For some time we have been challenged by clients to develop an instrument that would assess the maturity of people that could be used to help identify potential leaders. We have made a

number of half-hearted attempts at doing this but have not really made any progress with the matter. I now think there is some light at the end of this particular tunnel.

During my last trip to the UK Ben Jenkinson introduced me to the work of Roger Steare, the author of the book 'Ethicability'1. In the book Steare differentiates between three types of ethics:

There is a very strong correspondence between what Steare describes as moral philosophies and the Intent model of maturation, particularly with the 4 Concerns2. The 4 concerns see the process of maturation of the individual as follows:

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1 Roger Steare, 'Ethicability', pp 33. See also www.rogersteare.com
2 Etsko Schuitema, 'Intent', pp 58-77. Read foreword

1. You try to withdraw £100 from a cash machine, but instead it dispenses £200, because it has been incorrectly stacked with £20 notes instead of £10 notes. You decide to return the cash that isn’t yours because:
a. It simply is wrong not to return someone else’s property.
b. It would not be fair on the bank’s shareholders.
c. I might get found out and prosecuted for theft.

2. You have decided to apply for a new job, but you do not have quite enough experience in one key area. However, you decide not to exaggerate your experience because:
a. Honesty is an important principle for me.
b. If everyone lied, who could we trust?
c. It would be fraud and I would be fired if I was found out later.

3. You have been asked to take an ‘integrity test’. You decide to answer truthfully because:
a. I’d rather face up to my weaknesses.
b. It’s the fair thing to do for everyone involved.
c. The firm would expect me to take this seriously.

4. After nine months out of work, you get a great new job. However, one day your boss verbally abuses a young female colleague, reducing her to tears. You decide to act because:
a. I’d rather risk my job than allow this kind of behaviour.
b. Others might suffer if I don’t take action.
c. There are clear HR procedures to deal with this sort of situation.

5. Your boss is a single parent mother with two difficult children. She calls in sick and says she will be off for a week, but the next day you see her coming out of the local cinema with her screaming children. You decide you have to act because:
a. Trust is vital in working relationships.
b. I have the interest of all employees to consider.
c. Lying about sick leave is fraud.

Applying the same logic to our understanding of leadership values, I would like to suggest the following as a suggested set of questions for a questionnaire that would explore Intent. I will order them in terms of themes:

Care

1. Your subordinate at work clearly has a difficult issue that he needs to resolve. He asks you for a one on one meeting and you give him the time he requires because:
a. It is my job to look after my people.
b. If he is miserable he will affect the morale in the department.
c. If the issue concerns me I may have a grievance submitted against me.

2. A woman who reports to you confides in you that she has contracted AIDS from her husband. She asks you to keep the information to herself because it is a matter of great shame to her. A week later your boss indicates that he has noticed that she seems withdrawn and asks whether you know what the problem happens to be. You tell him you cannot tell him because this would be breaking a confidence. Your reason here is:
a. You do not go back on your word once you have given it.
b. If you want people to trust each other then they must feel safe to talk.
c. It is against the law to divulge the HIV/AIDS status of an employee without their consent.

3. You are called to make a decision whether to lay off 15 people although there is every possibility that trading conditions will improve in the near future. You decide not to lay them off because:
a. Fundamentally, I am here to enable people and not to produce a result.
b. Should market conditions change we will not be able to deliver without these people.
c. Since there is a possibility that things will improve in the near future I will battle to get the decision past the union.

4. A subordinate of yours gets news that his child has fallen ill at school and needs to be taken to a doctor. This happens in the middle of a very stretched deadline but you allow the person to go off in any case because:
a. You will not put results ahead of people.
b. If he stayed his attention would be anywhere but on the job.
c. You will be able to call the favour up in future.

Honesty

5. Strategic developments at work have serious implications for the job security of the people working for you, although it is not yet necessary to tell anyone because the changes envisaged will only come into effect in nine months time. You decide to inform your people in any case because:
a. Honesty requires you to be open.
b. It will seriously undermine trust in the organisations if people feel that there are secret plots afoot.
c. You don’t want your friends on the team to think badly of you.

6. You have a relative working for you whose performance is seriously below standard. You confront the person on their performance because:
a. You have to be straight with people, irrespective of who they are.
b. It is not good for the organisation when who you know is more important than what you know.
c. You don’t want everyone to think there is nepotism in your department.

Enabling

7. You are new in a managerial role and discover that the people working for you don’t have a clue as to the standard of what is required of them. You spend time with each person clarifying a standard for what is required of them because:
a. It is your job to enable their success.
b. No team can work if the individuals in the team don’t know what is required of them.
c. If you fail it may be career limiting for you.

8. Your team is given a prestigious project which you subsequently discover to be seriously under resourced. You decide challenge your boss for the resources because:
a. It just isn’t right to expect people to do something when they do not have the means to do it.
b. To be placed in an impossible position will destroy the team.
c. It would be seriously embarrassing if the project is a failure.

9. You have a subordinate who is struggling in an area where you are competent. You help the person because:
a. It is my job to support the people working for me.
b. In a team the chain is as strong as the weakest link.
c. I don’t want everyone to think my team is incompetent.

10. You have a subordinate who is particularly talented and has the potential to go far beyond you in the organisation. You decide to coach him because;
a. A good leader makes himself replaceable.
b. People will commit to the organisation when they see that there are no glass ceilings.
c. Be kind to those under you because you never know when you are going to end up under them.

Respect

11. Your boss looses his temper with you unfairly over a trivial issue. You keep your cool because:
a. You treat people with courtesy and respect.
b. A loud scene would be unpleasant for everyone in the team.
c. It is not very clever to fight with your boss.

12. You and a colleague both present different solutions to your boss for a particularly challenging business issue. Both cases have similar merits, but you decide to support your colleague because:
a. On balance it is appropriate to affirm the other person.
b. It seems silly to have an argument about something where there is no clear difference in the merits of each case.
c. You may need your colleague’s support in future.

Fairness

13. Your subordinate is accused of having transgressed a company rule. You decide to spend whatever time is required to find out exactly what happened because:
a. It is unfair to discipline someone without having the facts.
b. If people see unfair things taking place it will undermine morale.
c. You don’t want to land in hot water with the CCMA.

14. A subordinate is found to have defrauded the company. You decide to get the police involved because:
a. It is fundamentally unacceptable for people not to be trustworthy.
b. Set an example with regard to how we deal with this sort of behaviour.
c. Make sure you are exonerated from any connection with the event.

15. A subordinate’s performance is consistently below the standard required of them despite the fact that they have the means and the ability to do what is required of them. You dismiss them because:
a. It is demeaning not to hold someone accountable if they are in the position to do what is required of them.
b. People must know that mediocrity is not tolerated here.
c. You don’t want your boss to think that you are soft on standards.

16. A colleague has done a fantastic job and saved the organisation significant amounts of money. You nominate the person for a special reward because:
a. It would be ungrateful of the organisation not to recognise the person in some way.
b. Seeing people get rewarded motivates everyone.
c. One hand washes another.

Trust

17. You decide to delegate a task that you normally do a capable subordinate because:
a. You want to build trust.
b. People work better when they feel they have some accountability.
c. You can blame him when something goes wrong.

18. A subordinate wants to be let alone to do a particularly challenging task but you have serious misgivings about their ability. You insist that they check every key step in the process with you because:
a. It is unfair to throw people into the deep end when you suspect they can’t swim.
b. If they get it wrong it would harm the organisation.
c. If the get it wrong it will seriously damage your reputation.

These scenarios are very easy to write, which may make any instrument based on them rather thin. In the light of this please feel free to add, panel beat or comment on them. I think we can also explore the possibility of doing something with the 6 Aspirations. I once developed something that could serve as a departure point: