When you sign up for a LEAN, Agile, or PMP training, you can be pretty much assured that you’ll have mastered these skills by the end of the training. They are clearly trainable: You’re made aware of key ideas, theoretical, as well as practical; perhaps do some exercises; and next you are tested, pass an exam, and receive a certificate. You now can confidently state that you have these skills under your belt.
But how does this work for leadership skills? Can you take a course and afterward claim you are now a source of inspiration to others, or you have figured out how to be authentic in your leadership role? Is there a series of steps you can follow that will ensure you are able to create followership or that you can lead with vision? These concepts appear to be a whole different ball game, which raises the question: Is leadership—and its many different aspects—trainable?
Training versus Development
First, it is useful to separate training from development. Most of us intuitively associate the concept of “training” with the acquisition of a skill or competency through learning theory and doing a couple of practice rounds. At the end of a training, you understand the basics, you’ve gotten your feet wet, and you can reasonably expect that, with further real-life practice, you’ll gain the expertise you set out to acquire.
Development, on the other hand, is a broader concept. This more continuous process focuses on the acquisition of a skill or competency over time. The immediacy of training is often not a point of focus in development, not initially at least. Development tends to combat ingrained routines, demand honest self-reflection and self-awareness, and require more repetition and closer examination of the attitude and mindset needed to develop what you set out to develop.
Leadership concepts clearly fall into the latter category. As many people do not make this distinction between training and development, leadership is easily dismissed as something that cannot be trained, a skill you either have or you don’t. Which, in my opinion, is a false conclusion.
Vision Development
My specialty is the development of your visionary side, arguably one of the key characteristics of leadership. John Kotter, a Harvard professor, explored the differences between the roles of managers and leaders in his classic 1990 Harvard Business Review article entitled “What Leaders Really Do.” One of the differences he identified is that managers focus on the plan, whereas leaders focus on the vision.
But how do you go about developing your visionary side? How can you responsibly paint that compelling picture of tomorrow and integrate that longer-term perspective into your daily duties, conversations, decisions, and dilemmas? How do you step up to the plate and go from being “just” a good manager to becoming an inspiring leader with a powerful vision?
Almost every though leader in the field acknowledges the immense importance of having a vision as a leader, but no one ever explains how you should go about systematically developing this part of your leadership. It’s these unanswered, practical questions in leadership theory that inspired me to dedicate eight years to researching “the vision thing.”
Increasing Your Visionary Capacity
I strongly believe that your visionary capacity as a leader is something that can be developed. Naturally, as with any skill, there’s nature and nurture: Some people find it easier to activate their imagination or to communicate powerfully than others. But that’s the case with everything in life; some people are better at some things than others. What’s important is that anyone can significantly develop their visionary side.
In my work with executives, I take a multidisciplinary approach that blends strategy with psychology and includes reflection on the appropriate mindset. But above all, I zero in on the key practices to guide you in your growth. These stem from a straightforward development framework on growing visionary capacity, which consists of the two most fundamental skills:
- The ability to see change early
- The ability to connect the dots
The first skill focuses on early noticing: becoming better at distinguishing the signal from the noise in the information overload we face every day. The second skill focuses on responsibly finding coherence in the many developments, trends, and potential disruptions you will need to integrate in order to arrive at a “big picture.”
Yin and Yang Practices
Fortunately, both skills can be made very practical. To help you boost your early noticing side, I have introduced the practice of FuturePriming, which is effectively a low-effort practice that easily becomes part of your daily routine. It builds on those intriguing, unconventional thoughts you undoubtedly have from time to time. They pop up at random moments—when you’re talking to a client, listening to the radio, taking a shower or doing something out of your comfort zone. FuturePriming offers a systematic way to effectively internalize these kinds of thoughts. Over time, they will not only become integrated in the way you anticipate change, but also shine through in the way you lead. People will start to notice that you are always the one with these original, future-oriented ideas, that you always seem to be a step ahead and skilled in noticing the early warning signals of disruptive changes.
The second ability, the coherence-seeking part of your visionary side, requires a bit more caution and responsibility. While your early noticing side gets you to focus on strategic inflection points and potential game-changers—the “yin” of your visionary side—the ability of connecting the dots helps you form the bigger-picture story. Consider it the “yang” of your vision, as there is one big risk to watch out for: tunnel vision. Several practices, including multiple-future scenarios, are aimed at improving your ability to understand the “big picture” while keeping you from becoming unrealistic, narrow-minded and overly confident.
So, Training or Development?
Clearly, both the ability to see change early and the ability to connect the dots can be developed and will significantly boost your visionary capacity. This is development, however—the nurturing of your creative, imaginative, curious, and open-minded side. It should not be confused with training: You can’t pass an exam that determines whether you now have reached a certain visionary level. Your visionary self will take time to grow. In fact, it should take time, as the considerable power you gain with the ability to inspire others should go hand-in-hand with an increased awareness and understanding of your behavioral flaws and pitfalls as a human being. Overconfidence is your greatest enemy as you evolve into a future-oriented leader. The future remains uncertain, after all, and requires a mindset that does not become dogmatic about its own beliefs. As the great mathematician Bertrand Russell once said: “The sad thing about the world is that fools and fanatics are so sure of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubt.” And so it goes for your visionary side: Develop it, and use it with care.
To see a video on the ideas in this article, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT840oZwyqc
Excerpt from “Anticipate: The Art of Looking Ahead” by Rob-Jan de Jong (AMACOM, January 2015). For more information, visit: http://www.amazon.com/Anticipate-The-Leading-Looking-Ahead/dp/0814449077
Rob-Jan de Jong is a behavioral strategist and acts as international speaker, executive educator, author, and consultant on strategy and leadership themes. He has taken eight years to demystify the much-heralded leadership concept called “vision” in order to make it accessible to and practical for anyone interested in leading and inspiring others with a gripping vision of the future. He is the author of “Anticipate: The Art of Looking Ahead” (AMACOM, January 2015) and serves as (visiting) expert faculty at the Wharton Business School, Thunderbird School of Global Management, Nyrenrode Business University, and Sabanci Business University.
