a developmental skill that needs to be honed all along the way. The ability to see conceptually can be improved by holding a variety of positions and thereby broadening your entire conceptual spectrum of how business operates, taking on special interdepartmental assignments, and working with specific problems that you would not otherwise encounter in the course of your normal work, but which are necessary to broaden your thinking and skill.

So if you are already a good conceptual thinker, what do you need to be doing to help others in your organization achieve this same level of expertise? What did you do to learn this skill that might be of particular value to others? If you need to develop your ability to see conceptually more easily or more deeply, what projects, tasks or assignments do you need to seek out? Is your mentor a good conceptual thinker? If not, maybe you need to find an additional mentor who is particularly good at thinking conceptually.

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a senior-level leader that is still operating at the technical skills level. The higher you go the more you get removed from the technical side of your business. However, you’ll find the best leaders you know are good conceptual leaders and if they recognize this as a weakness in their skill set, they have surrounded themselves with others who have this talent.

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