Happy New year to all -- we are back to the issue of competencies - which I think most readers will recall is my answer to the mystery of leadership.

What is it that a leader does?

What are the leader behaviors that are important?

And, how can leadership be developed?

Andy Garman and I wrote about competencies and how difficult they were to learn. I get concerned these days that many think that a few leadership workshops will help someone turn into a great leader. Not so.

As we wrote about competencies in Exceptional Leadership: 16 Critical Competencies for Healthcare Leaders (Health Administration press, 2006),competencies are not skills that can easily be learned --

As deeper-level constructs, competencies are not something you can learn from a day-long training workshop or even a class. They are more accurately described as improving slowly over time – as a result of mindful practice, feedback, and more practice.