Effective Leadership Development

A recent national survey identified that as much as 50% of loss productivity in businesses is directly attributable to poor leadership within the organization. That means that improved leadership performance within your company could conceivably as much as double your total revenues. Now that is something to think about!

In my work as a leadership and sales trainer to more than 280 companies worldwide, I have had the opportunity to study how a wide variety of organizations in almost 30 industries identify and develop their leaders. What I have learned is that there are certain critical factors that allow some organizations to successfully increase the effectiveness of their leadership core by utilizing a systematic and focused approach. Although somewhat simplified, here is an overview of how great companies deploy a successful leadership development program.

1. Creation of a Leadership Competency Model.
The first and most important step is to define what you truly want the leaders in your organization to act and behave like. In other words, you need a clear and specific model of the key competencies you have identified as necessary to becoming a successful leader in your company. Although this sounds simple, the process for building this model can be fraught with pitfalls. You must be able to describe these competencies in terms of “observable behaviors” that people can be held accountable for and that you know are tied directly to corporate success. It is painful to learn that a trait that you chose, actually turns out to be detrimental to the long-term health of the company. You must also be able to get the list down to a manageable and teachable size. Our firm has developed a very effective template of: “Six Characteristics of Outstanding Business Leaders” that we work with, but your organization may have a much larger list.

2. Measure the Individual’s Performance Against the Model
This step serves two extremely important functions. First, you must establish a benchmark of the leader’s current performance, so you can identify specific areas for targeted training and be able to demonstrate measurable skill improvements (or be able to support termination if performance is not acceptable and does not improve). Second, it has been my experience that many people do not believe that they need leadership training. They are convinced that everybody else needs help, but feel that they are doing just fine. Through the use of a 360-dregree review of their current leadership skills compared to the established competency model, they will get a realistic and highly reliable assessment of their actual performance. Only when they receive this sort of undisputable, non-biased feedback, will they adopt the attitude that they do need to work on improving their skills and come to training with a sense of urgency and buy-in. I can assure you that a professionally administered 360-degree leadership review will make a substantial difference in the success of your training programs.

3. Deployment of a Comprehensive Leadership Development Program
There are three major elements of implementing a meaningful and effective leadership development program.

a. Creation of a specialized training program that is built around developing the skills, abilities and attitudes required by your competency model. The program must be professionally challenging and deliver measurable business results.
b. I also cannot stress how important it is to be sure that the instructors you chose have the personal credibility and business experience to act as a role model for the concepts they are presenting. The “do as I say – not as I do” method will not work in this training environment.
c. Supplementation of training with numerous opportunities for informal leadership development will also have a significant positive impact. Discussions or reading groups, a mentoring program, benchmarking visits to other organizations, college classes and public seminars are all excellent at rounding out executive education.

4. Measurement of Results.
People must be held accountable for implementing personal leadership growth plans and for showing real improvements in their leadership skills. Within 2-4 months after the training has been completed, all participants are once again assessed with a 360-degree review to identify specific performance improvements (and rewarded accordingly) and uncover additional areas in need of training. Based on those reviews the formal training program is adjusted and enhanced, and new classes are developed to address problem areas.
There are those who would argue that leaders are born not made, but this is a myth. Yes, some people do possess especially strong leadership traits, but the truth is that most of the fundamental skills and abilities of leadership can – actually - must be taught (they are not innate). Taken seriously, with a long-term approach, a formal leadership development program can be one of the most important projects within your company for ensuring the future viability and overall success of the organization.