What Organizations Get Right with Leadership Development

How do leaders in your organization learn to lead?

Many organizations promote based on technical ability. The phenomenal accountant becomes the Finance Manager. The incredibly friendly and organized Medical Assistant is promoted to Office Manager. But how that new manager learns to lead is often left to chance.

If the new manager has a great manager of their own, great! They benefit from that positive example and can hopefully model those behaviors. But if their manager is disengaged, struggling, or just really busy, that new manager is often left to muddle through on their own.

The organizations that intentionally invest in leadership development get the best results.

So, what are successful organizations doing that others can learn from? First, we need to talk about firefighting.

1. They commit to developing people.

Firefighters run drills before a fire starts, not when they get the call. Organizations that value development approach leadership skills the same way.

Leadership success begins when an organization commits to developing people. Building skills before a crisis exists can lessen that crisis and prepare people for the difficulties that will inevitably come.

2. They 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.

• An external consultant brings another view: expertise in leadership and learning, plus insight and objectivity that aren’t as easy to find internally.
• An internal partner is just as necessary. Like the communication between firefighters at opposite ends of the hose, the internal partner brings the organization’s language, culture, and credibility, which an external consultant doesn’t have.

3. They know what they want to achieve.

Back to our firefighters. They don’t get called to a street or a neighborhood. They’re called to a specific address, and they need to quickly identify the source of the fire so they can bring the right tools to put it out.

Leadership development needs specific outcomes, too. 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 the one you heard about at that industry conference, isn’t necessarily right for yours.

The wrong training can erode your leaders’ trust and attention. One bad program today can make people reluctant to participate in any training in the future.

4. They design for retention, not delivery.

With your outcomes in mind, design becomes intentional and focused on what people keep and use, not just what gets presented. Here’s what that looks like:

• Small segments over time. A program delivered in shorter sessions over several months creates depth and makes behavior change more likely. Participants learn new tools in the workshop, practice them in their daily work, and bring those “experiments” back to discuss with peers at the next session.
• Peer-to-peer connection. This is the not-so-hidden benefit, and an unexpected return on investment. Cross-departmental relationships form, and the whole organization becomes more connected. The City Manager of the City of West Sacramento named peer relationship-building as a specific outcome for their cohort-based program. Because of that forward-thinking approach, the program increased communication between departments and strengthened how the city works together.
• Time for reflection. “Pre-flection,” where participants identify their own expectations in advance, helps them prepare. Reflection throughout gives them time to process ideas and connect what they’re learning to their lived experience.

Designing for retention means participants don’t just have an enjoyable time. They walk away with training they can use on the job immediately.

5. They start with self-awareness and build outward.

When dispatchers take a call, the caller is usually in crisis, anxious, and sharing only part of the story.

Leadership development requests often sound the same. An executive sees conflict among their leaders and, like that caller, they want a solution, fast. But here’s the thing: conflict may be the presenting problem, but trust is most likely the root cause.

That’s why successful organizations build an approach that starts with self-awareness and moves outward:

Self → Others → Teams → Organization

Leaders identify their own preferences and approaches before they look at how they interact with others. That builds a strong foundation they 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 it takes pay off when fires are minimized, or avoided entirely, because leaders have the knowledge, skills, and techniques their new roles require. A skilled leader can find the source of the fire, grab the right tools, and put it out with minimal damage.

Organizations get it right when they develop their people before the fires start.

Interested in learning more about the ThinkDev Leadership Approach, or looking for a partner to build your leadership program? Schedule a discovery call with us. We’re here to support your success.

Until next time,
The ThinkDev Team