Is the business environment in which your company or firm operates more or less turbulent now, compared with five years ago? How are you dealing with globalization, changing business models, new technology, workforce shortages, and more demanding customers and clients?

These rapidly changing times require more leadership and more understanding of the "big picture" than ever before. I find that more and more, organizations need stronger leadership and strategy skills deeper in their organization than ever before. Yet few organizations are making the investment in their human capital to get these skills. Those that do are building intellectual capital at rates far faster than those that do not. That capital will ultimately turn into competitive advantage.

So how do you actually do this?

It is about linking your strategy to the priorities of your business and building a learning / training plan that will deliver the right competencies (knowledge, skills and abilities) to the right people in your organization to get the best (and most strategic) results.

Let me give you a simple example:

In the CPA Vision project, the CPA profession identified five critical competencies necessary to thrive in a rapidly changing, global world. These competencies are:

1. Communications and leadership
2. Strategic and critical thinking
3. Focus on the customer, client and market
4. Interpretation of converging information
5. Technologically adept

At the highest level, you would follow these steps:

1. Evaluate these skills against your organization's strategy and priorities.
2. Prioritize the competencies that have the highest leverage for your business.
3. Assess your team against these critical competencies.
4. Develop a training / learning plan to fit these competencies.

You can read more about this in an article I did for SmartCEO magazine's "Big Idea" issue. Download the article here.