H.U.M.A.N. dimensions / A

Accelerate Leadership Readiness

Preparation for transitions, developmental practice, coaching and usable management routines.

This dimension has a different name in each question set: "Developing others" (People Leader) and "Preparing yourself" (Individual Contributor / Emerging Leader). Scores from the two question sets should never be compared.

Why it matters

Preparation begins before promotion and continues as responsibility grows. In the People Leader question set this means developing the people you lead for larger responsibilities before a role change and through it. In the Individual Contributor / Emerging Leader set it means preparing yourself through stretch work, feedback and practice before holding a title.

Ideas from research and leadership writing

• A meta-analysis of organized leadership training supports needs analysis, practice, feedback and spaced sessions. It does not establish the effectiveness of this guide or self-directed web practice.

  Idea summarized from Lacerenza and colleagues, meta-analysis

• A meta-analysis of workplace coaching reports positive learning and performance effects, but it covered coaching by internal or external coaches and excluded manager-subordinate and peer coaching. The coaching described here is broader than what was studied.

  Idea summarized from Jones and colleagues, meta-analysis

• An editorial on leadership development sets out open questions about theory, methods and unequal access in practice. It reviews the field; it is not evidence that one program works.

  Idea summarized from Day and colleagues, editorial

• Growth is helped by building character skills such as being proactive, seeking discomfort and learning from imperfection.

  Idea summarized from Adam Grant, Hidden Potential

• Positive emotions can broaden the range of thoughts and actions people consider and help build lasting personal resources.

  Idea summarized from Barbara Fredrickson, broaden-and-build theory

Habits to try this week

Choose one habit suited to your responsibilities and authority. If you do not manage people, practice with peers, seek agreement or rehearse a fictional situation. Do not take on someone else's decision authority.

• If you lead people: hold a development conversation with someone who has no role change planned.
• If you lead people: offer one stretch assignment and agree the support and check-ins that go with it.
• If you lead people: explain how you approached one leadership task to someone learning to lead.
• If you are preparing yourself: volunteer to facilitate one meeting or lead one decision in an authorized setting.
• If you are preparing yourself: ask someone who has seen your work for one example to repeat and one to improve.
• If you are preparing yourself: share one development goal with someone who can offer practice or support.

Reflection questions

• Who on your team is ready to practice more responsibility, and what support would they need?
• What leadership responsibility are you preparing for, and where can you practice it now?

A common pitfall

Waiting for a title before preparing, or treating practice as proof someone is ready for promotion. Use supported, authorized opportunities and review what was learned; these reflections do not determine employment readiness.

How this connects to the other dimensions

A builds leadership practice on H's trust, U's judgment and M's supported opportunities, then uses N to prepare for changing responsibilities. Developing others and preparing yourself are distinct question-set perspectives, not interchangeable scores or promotion recommendations.

References

• Lacerenza, C. N., Reyes, D. L., Marlow, S. L., Joseph, D. A., & Salas, E. (2017). Leadership training design, delivery, and implementation: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology.
• Jones, R. J., Woods, S. A., & Guillaume, Y. R. F. (2016). The effectiveness of workplace coaching: A meta-analysis of learning and performance outcomes from coaching. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology.
• Day, D. V., Riggio, R. E., Tan, S. J., & Conger, J. A. (2021). Advancing the science of 21st-century leadership development: Theory, research, and practice. The Leadership Quarterly.
• Grant, A. (2023). Hidden Potential. Viking.
• Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology. American Psychologist.

The sources reviewed for this dimension are listed on the research and methodology page, filtered to A.

These summaries paraphrase research and practitioner books, which provide different kinds of evidence. The habits are developmental applications, not findings that these exact actions improve outcomes. The authors have not reviewed or endorsed this framework, and the cited work does not establish its effectiveness. See research and methodology.

H.U.M.A.N. Advantage framework developed by Dr. Patrick D. Fagan, PhD, MBA.