What not to do
We come across two key pitfalls in organisations undertaking leadership development:
1. Acting before thinking
A common error organisations make is acting – for external or internal political reasons – before sitting down to think first.
Do any of these symptoms apply to your organisation?
- No clear concept of what leadership is and how it relates to management
- No understanding of the different levels of leadership and their different development requirements
- Commitment to leadership development is lacking at the top
- What is looked for is a 'quick fix' – instant leadership – just add water – and when it doesn't work, move on to the next latest thing
Leadership development takes clear thinking.
What you need to do is get your senior management team together for 24 hours and think about leadership.
2. Assuming leadership development starts and stops with senior management development
An organisation shouldn't give a leadership role to someone without training. You wouldn't put your child with a learner driver!
Wise organisations recognise that leadership development and management development at the team leader level is critical because team leaders are at the base of a natural pyramid. They are the seedbed for future leaders. They're more likely to learn leadership.
Best Practices in Leadership Development
Our research and experience shows that the following key features most impact the success of leadership development initiatives:
- Action learning: turning insights into practical actions back at work
- Feedback
- Exposure to senior executives
- Support and involvement of the senior management tier
- Exposure to strategic agenda
- Creating a personal development plan
- Linking development with the strategic plan
- Cross-divisional networking
- Involving line management in design
- Thorough needs assessment
- Excellent programme leaders
- Including managers as coaches (pre and post-workshops)
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