Developing leaders that can help your organization achieve success is a critical need. Many believe that there is an upcoming leadership talent shortage. As baby boomers begin to retire, they are relinquishing more control and responsibility to younger generations, there will be an increased need to develop effective leaders who can build organizational bench strength and focus on the future. Many believe that this can be achieved and assume that knowledge transfer and leadership development can happen on the job.
But effective leadership skills and behaviors are best learned by relying on time-tested adult learning models. Adults learn best when they can learn a new skill and then apply it. This hands-on approach allows adult learners to explore and validate the skills in a real world setting. Because of this, it is imperative that leadership development occurs within a training format that allows for learning application.
Leadership development training programs should also include personal assessment instruments that allow leaders to bench mark their impact on others. These assessments help to give performance feedback to leaders. They are best completed anonymously on line and can be completed by subordinates, peers and superiors who know the candidate well.
Leadership development programs look at the people and task performance of a developing leader. On the people impact side, leaders can learn that they make an impact on others, and several key assessments can help them discover how to manage individual contributors and teams. They can complete assessments that tell them about their work style preferences. An effective leadership development training program should also include self-assessment instruments that can help leaders gauge their time management capabilities, problem solving, project management and negotiating capabilities. Understanding personal capabilities is the first step to identifying ways to improve performance.
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leadership development opportunities lie in other areas, such as personal coaching. Leadership development coaching allows leaders to work privately to identify deep seated assumptions and address leadership impact issues. An effective leadership development coaching cycle includes identifying opportunities for leadership development performance improvement, contracting for success, working toward action steps, applying gains and trying out new skills, and completing a personal action plan to assure success after the leadership development coaching has ended.
These ideas and concepts can help assure that an effective leadership development process is in place in your organization. Organizational consultants or specialized leadership development firms can help develop and guide the success of these endeavors, and can create a short-cut approach to achieving success with leadership development in your organization.
Whether you choose an approach that allows your organization to work individually with a coach or within a leadership development training process, it is a good idea to strategize and develop a plan for maintaining a healthy leadership pipeline. The future holds on certainty for al organizations: leadership development will be an on-going need, and your organizations future will be fueled by leaders who understand their impact and contribution to developing success for the future.
