What Organizations Get Right with Leadership Development
How do leaders in your organization learn to lead?
Many organizations promote based on performance around technical ability; The phenomenal accountant becomes the Finance Manager, the incredibly friendly and organized Medical Assistant is promoted to Office Manager. How the new manager learns to lead, however, is often left to chance. If the new manager has their own great manager- great! They benefit from that positive example and hopefully can model those behaviors. However, if the new manager has a disengaged, poor, or, just really busy manager, that person is oftenleft to muddle through on their own. The organizations that intentionally invest in leadership development experience the best results.
So, what are successful organizations doing that others can learn from?
First, we need to talk about firefighting.
Commit to Developing People
Firefighters run drills before a fire starts, not when they get the call. Organizations that value development approach leadership skills development in a similar way.
Leadership success begins when an organization commits to developing people. The awareness that skill development is necessary before a crisis exists, can mitigate crisis and prepare people for inevitable difficulties.
Partner with Expertise
Our view shifts with our role in any situation. The firefighter standing at the hydrant sees things differently than the firefighter holding the hose.
Working with an external consultant provides another view. The consultant brings expertise in leadership and learners as well as insight, and objectivity not as easily available internally.
But like the communication between the firefighters at opposite ends of the hose, internal partnership is necessary. The internal partner provides the organization’s language, culture, and credibility to skill development that an external consultant does not possess.
What Do You Want to Achieve?
Returning to our firefighter analogy, we’ve got to get specific. Firefighters don’t get calls to a street or just a neighborhood; they are called to a particular address with a need to quickly identify the fire source. Knowledge of the source helps identify the appropriate tools to extinguish the fire.
Leadership development needs specific outcomes as well. If you grab the “flavor of the month” program, you risk spending time (and money) on skills that don’t transfer to the workplace. The program that worked for your friend’s organization or that you heard about at the industry conference isn’t necessarily the right one for your organization.
The wrong training can erode the trust and attention of leaders. One bad program today can create reluctance to participate in any future training.
Design for Retention, Not Delivery
With your outcomes in mind, design now becomes intentional and focused on retention and transfer rather than delivery. A longitudinal program delivered in small segments over time creates depth and increases the likelihood of behavior change. When the program incorporates multiple shorter sessions, the participants can be exposed to new tools and frameworks in the workshop, then practice the skills they are exposed to in their daily work. These “experiments” then become fodder for discussion with their peers at the next workshop
peer-to-peer interaction in leadership programs is a not-so-hidden benefit, providing organizations with an unexpected return on investment. Cross departmental relationships are formed, and organization connection is strengthened. The City Manager of The City of West Sacramento identified peer-to-peer relationship building as a specific outcome for their cohort-based program.Because of his forward-thinking approach, the leadership development program increased communication between departments, an outcome that strengthened how the city works together.
Designing for retention means providing time for reflection. Pre-flectionidentifying individual expectations in advance- helps participants prepare for their experience. Reflection throughout provides time to process ideas and for individuals to connect what they are learning to their lived experiences.
Designing for retention ensures that participants don’t just have an enjoyable time; they experience a usefultraining with information they can immediately transfer to their jobs.
Start with Self-Awareness and Build Outward
When dispatchers receive calls, the caller is usually in a crisis, experiencing a degree of anxiety sharing only partial information.
Leadership development requests are similar. An executive viewing their leaders might see conflict happening. Like the caller, they want a solution and they want a solution fast. Conflict may be the presenting problem, but trust is most likely the root cause.
Successful organizations build an approach to develop that begins with self-awareness and moves outward.
Self ==> Others ==> Teams ==> Organization
Leaders identify their preferences and approaches before they begin to look at how they interact with others. This approach builds a strong foundation that leaders can rely on for their success.
Putting It All Together
The need to put out fires is inevitable. Fighting them effectively begins with leadership development.
The time and resources leadership development requires, pays off when fires are minimized or avoided because leaders are equipped with the knowledge, skills, and techniques their new roles require.
Leadership development is worth organizational investment. A skilled leader can identify the source of their fires, source the appropriate tools, and put fires out minimizing the damage. Organizations get it right when they develop their staff before the fires start.
Interested in learning more about the ThinkDev Leadership Approach? Looking for a partner in developing your leadership program? Schedule a discovery call with us. We are here to support your success.
